Northumberland Yesterday and To-dayTerry, Jean F. (Jean Finlay)
History
Northumberland Yesterday and To-day
Terry, Jean F. (Jean Finlay)
Northumberland (England) -- Guidebooks; Northumberland (England) -- History
indeed, we have been passing the sites of these _castella_, with
fragments more or less in evidence all along the route, but those
which we shall now encounter are much more distinctly to be seen
than their fellows on the eastern part of the journey, many of
which have disappeared altogether.
The high crags which here shoulder the Wall are part of the Great
Whin Sill, an intrusive dyke of dolerite which stretches from
Greenhead northeastward across the county nearly to Berwick. The
military road here leaves the Wall, with which it does not again
come into close contact until both are near Carlisle, though in
several places the Roman road will be encountered near the Wall in
a well-preserved condition. The Wall now climbs another ascent to
the farmhouse of Sewingshields, which name is variously explained
as “Seven Shields,” and as “The shiels (shielings, or little huts)
by the seugh” or hollow—the hollow being the fosse. Sewingshields
Castle, long since disappeared, is the scene of the knight’s
adventures in Sir Walter Scott’s “Harold the Dauntless.” And
tradition asserts that King Arthur, with Queen Guinevere and all
the court, lies in an enchanted sleep beneath the castle, or at
least its site. Not only is there no castle, but the Wall also has
been despoiled to supply the material for building the farmhouse
and other buildings in the neighbourhood. The Wall climbs
unfalteringly over the crags, one after the other, until the wide
opening of Busy Gap is reached. This being such a convenient pass
from north to south, it was naturally used constantly by raiders
and thieves; and such an unenviable notoriety did it possess, that
to call a person a “Busy Gap rogue” was sufficient to lay oneself
open to an action for libel. Climbing the next slope we look down
on Broomlee Lough and reach the portion of the Wall we have already
noted—Borcovicus (Housesteads), Cuddy’s Crag, Hot Bank farmhouse,
and Crag; Lough.
The course of the Wall continues, past Milking Gap, along the
rugged heights of Steel Rig, Cat’s Stairs, and Peel Crag, till on
reaching Winshields we are at the highest point on the line, 1,230
feet above the sea-level. Dipping down to Green Slack, the Wall
crosses the valley called Lodham Slack, and begins to ascend once
more. The local names of gaps and heights in this neighbourhood are
highly descriptive, and sometimes weirdly suggestive; we have had
Cat’s Stairs, and now we come to Bogle Hole, Bloody Gap, and Thorny
Doors. A little further west from here the very considerable
remains of a mile-castle may be seen, in which a tombstone was
found doing duty as a hearth-stone. The inscription recorded that
it had been erected by Pusinna to the memory of her husband
Dagvaldus, a soldier of Pannonia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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