134 Hadrians Wall. [Sess. 



Waverley line to Carlisle at Riccarton Junction, and crossing 

 the border near its centre to Chollerford or Hexham, and thus 

 striking the wall near its most interesting part. 



A map of the north of England will show the line of the 

 wall in its relation to the surrounding country. The road 

 running westward from Newcastle indicates the line of the 

 wall, except at the crossing of the North Tyne, where there is 

 a slight deviation, and, farther westward, where the wall is 

 more or less to the north of the road, and this close approxi- 

 mation of road and wall makes it easy for the pedestrian 

 or cyclist to keep in touch with it practically throughout its 

 entire length. At Wall send-on -Tyne the wall actually ended 

 or began. Hexham is the most convenient centre, not only for 

 the wall but also for all the most charming country which lies 

 around the valley of the South Tyne. Three miles east of 

 Hexham, at the modern village of Corbridge, a Roman town 

 called Corstorpitum has been excavated. Running north 

 through Corbridge is Watling Street, the great Roman Road, 

 which, beginning at the coast near Dover, ran up through 

 London and through the midlands of England over the border 

 into Scotland, and on past Melrose to the Antonine Wall. 



This whole district is rich in evidences of the early Britons 

 and Saxons as well as of the Romans ; rich also in the 

 remains of religious houses and of the peels and castles of 

 mediaeval times ; and should the antiquarian spirit be found too 

 strong, it can be diluted with all the out-of-door recreations of 

 the healthy man. 



At regular intervals of about five Roman miles 1 along the 

 entire length of the wall were placed fortified camps, or 

 stationer as they were called, for the accommodation of the 

 regiments of cavalry and infantry which garrisoned the wall. 

 There were smaller posts known as ' Mile- Castles.' The 

 exact number of these stations is not known. Many, partic- 

 ularly towards the west, have absolutely disappeared, their 

 situations being lost. Of others, the situation can be identified 

 though no trace of them remains, such as Segedunum — the 

 modern Wallsend, Pons Aelii — the modern Newcastle, 

 Condercum, Hunnum, Procolitia. Of some few the ruins yet 

 remain in a sufficient state of preservation to give us a fairly 



1 A Romnn mile is 142 yards less than the English statute mile. 



