L9 



AT A MEETING OF THE SOCIETY 



HELD ON 



WEDNESDAY, the 23rd APRIL, 1902, 

 Mr. A. S. GOVER 

 Gave an Exhibition of Lantern Slides from Photo- 

 graphs TAKEN BY HIMSELF OF THE ROMAN WALL IN 



the North of England and its neighbourhood. 



In the course of his remarks, Mr. Gover said that the 

 wall stretching from Wallsend on the Tyne, to the Solway 

 Firth, crosses the mountain limestone in Northumberland, 

 and in Cumberland the new red sandstone, with its charming 

 glens. Near Chester the course of the wall passes a large 

 dyke of basalt. When complete, the barrier, about 72 miles 

 in length, appears to have consisted of — a ditch to the north, 

 a flat space called the berme, then the wall of MASONRY 

 MURUS, and a central flat space, along which ran a wide 

 military road ; to the south of this was a large earthen 

 vallum, a berme, a ditch, and two smaller valla. The erection 

 of the stone wall itself is attributed to Hadrian, and though 

 now nowhere more than about 6 feet high, is stated by the 

 Ven. Bede, a.d. 700, to have been then 12 feet high by 8 feet 

 thick. A parapet on this may have brought up the height to 

 16 feet. At distances of about 300 feet apart are turrets in 

 the wall, while at each Roman mile there is a small fortified 

 post called a mile castle, and at spaces of 4 to 5 miles apart 

 regular fortified camps for the purpose of containing garrisons 

 in support of the troops guarding the wall between. 



Mr. Gover showed views of Birdoswald identified as 

 AMBOGLANNA, Housteads BORCOVICUS, and Great 

 Chesters or AESICA, probably the three best preserved of 

 these camps ; also views of the wall in the garden of the 

 Vicarage at Gillsland, where it remains several courses high. 

 Here is one of several inscribed stones, indicating the cohort 

 and century of the soldiers who built that particular section 

 of the work. 



He also mentioned the cave found outside the Camp at 

 Housteads, dedicated to the worship of the god Mithras, 

 several sculptured stones from which are now in the museum 

 in the Keep of the Castle at Newcastle-on-Tyne, including 

 one of Mithras arising from an egg. 



