Northumberland Yesterday and To-day Part 11

The station at Pons Aelii, it is generally agreed, occupied the ground between the Cathedral church of St. Nicholas and the premises of the Lit. and Phil. Society. Following the Wall up Westgate Road, we are now out upon the highway from Newcastle to Carlisle, which, as we have seen, is upon the very line of the Wall for nearly a score of miles. At Conderc.u.m (Benwell) the next station, garrisoned by a cavalry corps of Asturians from Spain, a small temple was uncovered in the course of excavating, and two altars found still standing in their original position. Both of these were to a deity unknown elsewhere, given as Antenociticus on one, and as Anociticus on the other. The former was erected by a centurion of the Twentieth Legion, the Valerian and Victorious, whose crest, the running boar, we shall meet with more than once in our journey.

Westward from here, near West Denton Lodge, faint indications of the turf wall (generally called the Vallum, to distinguish it from the Murus, or stone wall), come into sight, and traces of a mile-castle to the left of the road. After this the Vallum and Murus accompany each other for the rest of their journey, with but little intermission. The next mile-castle was at Walbottle, from which point a delightful view of the Tyne valley and the surrounding country can be obtained. Pa.s.sing Throckley and Heddon-on-the-Wall, where the fosse on the northern side of the Wall is well seen, and also the Vallum and its fosse, Vindolana (Rutchester) is reached; but there is little evidence here that it is the site of a once busy and bustling garrison station. Indeed, up to this point and for a considerable distance further, a few courses of stones here and there are all that is to be seen of the Roman Wall, its material having for the most part been swallowed up in the construction of the turnpike road on which we are travelling. This road was made in 1745 because there was no road by which General Wade could convey his troops from Newcastle to Carlisle, when "Bonnie Prince Charlie" marched so gaily to that city on his way southward, and so sadly, in a month, returned again.

The Wall now makes for the ridge of Harlow Hill, while the Vallum goes on in a perfectly straight line past the picturesque Whittle Dene and the waterworks, until the Wall joins it again near Welton, where the old pele-tower is entirely built of Roman stones. After Matfen Piers, where a road to the northward leads to the beautiful little village of Matfen, and one to the southward to Corbridge, the Wall pa.s.ses Wall Houses and Halton s.h.i.+elds, where the various lines of the Wall, road, and earthworks, as well as the fosse of each, can be distinctly seen.

Pa.s.sing Carr Hill, the Wall leads up to the station of Hunnum (Halton Chesters), where Parnesius was stationed when Maximus gave him his commission on the Wall. It is not easy to recognise the site now, but as we follow the road we may comfort ourselves with the reflection that at least we have walked right across it from the eastern gate to the western.

A short distance further on is Stagshawbank, famed for its fairs, the glory of which, however, has greatly departed since the days when Dandie Dinmont had such adventures on returning from "Stanes.h.i.+ebank." It stands just where the Wall crosses the Watling Street, which enters Northumberland at Ebchester, and crossing the moors to Whittonstall, leads down the long descent to Riding Mill; there turning westward to Corbridge, it comes straight on to Stagshawbank, leading thence northwestward past the Wall through Redesdale to the Borders, which it reaches at Ad Fines Camp, or Chew Green, where the solitudes of the Cheviots and the silence of the deserted camp are soon to be startled by the rifle-shots of Territorials at practice. West of Stagshawbank the earthen ramparts are to be seen in great perfection.

As the Wall nears Chollerford, one may see, a little to the northward, the little chapel of St. Oswald, which, as we have seen in a former chapter, marks the site of the battle of Heavenfield. Just before reaching this point, there is a quarry to the south of the Wall from which the Romans obtained much building-stone, and one of them has left his name carved on one of the stones left lying there, thus--(P)ETRA FLAVI(I) CARANTINI--_The stone of Flavius Carantinus_.

At Plane Trees Field and at Brunton there are larger pieces of the Wall standing than we have yet seen. The Wall now parts company with the highroad, which swerves a little to the north in order to cross the Tyne by Chollerford Bridge, while the course of the Wall is straight ahead, for the present bridge is not the one built and used by the Romans. That is in a line with the Wall, and therefore south of the present one; and as we have already noticed, its piers can be seen near the river banks when the river is low. A diagram of its position is given in Dr. Bruce's _Handbook_.

The Wall now leads up to the gateway of Cilurnum, which we have already visited; and after leaving the park, it goes on up the hill to Walwick.

