In order to render the preceding description intelligible to persons unacquainted with the topography of Newcastle, a plan of the town (Plate V.) and a lithographic view of PONS ÆLII are appended. In the plan of the town, Horsley’s demarkation of the station, as well as the one here proposed, is laid down. For the view of PONS ÆLII, the frontispiece, I am indebted to the pencil of Mr. G. Bouchier Richardson; the contour of the ground is very accurately delineated, and the probable outline of the station marked; the details of the picture are of course filled up according to the artist’s fancy—a fancy regulated by his antiquarian knowledge. _PLATE V._ [Illustration: Plan of PONS ÆLII AND OF THE COURSE OF THE WALL THROUGH _NEWCASTLE ON TYNE_. And^w. Reid s.c. ] [Sidenote: NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE.] Roman antiquities, which, when they abound, are so serviceable in defining the seat of Roman occupation, are unfortunately here rather scanty and unimportant. This cannot be matter of surprise. In the middle ages, Newcastle abounded in churches and monastic buildings. To the erection of these and of the Castle, the Town-wall, and Gates, every stone whether lettered, sculptured, or plain, that could easily be obtained, would be appropriated. [Sidenote: PONS ÆLII.] The precincts of the Castle have afforded the most important discoveries of this kind. The present County-courts occupy the site of a building which used to be called the Half-moon-battery. This was probably the position of the south-east angle of the station of PONS ÆLII, and some of the lines of the octagonal face of the battery presented no doubt the actual curve of the station. To a certain extent the Norman builders may have converted to their own uses a portion of the labours of their imperial predecessors; appearances seemed to shew that the Castle wall between the Half-moon-battery and the Black-gate had rested upon a Roman foundation. When the County-courts were built, some important discoveries were made. Mr. Hodgson, who watched the progress of the excavations, has thus described them:—