278 
secretary's report. 
drove back to Clitheroe, and, after dinner, separated with many 
congratulations on a very pleasant and successful excursion, 
special thanks being given to Messrs. Lomas and Wals.i for their 
most efficient leadership. 
The Second General Meeting was held at Wooler, in 
Northumberland, on Saturday, July 14th, and was associated 
with a Field Excursion under the leadership of Mr. Percy F. 
Kendall, F.G.S., to investigate the geology of the eastern slopes 
of the Cheviot Hills, from July 13th to 17th. 
In connection with this Excursion a preliminary visit was 
arranged to the Roman Wall, on July 10th, 11th, and 12th, 
under the leadership of the Rev. E. Maule Cole, M.A., F.G.S. 
An invitation was sent to the members of the East Riding 
Antiquarian Societ}^ to join in this Excursion. The line of 
military defences known as the Roman Wall, with its accom- 
panying vallum and associated military camps, extending for a 
distance of 80 miles from Wallsend, near Newcastle, to Bowness, 
on the Sol way, forms the most extensive and interesting remains 
of the long Roman occupation of Britain. 
The meeting-place on Tuesday, July 10th, was Gilsland, on 
the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway. A start was made from 
the railway station for Birdoswald, the largest camp on the 
Roman Wall. On the northern side of the wall is a deep fosse, 
which is an invariable feature. To the south there runs 
throughout its entire length a second line of defence, called the 
vallum, which consists of a ditch and two parallel mounds. The 
wall itself is built of good masonry, but has been plundered by 
pilfering builders of all sorts, the church of Hexham, the keep 
of Thirlwall, and the priory of Lanercost being three notible 
instances of this mediaeval vandalism in the neighbourhood of 
Gilsland. 
Near Birdoswald a third line of defence has lately been 
discovered, called the Turf Wall, but it only extends for about 
three miles. The Birdoswald camp, like that of Chesters, 
afterwards visited, has the usual north and south gates, but ( n 
ths east and west sides there are two gates. The chariot ruts 