Here it is rejoined by the road, which now for some little distance proceeds actually on the line of the Wall, the stones of which can sometimes be seen in the roadway. The tower a little further on, on the hill called Tower Tye, or Taye, was not built by the Romans, although Roman stones were used in its erection; it is only about two hundred years old.

At Black Carts farm, which the Wall now pa.s.ses, the first turret discovered on the line of the Wall after the excavations had begun, and interest in the subject was revived, was here laid bare by Mr. Clayton in 1873. At Limestone Bank, not much further on, the fosse north of the Wall, and also that of the Vallum, show a skill in engineering such as we are apt to fancy belongs only to these days of powerful machinery, and explosives for rending a way through the hardest rock. The ditches have both been cut through the solid basalt, and great boulders of it are strewn around; one huge ma.s.s, weighing many tons, has been hoisted out--by what means, we are left to wonder; and another, still in the ditch, has the holes, intended for the wedges still discernible.

A mile or so further on is Procolitia (Carrawburgh), where is the famous well presided over by the G.o.ddess Coventina, whose acquaintance we have already made at Cilurnum. The remains of the station at Procolitia are by no means to be compared with those at Borcovicus or Cilurnum; very few of its stones are yet remaining. The well was the most interesting find at Procolitia. It was known to be there, for Horsley had mentioned it; but the waters which supplied it were diverted in consequence of some lead-mining operations. Then the stream formed by its overflow dried up, gra.s.s grew over its course and over the well, and it was lost sight of entirely. But the same thing which had led to its disappearance was the means of finding it again. Some lead miners, prospecting for another vein of ore in the neighbourhood, happened to dig in this very spot, and soon struck the stones round the mouth of the well. Mr.

Clayton had it properly excavated, and was rewarded by coming not only upon the well, but a rich find of Roman relics of all kinds, which had either been thrown pell-mell into it for concealment in a moment of danger, or, what is more likely, been thrown in during the course of ages as votive offerings to the presiding G.o.ddess of the well. There were thousands of coins, mostly silver and copper, with four gold pieces among them; and a large collection of miscellaneous objects, including vases, shoes, pearls, ornaments, altars and inscribed stones, all of which were taken to Chesters. The next point of interest on the Wall is the farmhouse of Carraw, which the Priors of Hexham Abbey once used as a summer retreat. A little further on, at s.h.i.+eld-on-the-Wall, Wade's road crosses to the south of the earthen lines, and parts company with the Wall for a little while, for the latter bends northward to take the high ridge, as usual, while the road and Vallum continue in a straight line.

The fragments of a mile-castle are standing just at the point where the Wall swerves northward; indeed, we have been pa.s.sing the sites of these _castella_, with fragments more or less in evidence all along the route, but those which we shall now encounter are much more distinctly to be seen than their fellows on the eastern part of the journey, many of which have disappeared altogether.

The high crags which here shoulder the Wall are part of the Great Whin Sill, an intrusive d.y.k.e of dolerite which stretches from Greenhead northeastward across the county nearly to Berwick. The military road here leaves the Wall, with which it does not again come into close contact until both are near Carlisle, though in several places the Roman road will be encountered near the Wall in a well-preserved condition.

The Wall now climbs another ascent to the farmhouse of Sewings.h.i.+elds, which name is variously explained as "Seven s.h.i.+elds," and as "The s.h.i.+els (s.h.i.+elings, or little huts) by the seugh" or hollow--the hollow being the fosse. Sewings.h.i.+elds Castle, long since disappeared, is the scene of the knight's adventures in Sir Walter Scott's "Harold the Dauntless."

And tradition a.s.serts that King Arthur, with Queen Guinevere and all the court, lies in an enchanted sleep beneath the castle, or at least its site. Not only is there no castle, but the Wall also has been despoiled to supply the material for building the farmhouse and other buildings in the neighbourhood. The Wall climbs unfalteringly over the crags, one after the other, until the wide opening of Busy Gap is reached. This being such a convenient pa.s.s from north to south, it was naturally used constantly by raiders and thieves; and such an unenviable notoriety did it possess, that to call a person a "Busy Gap rogue" was sufficient to lay oneself open to an action for libel. Climbing the next slope we look down on Broomlee Lough and reach the portion of the Wall we have already noted--Borcovicus (Housesteads), Cuddy's Crag, Hot Bank farmhouse, and Crag; Lough.

