HISTORY

OF

NEWCASTLE UPON TΥΝΕ,

&c. &c.

T

HE history of the town and county of Newcastle upon Tyne, on account of its relative consequence and advantage to society, is highly interesting. Previous, however, to our entering upon this agreeable, but arduous undertaking, it will be necessary to remark, that the richest domains of the three then known quarters of the globe were indebted to the Romans for their civilization and improvements in the arts of life. It is true, that mighty people were as boundless in their ambition, as they were irrefistible in their arms; and not contented with the fairest and most fertile provinces of the world, they extended their vast empire from the banks of the Tygris to the frozen shores of the Caledonian sea. And so, by either finding or making all nations hoftile to their arrogant claims, they, by policy, discipline, and valour, in the course of fix centuries, subdued Asia, Africa, and Europe to their dominion. It was from this love of conquest, fatal to the repose and independence of nations who had not before heard of the Roman name, that a large

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large proportion of the human kind were subjugated or destroyed. It was peculiarly so with our ifland of Britain, with the history of which we are best acquainted, and in which we are most immediately interested. Thus realising the descriptive lines of the poet:

Of rougher front, a mighty people came !
A race of heroes! in those virtuous times
Which knew no stain, save that with partial flame
Their dearest country, they too fondly lov'd.

THOMSON'S WINTER.

But, as a late enlightened historian observes, the Romans, after having subdued, or exterminated, the nations, and given mankind time to breathe, set about civilizing the countries they had conquered; and, by instructing them in their language, laws, arts, and arms, they made some atonement for the sanguinary exceffes to which their infatiable ambition had impelled them.

But that warlike people, intending their empire should run on in the long line of ages coeval with time itself, have accordingly left, to the admiration of mankind, the most stupendous monuments of their unrivalled power and profound policy. And in no country, in the extensive bounds of their once mighty empire, are left, to the investigation of the antiquary and the hiftorian, more striking remains of their priftine greatness than in Britain; nor in any part of the country, greater or more noble than those in Newcastle and its vicinity, as will fully appear when we present our readers with a detailed delineation of this town.

The

† See Dr Robertson's Hift. of Charles V. emperor of Germany.

The uniform teftimony of ancient history informs us, that Julius Cæfar was the first Roman general who invaded Britain; nor was the undertaking unworthy of the greatest hero, and the most accomplished warrior. This event happened in his third consulate, and about fifty-two years previous to the Christian æra. Cæfar having fubdued all antient Gaul, or modern France, and having transported his victorious legions over the Rhine by forming a bridge of stupendous structure, He, the first of the Roman name, invaded the warlike nations of Germany, and having overthrown them in many bloody battles, broke their power, almost exterminated many of their most powerful nations, and brought them under the domination of Rome.

Having achieved these warlike and mighty enterprizes, he refolved to invade Britain. We are told that his motive for this invasion was the hopes which he entertained of obtaining pearls of vast size and beauty.* And although this intrepid commander made good his landing, by two successive invafions, yet he foon perceived that he owed his success over these fierce barbarians more to his discipline and arms, than to any fuperiority in point of courage and resolution. Cæfar, finding his legions thinned with fo many bloody engagements with Germans, Gauls, and Britons, fired with ambition to be at the head of the world, overthrew his rival Pompey in the plains of Pharsalia, and, assuming absolute power, was affaffinated in the senate-house by the chief men of that illustrious body. Augustus, his successor, seems to have paid little attention to Britain; and more than a century revolved from its first invasion by

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by Cæfar, before it was further disquieted by the hoftile arms of Rome. It was then, however, seriously invaded, in several parts at once, by the Roman legions; so that a large portion of the island, extending from the Humber to the Tyne, and now known by the name of the counties of York, Durham, Lancaster, Westmoreland, and Cumberland, after many bloody battles, was obliged to yield to the fuperior difcipline of the Roman arms. It was during this period, in the reign of Claudius, that Caractacus, generalissimo of the Britons, and queen Boadicea, displayed such heroism and love of independence. At last, under Vespasian, the greatest part of the country of the Brigantes, possessors of the counties mentioned above, was over-run and conquered by the victorious Romans; and the complete conquest of that warlike people was achieved under the reign of Titus: Julius Agricola, one of the most enterprising and successful leaders of antiquity, commanded the legions under that emperor, and led his victorious troops from the Tyne through Northumberland, and the most fertile parts of North Britain, till they encamped on the heights of Abernethy which overlook the river Tay, about five miles fouth east from Perth. It is said by the best informed Scotch historians, that when the Roman legions, from the elevated fituation of their camp, beheld the windings of that beautiful river, the enchanting plains on its banks, and the rude grandeur of the Grampian hills at a distance, they were struck with pleasant astonishment, and cried out in ecstacy, "Ecce Tyber!" Behold the Tyber!

The

The political and sagacious Romans, beginning to difcern how important the province of Britain might prove to their empire, set about fecuring the conquests which they had made in this island. For this purpose, Agricola drew a strong line of garrifons across the isthmus which runs between the rivers Forth and Clyde; and, as Tacitus informs us, the Romans were thus lords of incomparably the best and most fertile parts of the country; while the aborigines, or natives, were confined by woods, rocks, and hills, as it were, within another island.

The restless Caledonians, impatient of the galling restraints of their cruel masters, gave them no repose, but by frequent incursions into the Roman provinces, rendered another, and stronger, rampart necessary. This was effected in the year 117 of the christian æra. We are informed by Spartian, that they drew a wall of eighty miles in length, and completely divided the Romans from the barbarians. The veftiges of this once mighty mound are still visible, at Calender-house, near Falkirk, where it terminated a little to the eastward, and from the Carron to the Clyde it extended from fea to sea. The vulgar affix to that rampart the appellation of "Graham's Dyke." But upon the recal of Agricola, and the command of the Roman legions being committed to less skilful hands, the Caledonians eafily burst over the barrier, constructed only of earth and pallisadoes, faced up with stone; and, pouring their hordes of fierce warriors into the fertile plains of the Lothians, and from thence croffing the Tweed, they over-ran Northumberland, and continued their victorious career to the Humber, and the confines of the city of York.

But

‡ Vide Tacitum in vita Agricola. Fordunum. Buchannanum.