Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/55

 3 6 ' THE fflSf (JRY bottle the age of Agricola a gateway blithe fouth and* north as well as on. the eaft and weft ' And filch a gateway was particularly requifite: in thi? caftrum, in order to afford .i* ready paflkge frofifcthe fta^ tion to the river, and the only one that could be fecure in a fieges> But about fifty-five yards from the fouth-weftern angle, ther ground betwixt the ftation arid the river falling brifkly away to. the weft, the vallum* which -continues in a right line along the ridge, neceffarily rifes, till it has a (harp flope of twenty yards, hi height at the angle.. And the whole range of the- foutltertr. vallum appears half- fronted half-crefted at firft wkh a- brokeir. hedge of thorns, a flender oakling riling from the ridge of the- wall, and rearing its little head coiifiderably over the reft-, and: runs afterwards in a fmooth line nearly level for feveral' yards, with the ground about it, and juft perceptible to the eye in a : : finall rounded eminence of turf. < ' r ' At the fouth -weftcrn point of the caftrum the ground' flbp'es away on the weft towards the fouth as well as on the fouth towards the weft. And the Wftefn fide f ftill" runs from it nearly as it ran at firft, having aft evencreft about feveft feet in Height^ an even flo£6 of turf for its whoje, extent, *nd .tHe watt J in alt. it$ original condition fceneatlv About forty * yard's -from, the north-wefterh angjfe was tHe Pbrta Dfecumaria of the ftation,. the ground vifibly flbping. up the afcentofthe wairin a large fhelve- of graVeF, arid .running in a fligjit percejvab'Ie ridge, ^qm it.1 And* Beyond a, level b£ fbrty-fivfc yards, that ftiu ilretcHes oh for tlie whole length of 'the ficte, it ya$ bounded* by. the, weitern tx>un- ; - dary of the Bfitiftl. city* the ffiarp flbpe of fifty 4 yards to the: rnorafs below it f , r ' On the northern fide pre fevejrarchaftns.in the original cpurfo; 6f the vailtjiri,. And in. one of tliena, abpiit forty-eight .'yard& from the eaftfcta termination, miiflf ha.ve been another gateway opening iiito. tlje ftation dire&ly from, the great road to Rib-* chefter. The remaining parts of the wall ftill*. rife five, .fix, # arid four feet in height, lined all the way with a thick .uninterrupted hedge X)f thorns, above, arid exhibiting a broken chequered fceneryto %ht eye below. Various parts of- the rampart have hceik