The course of the Wall continues, past Milking Gap, along the rugged heights of Steel Rig, Cat's Stairs, and Peel Crag, till on reaching Wins.h.i.+elds we are at the highest point on the line, 1,230 feet above the sea-level. Dipping down to Green Slack, the Wall crosses the valley called Lodham Slack, and begins to ascend once more. The local names of gaps and heights in this neighbourhood are highly descriptive, and sometimes weirdly suggestive; we have had Cat's Stairs, and now we come to Bogle Hole, b.l.o.o.d.y Gap, and Th.o.r.n.y Doors. A little further west from here the very considerable remains of a mile-castle may be seen, in which a tombstone was found doing duty as a hearth-stone. The inscription recorded that it had been erected by Pusinna to the memory of her husband Dagvaldus, a soldier of Pannonia.

Westward from this mile-castle the Wall climbs Burnhead Crag, on which the foundations of a building, similar to the turrets, were exposed a few years ago; then it dips down again to Haltwhistle Burn, which comes from Greenlee Lough, and is called, until it reaches the Wall, the Caw Burn. From the burn a winding watercourse supplied the Roman station of AEsica (Great Chesters) with water. Just here the Wall is in a very ruinous condition; and of the station of AEsica but little masonry remains, though the outlines of it can he clearly traced. Beyond AEsica, however, is a splendid portion of the Wall, standing some seven or eight courses high. Here it climbs again to the top of the crags which once more appear, bold and rugged, to culminate in the "Nine Nicks of Thirlwall," so called from the number of separate heights into which the crags divide, and over which the Wall takes its way.

At Walltown, on this part of its course, is to be seen an old well, in which Paulinus is said to have baptised King Edwin; but the local name for it is King Arthur's Well. Now the Wall descends to a level and pastoral country, leaving behind it the wild moorland and craggy heights across which it has travelled so long; but unfortunately much of it has been destroyed by the quarrying operations at Greenhead. Of the station of Magna (Caervoran) little can be seen at the present day. This station and Aesica are nearer to each other than are any other two stations on the Wall, and a line of camps, five in number, stand south of the Wall and Vallum, from Magna to Amboglanna, showing that a third line of defence was deemed necessary where the natural defences of moorland ridge, lough or crag were absent.

The Roman way called the Stanegate comes from the eastward almost up to the station of Magna, which stands a little to the south of both Wall and Vallum, between them and Wade's road, which here approaches nearer to the Wall than it has done for many miles.

Another Roman road, the Maiden Way, comes from the South closely up to the Vallum, quite near to Thirlwall castle. The name "Thirlwall" was supposed to commemorate the "thirling" (drilling or piercing) of the Wall at this point by the barbarians, but this is extremely doubtful; though the difficulty of defending the wall on this level tract lends an air of likelihood to this supposition. Near here the little river Tipalt flows across the line of the Wall on its way southward to join the North Tyne.

Pa.s.sing Wallend, Gap, and Rose Hill, where Gilsland railway station now stands, we follow the Wall to the deep dene of the Poltross Burn, which forms the boundary between Northumberland and c.u.mberland. The railway just beyond the burn crosses the line of the Wall; and, further on, an interesting portion, several courses high, takes its way through the Vicarage garden. Here we will leave it to continue its way through c.u.mberland, and turn our attention to the chief Roman ways which cross Northumberland, with other stations standing upon them.

The Watling Street or Dere Street, we have already noticed; and the chief station on it, which has also proved to be the largest in Northumberland, is Corstopitum, near Corbridge. The recent excavations since 1906 have resulted in the finding of many interesting relics, including some hundreds of coins, amongst which were forty-eight gold pieces, of later Roman date, ranging from those of Valentinian I. to those of Magnus Maximus. Pottery in large quant.i.ties has also been found, most of it, of course, in a fragmentary condition, but some pieces, notably bowls of Samian ware, almost perfect, and dating from the first century. Several interesting pieces of sculpture have been unearthed; one a finely sculptured lion standing over an animal which it has evidently just killed; this was, no doubt, used as an outlet for water at the fountain, judging by the projection of the lion's lower lip. Another piece of sculpture represents a sun-G.o.d, the rays surrounding his face; and several altars and many inscribed stones are also amongst the treasures lately revealed. A clay mould of a human figure was also found, which is supposed to represent some Keltic deity; but as the figure wears a short tunic not unlike a kilt, and carries a crooked club, the workmen promptly christened it Harry Lauder! The buildings in this town, for it is much more than a military station, have been large and imposing, as is shown by each successive revelation made by the excavators' spades. The portion of the Watling Street leading from Corstopitum to the river has also been laid bare.

