Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume II.djvu/80

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This spot is a few miles from Burd- Oswald, where the fields are bounded to the north by the wall of Severus, which runs high, bold, and pro- minent, exhibiting to the height of two or three feet the original facing of the wall, that seems to have been composed of smoothly hewn stones of an oblong form. Mounting a hill from this part, it proceeds to the little hamlet called Bank-Hill, the ditches and military road clearly defined the whole way; it then forms the boundary of a lane for a considerable distance, and is at length obliterated by the operations of husbandry.

From the wall we descended towards Lanecost Priory, an Augustine monastery, founded in 1 1 16, quietly situated in a broad vale watered by the Irthing, and surrounded on all sides by lofty hills. Little of the monastery remains, though heretofore its buildings were extensive, and sufficiently mag- nificent to lodge King Edward I. who remained here for some time durinp" a fit of illness in one of his Scotch expeditions. But the architecture of the church points out that the style of die other build- ings was originally Anelo-Norman; a feature of this is seen in the church-yard gate, a fine semi- circular arch. The church, which is cruciform, is entered by a grand portal of similar construction, consisting of numerous mouldings supported by

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