There is every probability that the site of Morpeth castle was fortified by the Romans. Some portions of the curtain-wall still standing have been pronounced by competent judges to be of Roman masonry. [Sidenote: FORT AT SOUTH SHIELDS.] _SHIELDS LAWE._—The southern shore of the estuary of the Tyne was as well protected as the northern. A camp, comprehending several acres, stood upon the slightly elevated headland at South Shields called the Lawe. The excellence of the situation, as a post of observation, is proved by the acts of the pilots who have planted a beacon and erected many of their residences upon it. In 1798, the foundations of many old walls, which obstructed the plough, were removed. The lowest course of some of them consisted ‘of rough whinstone, evidently brought from the shore, as the barnacles were still adhering to them.’ The remains of a hypocaust were discovered at the same time. Several coins were also found, and as some of them were of the reign of Valentinian (A.D. 380), it may be presumed that the station was in use only a short time before the desertion of Britain by the Romans. An altar, despoiled of its inscription, which was found in this station, is preserved in the library at Durham. The ancient military-way called the Wreckendike terminated at this station. Until a recent period, one branch of it could be traced by Lay-gate, the Dean-bridge, and Jarrow-slake, to Gateshead-fell. It also led to Lanchester, Binchester, and the South. [Sidenote: STATION AT JARROW.] _JARROW._—At nearly the same distance from the camp on the Lawe, on the south side of the river, as Blake-chesters is from Tynemouth, on the north, the site of another Roman fort occurs. Hodgson, who first drew attention to it, says— At Jarrow, an oblong square of about three acres, with its corners rounded off, overlooking the estuary of Jarrow-slake, and fronting on the south the bank of the navigable stream called the Don, is, on good grounds, supposed to have been the site of a station or fortified town of the Romans. Under-ground foundations of a wall of strong masonry mark out its area on every side, and include within them the site of the present church and church-yard, and some ragged remains of the ancient monastery of Jarrow. In digging up part of the remains of these walls in 1812, a silver denarius of Aulus Vitellius was found embedded in mortar in the heart of the wall; and when the road was formed past Jarrow-row, in 1803, two square pavements of Roman brick were discovered. [Illustration: 323] Two inscribed stones have been found here which give strength to the opinion that Jarrow was a Roman station. One of them, now at Somerset-house, is shewn in the wood-cut. As Brand observes, it is interesting as containing the name of our island at length. It has been read— DIFFVSIS PROVINC_IIS IN_ BRITANNIA AD VTRVMQVE O_CEANVM_ EXERCITVS _FECIT_.—