The Roman road called the Stanegate runs westward from the North Tyne at Cilurnum, a little to the north of Fourstones railway station, through Newbrough, on past Grindon Hill, Grindon Lough, which it pa.s.ses on the south, and Grindon d.y.k.es, to Vindolana (Chesterholm) another Roman town, which lies a mile due south from Hot Bank farmhouse on the Wall.

Vindolana stood on a most favourable site, a high platform protected on three sides, and it covered three and a half acres of ground. Here no excavations have yet been made, and the site is gra.s.s grown and desolate although the outlines of the station may be distinctly traced. A ruinous building to the west of this station was popularly called the Fairies'

Kitchen, a name given to it on account of the marks of fire and soot on the pillars. From the station several inscribed stones and altars have been taken to the museum at Chesters. One of them is dedicated to the Genius of the Camp by Pituanius Secundus, the Prefect of the fourth Cohort of the Gauls, which cohort, as we have already seen by the _Vot.i.tia_, was stationed here. In the valley below Vindolana a little cottage is standing. It is built entirely of Roman stones, and was erected by an enthusiastic antiquary, Mr. Anthony Hedley, for himself.

Many of the stones used in its construction have inscriptions on them; and in the covered pa.s.sage, leading from the cottage down to the burn, we come upon one of them inscribed with the name of our old friend the XXth Legion, and its crest, the running boar. The most interesting relic of all in the neighbourhood is a Roman mile-stone, standing in its original position on the Stanegate.

Leaving Vindolana, this road goes on westward to Magna, where it joins the Maiden Way, another important Roman road, which runs from north to south. Coming from the neighbourhood of Bewcastle Fells, it enters Northumberland at Gilsland, and leading eastward as far as Magna, then turns directly southward past Greenhead.

In concluding this chapter on the Roman remains in our county, _apropos_ of the wholesale destruction of the Wall and larger stations which has taken place in the last century or two, I will quote the words of two historians on that subject. Dr. Thomas Hodgkin says: "In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Camden, the enthusiastic antiquary, dared not traverse the line of the wall by reason of the gangs of brigands by whom it was infested. The union of the two countries brought peace, and peace brought prosperity; prosperity, alas! more fatal to the Wall than centuries of Border warfare. For now the prosperous farmers of Northumberland and c.u.mberland awoke to the building facilities which lurked in these square green enclosures on their farms, treated them as their best quarries, and robbed them unmercifully of their fine well-hewn stones. Happily that work of demolition is now in great measure stayed, and at this day we visit the camps for a n.o.bler purpose, to learn all they can teach us as to the past history of our country."

None, I think, will disagree with these words of the learned Doctor, whether or not they may go as far as Cadwallader J. Bates, who, in concluding his chapter on the Roman Wall, gave it as his opinion that "unless the island is conquered by some civilized nation, there will soon be no traces of the Wall left. Nay, even the splendid whinstone crags on which it stands will be all quarried away to mend the roads of our urban and rural authorities."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER VIII.

SOME NORTHUMBRIAN STREAMS.

"Come, don't abuse our climate, and revile The crowning county of England--yes, the best.

Have you and I, then, raced across its moors.

Till horse and boy were well-nigh mad with glee, So often, summer and winter, home from school, And not found that out? Take the streams away, The country would be sweeter than the South Anywhere; give the South our streams, would it Be fit to match our Borders? Flower and crag, Burnside and boulder, heather and whin,--you don't Dream you can match them south of this? And then, If all the unwatered country were as flat As the Eton playing-fields, give it back our burns, And set them singing through a sad South world, And try to make them dismal as its fens-- They won't be! Bright and tawny, full of fun And storm and sunlight, taking change and chance With laugh on laugh of triumph--why, you know How they plunge, pause, chafe, chide across the rocks, And chuckle along the rapids, till they breathe And rest and pant and build some bright deep bath For happy boys to dive in, and swim up.

And match the water's laughter."

