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 Condercum (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. Passing 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 passes Wall Houses and Halton Shields, where the various lines of the Wall, road, and earthworks, as well as the fosse of each, can be distinctly seen. Passing 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.