The Tenth Station: Aesica; now Great Chesters
A milefort on Hadrian’s Wall (between Housesteads and Vindolanda)
This station is elevated as usual, and thirty five miles from Newcastle; is about five acres, very uneven. No buildings remain, except a modern farm-house, all the doors of which I found open, and none to guard the premises but a child, from whom I could gain no intelligence. There was no danger of a thief; for, in this solitary place, he must come a great way “to take a little.
The trenches and ramparts are bold, particularly on the West, where they are . very large. The appearance of the place, and the idea of past transactions, strike the soul with awe. It appears by the ground, that the buildings have swelled into a Suburb. The marks of a Temple, and Court of Justice, are visible. The Wall, in confusion, is here about three feet high. The swelling banks shew where the Castle stood, and particularly mark the butments. The General and the Emperor, with mild features, are seen half a mile below, gliding along the valley.
Drawing near Cockmount Hill, four hundred yards forward, and in a high situation, I am frequently favoured with a few courses of facing-stones. Agricola and Hadrian, still half a mile South, in the valley: the reason is, Severus attempts a precipice, if he can. Here the Wall ascends the rocks.
There is a Tumulus in the meadow, near the works of the two great men. Now we come to a Well, made famous because one of the Saxon Kings was baptized here, perhaps without a feast.
We arrive at Wall-town, if a single house deserves the name. On each side the door stands a Roman Altar, used for washing hands, kettles, dishes, &c. and has at last the honour of supporting the dish-clout. I saw one old female, who treated me shily, and heard a younger, who durst not see me; and both, I have reason to think, wished me gone: but, perhaps, I had the most reason to be frightened.
The Wall ascends the rocks. Here Camden was terrified again, at the imaginary houses of the Moss Troopers, and relinquished his examination of the Wall. The name is Walton Crag. I found the ascent so difficult that I sometimes was obliged to crawl on all fours.
Here the Wall having facing-stones on each side, allowed me to take the measure; I found its thickness barely nine feet. In one place, for about two yards, and that upon a sharp declivity, there are eight courses of facing-stones.
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