The Twelfth Station: Amboglanna; now Burdoswald

The East Gate at Birdoswald. Photo by Stuart Yeates

Tradition says it derived its name from Oswald, King of Northumberland, who was surprized by his enemies while fishing in a neighbouring pool. It could not be Oswald, who lost his life in battle with Penda, the Mercian King, at Oswestry. If there is any truth in the tradition, it must have been Oswald, who was raised to the throne of Northumberland by a faction, about the year 800, and was deposed after a reign of twenty-eight days.

When I entered the house of Mr. Bowman, who is the proprietor, and occupier, of these once imperial premises, I was received with that coldness which indicates an unwelcome guest, bordering upon a dismission; for an ink-bottle and book are suspicious emblems. But, as information was the grand point in view, I could not, for trifles, give up my design; an expert angler will play with his fish till he can catch him. With patience, with my small stock of rhetoric, and, above all, the simplicity of my pursuit, which was a powerful argument, we became exceedingly friendly; so that the family were not only unwilling to let me go, but obliged me to promise a visit on my return. They gave me their best; they wished it better. I had been, it seems, taken for a person employed by Government to examine private property, for the advancement of taxation.

I assured them, that my journey rose from the idle whim of an Antiquary; that I had employed myself, and that my right hand must pay my left.

The Station at Burdoswald, forty-three miles from Newcastle, and fifteen from Carlisle, contains five or six acres, joins the Wall, like other Stations, on the North. All the Roman buildings are down; but the marks of many appear. The ground will tell us what has been laid upon it. Some have been the turrets of the Castle. One a prison. Another, twelve yards by five, was designed for the guard. The whole Station is surrounded by a foss. All the entrances are plain. The whole in a high situation.

The Wall here is six feet thick. Mr. Bowman’s fold, &c. stand on the very works. I left these worthy people with some concern.

Upon the common, called Midgham foot, a little beyond the favourite premises of Burdoswald, the Wall had been recently taken down, and lies in heaps, as if the country could not produce one soul to protect Antiquity. Agricola and Hadrian lie one hundred yards on my left.

I thought I observed the foundation of a turret, but am not certain; I saw, however, forty yards of facing-stones, from five to seven courses high. In another place on the common, called the Banks, I saw eight. All the mounds, the Wall, and the ditches are seen all the way along this common; the Wall four feet high.

At Bank head, the foundation of the Wall only is seen; the trench is in perfection; a foot-path runs along the bottom.

I entered a farm-house for intelligence; I was treated with great shyness, till they understood my pursuit. It appeared, they had taken me for a surveyor of land, preparatory to inclosing the commons.

At Hare hill, which, by the bye, stands in a valley, the Wall is ten feet high, and five yards long; but the front stones are gone. I viewed this relick with admiration; I saw no part higher; it was within two feet of the battlements. Near this place the Wall is five feet high, with the foundation of a Castle twenty yards square.

Now I find a small part, with three tier of facing-stones, ten yards long, and four feet high, with a new wall added by a gentleman to the old, which will preserve it.

A little farther, the banks and ditch are perfect; and Severus’s Wall is built upon the soil thrown out of his own ditch, as is perceptible in many other places.

Over the valley, for the space of two hundred yards, the Wall is four feet high, and a boundary hedge grows upon its top.

Proceeding from Haden, a new Wall is erected upon the spot where the old one stood, with some of its materials; and the remainder are scattered.

I now traverse another common, half a mile over, where all the works are just discernible. Then passing half a mile more, part over watery ground, and the sun down, my limbs told me, I had done enough for the day; and a guide directing me where I might sleep, I applied to the sign of the Cow and Boot, at High Walton, for a bed.

“Sir, we cannot take you in.”

“You must be kind enough to assist me, for there is no other place in which I can sleep. Dispose of me how you please, but do not turn me out.”

Silence was the answer, which I considered a favourable one. There were, besides the father and mother, six children, chiefly females, and grown up. One of them, a young woman, I was sorry to see, was approaching the grave.

Although a public-house, they had no ale, cyder, porter, beer, or liquors of any kind, or food, except milk, which was excellent; but they treated me with something preferable, Civility.

When I rose the next morning, and asked my worthy landlady, what I had to pay? I found she would be satisfied with only a few pence! Ignorant of the polite art of duping, I found she knew but little of the world.

I laid down two shillings. In surprize, she returned one, and offered to give change for the other. I insisted upon her taking both. Still unwilling, I was obliged to promise to make her a harder bargain at my return.

When a man serves me with his best in time of need, he merits my money and my thanks.

Links:

• Birdoswald official site

• Birdoswald at Visit Cumbria

• Birdoswald at Newcastle Museum of Antiquities

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