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
At “Cuddy’s” (Cuthbert’s) Crag near Borcovicus is one of the most
picturesque bits of scenery to be found on the whole course of the
Wall. My first acquaintance with it was made on a day of grey mist
and drizzling rain, which completely hid any view of the
surrounding country, and of necessity confined our attention to the
stones (and wet grass!) immediately beneath our feet. But another
visit was on a day of wind and sunshine, and in the company of a
group of light-hearted students. We explored the ruins of
Borcovicus, walked along the broad and broken top of the Wall, and
climbed up hill and down dale with it under the pleasantest
conditions, if a trifle breezy on the heights. June was at her
traditional best, which she does not often vouchsafe to show us;
flowers waved all around, amongst the grass and in the crannies
between the stones, and more than once the lines at the head of
this chapter were quoted by one to another. Again and again our
progress was stayed while we admired the glorious view spread out
all around, but especially was this the case at Cuddy’s Crag. We
looked westward over Crag Lough, its usually dark waters flashing
in the afternoon sun; the three Loughs were all within view; away
to the southward, beyond Barcombe Hill, and the site of Vindolana,
Langley Castle could be seen, “standing four-square to all the
winds that blew”; and further away again, beyond the valley of the
South Tyne, to the southwest the faint outlines of Crossfell and
Skiddaw. Northward it was quite easy to imagine oneself looking out
over the Picts’ country still, so far do the moorlands stretch, and
so few are the signs of habitation. Rolling ridges stretch
northward, wave upon wave, clothed with grass and heather, amongst
which Parnesius and Pertinax went hunting with little Allo the
Pict; to the northeast the heights of Simonside showed; and far
beyond them, though more to the westward, the rounded summits of
the Cheviots lay on the horizon.
A short distance westward from the Crag is Hot Bank farmhouse, a
place which most visitors to the Wall remember with grateful
feelings; for what is more refreshing, after a long tramp, than a
farmhouse cup of tea accompanied by that most appetising of
Northumbrian dainties, hot girdle cakes! The Visitors’ Book at Hot
Bank is a “civil list” of all the most learned and noted names in
Great Britain, and many outside its shores, together with legions
of humbler folk. In this it resembles the one at Cilurnum, which is
the only other considerable station along the line of the Wall in
Northumberland.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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