The Sixth Station Cilurnum; now Walwick Chesters
Roman Baths at Chesters, the current (AD 2005) name for the site
I am not far from the twenty-second mile-stone, between Newcastle and Carlisle. The inclosure where this City stood seems, like the other Stations, to be five or six acres; but is in reality an oblong of 400 feet by 570, nearly eight acres. It is in grass, very uneven, owing to former use, and rather elevated, though near the bottom of high ground. But the Romans were obliged to fix here, or they could not guard the river.
The annexed plan of this Station, with part of the plan of Severus’s Wall and Hadrian’s ValIum, shews how they were connected at the Stations; and their mutual relation to one another must have been one entire united defence or fortification. The Banks, Wall, and Trenches, having crossed the Water of North Tyne and passed this Station, kept together, and proceed by the spacious seat of Nathaniel Clayton, Esq. who holds the honour of being proprietor of the works of two Emperors, and the Bonaparte of the day.
Rising the hill to Walwick, the village is delightful, and the prospect most charming. At the corner of a garden-wall, I saw a beautiful pedestal, panelled, moulded, and fluted, in perfection, two feet by eighteen inches; no doubt a Roman relick, degraded to a shabby prop, as a thing of no value.
We pass the seat of Henry Tulip, Esq.
The works of Agricola and Hadrian still continue on my left; but Severus crosses the turnpike road in the village, and appears on my right, a Wall three feet high, but in a rude state, and without facing-stones; for we can easily conceive a wall, levelled with the ground, and seven or eight feet thick, will bear its own rubbish a yard high.
The Emperor and General on my left, in striking characters, are cut through the rock; and the great military way fills up the space between Severus and them.
I am now at the twenty-third mile-stone; the morning delightful, and the parallel lines before me magnificent.
At the twenty-fourth mile-stone, I still have Severus’s trench, and what remains of the Wall, on my right, and Hadrian’s works on my left, with the military way on which I tread, only twelve yards wide, between, which fills up the space. Thus am I hemmed in by dignity, upon the best of roads, upon elevated ground, with extensive prospects, in a country thinly inhabited, surrounded with commons, or with inclosures of fifty or a hundred acres each, but without trees or hedges, and where the face of the earth seems shaved to the quick. Yet in this solitary place, where foot seldom treads, I enjoy the company of three valuable friends, Agricola, Hadrian, and Severus.
At Towertay, Severus’s Wall appears in more dignity, with two or three courses of facing-stones; but generally, in this part of my route, with only the rude stones lying upon the foundation.
Links:
Chesters Roman Fort at About Scotland
Chesters Roman Fort at English Heritage
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