Warburton's Survey: Mannix & Whellan, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Cumberland, 1847 The ancient and modern names of the places through which this celebrated wall passed, and where its castles and towers were situated
| Segedunum Pons Ælii (Newcastle) |
| Condercum (Benwell) |
| Vindobala (Rutchester) |
| Hunnum (Halton Chesters) |
| Cilurnum (Walwick Chesters) |
| Procolitia (Carrawbrugh) |
| Borcovicus (House-Steads) |
| Vindolana (Little Chesters) |
| Æsica (Great Chesters) |
| Magna (Caer Voran) |
| Segedunum Pons Ælii (Newcastle) |
| Condercum (Benwell) |
| Amboglana (Burdoswald) |
| Amboglana or Burdoswald, Cumberland, and stands upon a large plain at the head of a steep descent towards the river Irthing, having its outbuildings mostly on the south east. Camden found six altars here, to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, and an inscription, which in English reads thus, "The Sixth Legion, victorious, pious, and happy, made this." Two other altars to the same deity are mentioned as found here, in the Britannia Romana; and one hundred yards eastward, in a kind of ruin, were dug up two more altars dedicated to the same, by the Cohors Prima Ælia Dacorum Postumiana. Vestiges of seven castella are observable between this and the next station. A fragment of the wall is still standing a little west of tits Banks-burn rivulet, at a house called Harehill, and was three yards and a half high in Horsley's time. |
| Petriana (Cambeck Fort) |
| Petriana, now called Cambeck Fort or Castle Steads, being situated on the Cambeck rivulet, about three miles N.N.W. of Brampton, was garrisoned by the Alma Petriana; and is newly four Gunter's chains in its longest side, and two and half in its shortest. This fort must have been at some time the victim of a dreadful conflagration, as appears from the great numbers of iron and brass nails run together in masses, which have been found here. In the days of Horsley and Brand its ruins were covered with wood, but in 1801, its foundations were rooted up and a gentleman's house built upon its site. One of the inscriptions given by Horsley as found here, mentions the Cassivelauni, a people of ancient Britain, who, as was affirmed by Galgacus, the renowned Caledonian king, "lent their blood to the service of a foreign power." |
| Aballaba (Watchcross) |
| Aballaba, now called Scaleby or Watch Cross, situated about a mile south of the wall, and on the side of the military way which extends in a direct line from Castlesteads to Stanwix, was garrisoned by the Numerus Mausorum. Its ramparts are still visible, but is the smallest station on the wall, and has produced very few antiquities. At Bleatarn, about half a mile west, the wall has been extended upon piles, over a marshy piece of ground, which is encompassed by Adrian's vallum. There can be only two castella traced from Watch Cross to Stanwix, every vestige of the others being lost; the footpath between Tarraby and Stanwix is on the foundation of the wall; and upon a very perfect Roman altar, dug up some years ago at the former place, was an inscription which has been thus translated :- "The Second Sacred Augustine Legion, under the charge of Ælianus, commander-in-chief of the sacred Legion, Oppius Felix being his deputy Lieutenant, dedicates this Altar to Mars, the great local Deity; to be set up with care." |
| Congavata (Stanwix) |
| Congavata, Stanwix, a term supposed to be a corruption of Stanewegges, signifying a place upon the stones or stoneway, was the station of the Cohors Secunda Legorum, and is situated about one mile N.N.E. of Carlisle. Severus' wall formed the north rampart of this station, and its ditch may be traced to the banks of the Eden, as also may the ridge left by the ruins of the wall. Some remains of the wall are yet to be seen at Hissop-holm well, at the foot of a precipice which rises one hundred feet above the river. |
| Axelodunum (Burgh) |
| Axelodunum, now Burgh-upon-Sands, was the quarters of the Cohors Prima Hispanorum, which Horsley supposes lay in the garrison at Ellenborough, prior to its removal hither. The site of this fort is called the Old Castle, and the lines of its ramparts measure about one hundred and thirty six yards square. Upon an altar dug up in the garden, Bishop Littleton found this inscription - "DEO BELATVCA;" and another was in a drain at Hawstones, in 1799, inscribed to the same deity. Belatucadro was a local deity, the same as Mars, and had many altars dedicated to him in the north of England. In 1803, in the parish of Kirk Andrews, an altar was found fifty-two inches high, two feet broad, and fourteen inches thick, with this inscription :- "Lucius Junius Victorinus et Caius Ælianus Legati Augustales Legionis sextœ victricis pii felicis ob res trans vallum prospere gestas;" from which it appears to have been erected by two lieutenants of the sixth legion, on account of certain exploits successfully performed beyond the wall. The foundation of the wall can be traced along Davidson's banks below Newtown, and also from Kirk Andrews to Wormanby and Burgh, having Adrian's rampart about a furlong to the south. |
| Gabrocentum (Drumburgh) |
| Gabrocentum, now Drumburgh, was the station of the Cohors Secunda Thracum. The fort is one hundred and ten yards square, and has high ramparts and a very deep ditch. Its area has been converted into a garden and orchard to Drumburgh Castle, an old mansion built out of the ruins of the fort and wall, and now belonging to the Lowther family, who have removed many of the inscriptions found here, to their seate at Lowther Hall. There were two draw-wells, cased with fine ashlar work, discovered here about the yeare 1780; and Adrian's vallum is supposed to have terminated a little to the west of this station. There is, about a mile east of Bowness, a large tumulus, on the summit of which is a fluted column, called Fisher's Cross; and here the wall appears again, fringed with ivy, and has a fence growing upon its top. |
| Tunnocelum (Bowness) |
| Tunnocelum situated at the western extremity of the wall, was the station of the Cohors Prima Ælia Classica; and the remains of the fort are still visible near the village of Bowness, on a rocky promontory, at the verge of the Solway Frith, thirteen miles west of Carlisle. Its ramparts and fosse may be still traced, but none of its walls are standing, the neighbouring village and church leaving been partly built out of its ruins. From the foundations, which appear at low water, Camden supposes that the great wall began a mile beyond Bowness; but Horsley thinks these were nothing more than the ground-work of one of the small forts which were erected along the shore. Roman coins and inscriptions have been frequently found here; and there has been also found an altar, about fifteen inches high, bearing a rude inscription, which has been translated thus :- "To Jupiter, best and greatest, for the safety (or health) of our august emperors Gallus and Volusianus; Sulpicius Secundianus, tribune of the cohort, erected this." |