The Roman Wall
9781465634603
100 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
The famous Roman Wall, which, in former times, protected southern Britain from the ravages of the northern tribes, exhibits, at this day, remains more entire, and forms a subject of study more interesting than is generally supposed. Two authors of great learning have treated of this renowned structure—Horsley, in the Britannia Romana, and Hodgson, in the last volume of his History of Northumberland. Both are treatises of considerable size, and both are, to a certain extent, rare. The Britannia Romana, moreover, describes the Wall, not as it is, but as it was more than a century ago. Hodgson’s work is of recent date, and forms a valuable storehouse of nearly all that is known upon the subject. The mind, however, of that amiable man and zealous antiquary was, at the time of its preparation, bending under the weight of his ill-requited labours, and he has failed to present his ample materials to the reader in that condensed and well-arranged form which distinguishes his previous volumes, and without which a book on antiquities will not arrest the attention of the general reader. The following work may be regarded as introductory to the elaborate productions of Horsley and Hodgson. The reader is not assumed to be acquainted with the technicalities of archæology; and, at each advancing step the information is supplied which may render his course easy. I have not attempted, in the last part of the work, to enumerate all the altars and inscribed stones which have been found upon the line of the Wall, but have made a selection of those which are most likely to interest the general reader, and to give him a correct idea of the nature and value of these remains. In the body of the work I have endeavoured to furnish a correct delineation of the present condition of the Wall and its outworks. All my descriptions are the result of personal observation. To secure as great accuracy as possible, I have read over many of my proof sheets on the spot which they describe. The pictorial illustrations have been prepared with care, and will give the reader, who is not disposed to traverse the ground, a correct idea of the state of the Barrier. The wood-cuts and plates, illustrative of the antiquities found on the line, have, with the exception of a few coins introduced into the first Part of the volume, and copied from the Monumenta Historica, been prepared from original drawings, taken for this work from the objects themselves. I am not without hope that the well-read antiquary will value these delineations for their beauty and accuracy. The inhabitants of the isthmus are proud of the Wall and its associations; and whatever may have been the case with their forefathers, will not needlessly destroy it. Most kind has been the reception I have met with in my peregrinations, and most valuable the assistance I have received from the gentry and yeomen of the line, and others interested in my labours! Gladly would I enumerate all to whom I am indebted, had it been possible. Some names, however, must be mentioned. His Grace the Duke of Northumberland has not only given me free access to all his antiquarian stores, but directed me to prepare at his expense engravings on wood of all that I thought suitable to my purpose. Would that his Grace knew how much I have been cheered in my course by his notice of my humble labours!