Northumberland is fortunate in the number of rivers which, owing to the position of the Cheviot Hills, flow right across the county from west to east. These Northumbrian streams have a distinct character of their own, and are of a different breed from those of the southern; counties. They are neither mountain torrents nor placid leisurely rivers, such as are met elsewhere in Britain, but busy, bright, joyous, and sparkling, never sluggish, never silent, even when deep and full, as is the Tyne in its lower reaches. With the Tyne and its tributary streams we have already travelled; but there are others yet awaiting us, claiming our attention sometimes for the romantic scenery through which they run their bright course, sometimes for the historic sites they pa.s.s on their way, sometimes for both reasons. Wansbeck, Coquet, Aln, or Till--each has its own interest, as has also the Tweed in that score or so of miles along which it can he spoken of in connection with Northumberland.

The source of the Wansbeck, the only "beck" the county possesses, is amongst the "Wild Hills o' Wannys" (Wanny's beck) a group of picturesque sandstone crags which surround Sweethope Lough, a sheet of water which covers 180 acres. The scenery of this upper course of the Wansbeck is very striking, from the Lough to Kirkwhelpington, flowing between bleak moorland and rich pasture, and on to Littleharle Tower, which stands secluded in deep woods.

Another mansion near at hand, and most picturesquely situated, is Wallington Hall, lying a short distance away on the north bank of the Wansbeck. It is one of the most notable country houses in Northumberland, and especially so on account of its unique picture-gallery, roofed with dull gla.s.s, and containing several series of pictures connected with Northumbrian history. One of these is a series of frescoes by William Bell Scott, whose name was for so many years a.s.sociated with all that was best in art in Newcastle, and whose picture of the "Building of the Castle" may be seen at the head of the staircase in the Lit. and Phil. building. His pictures at Wallington are:--1. The Building of the Roman Wall. 2. The visit of King Egfrid and Bishop Trumwine to St. Cuthbert on Fame. 3. A Descent of the Danes.

4. Death of the Venerable Bede. 5. The Charlton Spur. 6. Bernard Gilpin taking down a challenge glove in Rothbury Church. 7. Grace Darling and her father on the way to the wreck. 8. The Nineteenth Century--showing the High Level Bridge, the Quayside, an Armstrong gun, etc., etc.

Another series consists of medallions and portraits of famous men connected with Northumbrian events, from Hadrian and Severus down to George Stephenson and others of modern times; while yet another depicts all the incidents of "Chevy Chase."

Some miles further eastward, the Wansbeck receives the Hart Burn--which, by the way, is larger than the parent stream at this point--and, a little later, the Font. The lovely little village of Mitford, once important enough to overshadow the Morpeth of that day, lies at the junction of Font and Wansbeck. The Mitfords of Mitford can boast, if ever family could, of being Northumbrian of the Northumbrians, as they were seated here before the days of the Conqueror, who made such a general upsetting amongst the Saxon landowners.

The beauty of the two miles walk along the banks of the Wansbeck from here to Morpeth is not easy to surpa.s.s in all the county, though several parts of the Coquet valley may justly compete with it. William Howitt has left on record his admiration for this lovely region, and said Morpeth was "more like a town in a dream" than a reality. Especially is this so when looking at the town from the neighbourhood of the river.

Before actually reaching Morpeth the Wansbeck waters the fair fields that once held Newminster Abbey in its pride; now, nothing remains but an arch or so and a few stones, to remind us of the n.o.ble abbey which Ralph de Merley built so long ago. When only half built it was demolished by the Scots under King David; but willing hands set to work again, and the abbey and monastery were completed.

In the town of Morpeth, though newer buildings are stretching out towards the outskirts, many of the ancient buildings and streets remain, and the general aspect of this part of it is much the same as when the Jacobites of Northumberland gathered together here, and the clergyman, Mr. Buxton, proclaimed James III. in its Market Place. Of Morpeth Castle, built by a De Merley soon after the Conquest, only the gateway tower remains, but the outlines of the original boundary walls can be clearly traced. A company of five hundred Scots, whom Leslie had left as a garrison in 1644, held out here for three weeks against two thousand Royalists under Montrose. After the cannonading received during that siege, the walls were not repaired again, and the castle fell into decay. The inhabitants of Morpeth have a daily reminder of times yet more remote, for the Curfew Bell still rings out over the little town every evening at eight o'clock.

