_DRUMBURGH_ contains distinct remains of a small stationary camp. This, if Watch-cross be rejected, was the sixteenth station of the Wall, and consequently, the AXELODUNUM of the Notitia, which was garrisoned by the first cohort of the Spaniards. The camp is on the grounds of Richard Lawson, esq. The ramparts are well defined, as well as the ditch which surrounds them. The whole area is covered with a luxuriant sward, and its northern margin is shaded by some thriving ash-trees. No portion of the Wall remains in its vicinity, but its present proprietor remembers witnessing the removal of the foundation. The northern rampart of the station did not come up to the Wall, but was removed a few yards from it; probably the military way ran between the station and the Wall. The station at Barr-hill, on the Antonine Wall, is similarly situated.
South of the station is a well, enclosed by a circular wall of Roman masonry. It is still in use, though the water is drawn from it by a pump.
The mediæval castle, of which there are considerable remains, is a very fine specimen of the ancient fortified manor-house. It is built of Roman stones. Extensive alterations were made upon it in the reign of Henry VIII. The habitable part of it is now occupied as a farm-house.
The tranquillity of this region was not always what it now is.
Standing on the northern rampart of the station, Mr. Lawson, the aged proprietor, directed the attention of the Pilgrim-party of 1849 to a small cottage on the opposite shore. ‘There,’ said he, ‘lived a Scottish reaver, who in the days of my grandfather made, on nineteen successive Easter-eves, a successful foray on the English side. A twentieth time he prepared to go; his family remonstrated, he however persisted, saying that this should be his last attempt. Our people were prepared for him and slew him.’ Some of the party asked ‘what notice did the law take of the transaction?’ 'None; the law which could not protect a man, would not punish him for taking the law into his own hands.'
Now, nearly arrived at the western extremity of the great Barrier, we meet with but few traces of its characteristic masonry; enough, however, remains to lure us pleasantly to our journey’s end.