156 YEAVfiRiNG BELL AND HAREHOPE EORT 



The feature which strikes one as most impressive, after 

 careful examination of this mountain district, is not the 

 strength of the forts, which are many, but the evidence all 

 round the bases of the hills, and in the intervening valleys, 

 of a large population. Remains of pastoral enclosures, home- 

 steads, and hut-circles are met with everywhere ; and amongst 

 them are lines of roadway, circling amongst the enclosures, 

 and running down to the plain below, or mounting up to the 

 higher pastures sheltered amongst the spurs of the mighty 

 Cheviot. Antiquarians who have puzzled over the remains 

 of the Catrail, or Herrits Dj'ke, which are exactly similar 

 works to the roadways seen here in such quantity, would do 

 well to devote a few days to the examination of this neigh- 

 bourhood. The line of roadway running up the side of the 

 valley behind Akeld, and sending a branch into Harehope 

 Fort, is specially fine. . I know of no similar remains in 

 any part of the country showing greater evidence of labour 

 and skill. Where the branch is thrown out towards Harehope, 

 strong breastworks of stone have been placed commanding 

 the track, which even yet impress one, though many of the 

 stones have been carried off. The ideal in the mind of the 

 early tribesman seems to have been the concentration of a 

 large population living on the spot to be defended. There 

 is here evidence of a population clustered together in a way 

 that is unequalled in any neighbouring district, while the 

 enclosure on the Bell would provide shelter for the women 

 and children in an emergency. This large enclosure measures 

 440 yards by 200 yards, and has had an enclosing wall of 

 considerable height and thickness. At both the East and 

 West ends there are lunettes, or semi-circular extensions. 

 The late Mr George Tate, Alnwick, gives the enclosed area 

 as 12 acres, but according to Maclauchlan it measures 15 

 acres. Inside the wall none of the buildings indicate any 

 great stability or importance, except the circular enclosure on 

 the higher or Eastern summit, which, as the signal station, 

 has been specially strengthened. A few of the hut-circles 

 near the main gate on the South side have had walls of 

 stone, but the greater number of the sites are merely horse-shoe 

 shaped platforms, levelled into the surface of the hill. The 

 huts were probably temporary erections, formed with branches 