Another walk of three miles along the still beautiful banks of the Wansbeck brings us to Bothal, another little village of great beauty, embowered and almost hidden amongst luxuriant woods. Its curious name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon _bottell_, a place of abode (as in Walbottle). The name conjures up memories of the knights of old, their loves and their fortunes, fair or disastrous; for the best-known version of "The Hermit of Warkworth" tells us that it was a Bertram of Bothal who was the luckless hero of that tale, though another version avers that he belonged to the house of Percy.

Wansbeck's fellow stream, the Coquet, has its birth amongst some of the wildest scenery of the Cheviot Hills, where the heights of Deel's Hill and Woodbist Law look down on the now silent Watling Street and the deserted Ad Fines Camp. In its windings along the bases of the hills it is joined by the Usway Burn, said to be named after King Oswy, between which and the little river Alwine lies the famous Lords.h.i.+p of Kidland, once desolate on account of the thieving and raiding of its neighbours of Bedesdale and Scotland.

Hodgson, in his "Northumberland," says of this region, "All the said Kydlande is full of lytle hilles or mountaynes, and between the saide hilles be dyvers valyes in which discende litle Ryvvelles or brokes of water, spryngynge out of the said hilles and all fallynge into a lytle Rever or broke callede Kidlande water, w'ch fallethe into the rever of c.o.c.kette nere to the towne of alwynntonn, w'tin a myll of the castell of harbottell." The reasons for the desolation of Kidland are graphically set forth:--"In somer seasons when good peace ys betwene England and Scotland, th'inhabitantes of dyv'se townes thereaboutes repayres up with theyr cattall in som'ynge (summering) as ys aforesaid, and so have used to do of longe tyme. And for the pasture of theyr cattall, so long as they would tarye there they payed for a knoweledge two pens for a household, or a grote at the most, though they had nev' so many cattalles. And yet the poore men thoughte their fermes dere enoughe.

There was but fewe yeres that they escaped w'thout a greatter losse of their goodes and cattalles, by spoyle or thefte of the Scottes or Ryddesdale men, then would have paide for the pasture of theyr cattail in a much better grounde. And ov' (over, besides) that, the saide valyes or hopes of Kidlande lyeth so distant and devyded by mounteynes one from an other, that such as Inhabyte in one of these hoopes, valeys, or graynes, can not heare the Fraye outcrye, or exclamac'on of such as dwell in an other hoope or valley upon the other side of the said mountayne, nor come or a.s.semble to theyr a.s.systance in tyme of necessytie. Wherefore we can not fynde anye of the neyghbours thereabouts wyllinge cotynnally to Inhabyte or plenyshe w'thin the saide grounde of Kydland, and especially in wynter tyme."

These reasons were given by the people of "c.o.c.kdale" in the neighbouring valley, to account for the desolation of Kidland, which lay open on the northward to attacks from the Scots, and had no defence on the south from the rievers of Redesdale. The inhabitants of Coquetdale seem to have been a right valiant and hardy fraternity, honest and fearless, well able to give good blows in defence of their possessions, for it is left on record that "the people of the said c.o.c.k-dayle be best p'pared for defence and most defensyble people of themselfes, and of the truest and best sorte of anye that do Inhabyte, endlonge, the frounter or border of the said mydle m'ches of England." The traces of these days of raid and foray are to be found in abundance all over Coquetdale, as indeed all over Northumberland, in pele-tower and barmkyn, fortified dwelling and bastle house.

Harbottle Castle would have a good deal to tell, could it only speak, of siege and a.s.sault from the day when, "with the aid of the whole county of Northumberland and the bishopric of Durham," it was built by Henry II., until, after the Union of the Crowns, it shared the fate of many of the Border strongholds, and fell into gradual decay, or was used as a quarry from which to draw building material for new and modern mansions. At Rothbury, a pele-tower has formed the dwelling of the Vicars of that town from the time that any mention of Whitton Tower is to be found, it being first noticed as "Turris de Whitton, iuxta Rothebery." Rothbury itself occupies quite the finest situation of any of the Northumbrian towns. Others, besides it, lie on the banks of a pretty river; others, too, possess fair meadows and rich pastures; but none other has the combination of these attractive features with the finer surroundings of hill, crag, and moorland as picturesquely beautiful as those of Rothbury. In the old church here Bernard Gilpin, "the Apostle of the North," often preached; and even the fierce rival factions of the Borderland were so influenced by the gentle, yet fearless preacher, that they consented to forego their usual pleasure of "drawing" whenever they met one of a rival family, at least so long as Gilpin dwelt among them, and especially to refrain from showing their hostility in church.