The mediæval antiquities of Hexham are highly interesting. The gateways and embattled towers will repay examination; but the gem of this fine old town, which in the Saxon era was an episcopal see, is the Abbey-church. The choir and transepts alone remain; they exhibit much beauty of detail, and their several parts blend most harmoniously together. The church formerly possessed the right of sanctuary. The frid-stool is still in its place. The cross which marked the eastern boundary of the privileged territory is nearly entire, and is kept near its original site, in the yard of the poor-house. The _disjecta membra_ of that which marked the northern boundary of the sanctuary lie by the side of the road going over Cross-bank, a hill between two and three miles north of Hexham, and from which the traveller approaching the town from the north first obtains a view of the venerable abbey-church, and surrounding town. The prospect is now, to the peaceful antiquary, guiltless of his neighbour’s blood, singularly interesting—what must it have been when descried in ancient times by panting fugitives, pressed by an avenging hand, and fleeing to the sanctuary! This cross remains a monument of the disordered state of society in the middle ages, and leads the reflecting passenger to contrast his present tranquility with the insecurity of former times. No favoured spot is now necessary to shield the innocent from the rage of a stronger assailant, or will be allowed to stay the course of justice upon the guilty. [Sidenote: EBCHESTER.] _EBCHESTER_, situated upon the line of Watling-street, is, as its name indicates, a Roman station. Surtees thus describes it:— Ebchester stands at the foot of a long descent, yet on the edge of a still steeper declivity. Its cottages and trees are scattered along a lofty brow overhanging the green haugh-lands of the Derwent. On the very edge of the steep, the vallum of a Roman station is still extremely distinct, and the little chapel of Ebchester, a farmhold, and a few thatched cottages, stand within the very area of the ancient VINDOMORA—if VINDOMORA it be, for the point is by no means stated as beyond controversy. [Sidenote: LANCHESTER.]