England -- Antiquities, Roman; Hadrian's Wall (England); Walls, Roman -- England
In one sense I did not walk the Wall alone. I had two companions,
William Hutton and Dr. Collingwood Bruce. The latter was represented
by his _Handbook_ on the Wall, which was first published in 1863, and
which has proved its value by having appeared, in seven successive
editions, as the standard work on the subject. Dr. Bruce and Mr.
John Clayton will always be remembered as the great pioneers of
practical research on the Wall.
{xvi}
I owe much to the kindness of Mr. F. Gerald Simpson, who hopes to
return to active work on the Wall next year (at Birdoswald), and who
is my authority on many points in the archæology of the Wall which
his recent excavations have brought to light. Much is waiting to be
done, but the adequate prosecution of the work in the future will
depend entirely on how much financial help is forthcoming from those
interested in historical research.
I was very fortunate in falling in with the Three Days' Pilgrimage of
the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the Cumberland
and Westmorland Archæological Society, and in being allowed to join
it, in September 1920; and I have to thank the members for their kind
welcome to a stranger, and for their readiness to help me. In this
connection I must specially mention Mrs. T. H. Hodgson, Mr. Robert
Blair, F.S.A., and Mr. W. G. Collingwood, F.S.A.
_Archæologia Æliana_, issued yearly by the Society of Antiquaries of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and the annual _Transactions_ of the Cumberland
and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archæological Society have been of
the greatest service as works of reference. To the former I am also
indebted for the plans of the Roman Bridge and of Cilurnum and
Borcovicium (Figs. 6, 8, and 12).
From the work entitled _Romano-British Buildings and Earthworks_, by
the late Mr. John Ward, {xvii} F.S.A., the author and the publishers
(Messrs. Methuen & Co.) have kindly allowed me to take Figs. 9, 10,
11, 12, and 14.
Readers who wish to study the latest discoveries with regard to the
Vallum will find them in the recently published _The Purpose and Date
of the Vallum and its Crossings_, by Mr. F. Gerald Simpson and Dr. R.
C. Shaw (Titus Wilson, Kendal). It forms part of vol. xxii. of the
Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and
Archæological Society, but it can also be obtained separately.
For those who do not care to walk all the way, and who wish to see a
great deal of the Wall in a short time, the George Inn at Chollerford
makes a delightful centre. It stands on the bank of the North Tyne,
with well-kept gardens sloping down to the water's edge, just where a
five-arched stone bridge crosses the river. The bridge dates from
1771, the year when every bridge over the Tyne except the one at
Corbridge was swept away by heavy floods.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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