y to Berwick. The military road
here leaves the Wall, with which it does not again come into close
contact until both are near Carlisle, though in several places the Roman
road will be encountered near the Wall in a well-preserved condition.
The Wall now climbs another ascent to the farmhouse of Sewingshields,
which name is variously explained as "Seven Shields," and as "The shiels
(shielings, or little huts) by the seugh" or hollow--the hollow being
the fosse. Sewingshields Castle, long since disappeared, is the scene of
the knight's adventures in Sir Walter Scott's "Harold the Dauntless."
And tradition asserts that King Arthur, with Queen Guinevere and all the
court, lies in an enchanted sleep beneath the castle, or at least its
site. Not only is there no castle, but the Wall also has been despoiled
to supply the material for building the farmhouse and other buildings in
the neighbourhood. The Wall climbs unfalteringly over the crags, one
after the other, until the wide opening of Busy Gap is reached. This
being such a convenient pass from north to south, it was naturally used
constantly by raiders and thieves; and such an unenviable notoriety did
it possess, that to call a person a "Busy Gap rogue" was sufficient to
lay oneself open to an action for libel. Climbing the next slope we look
down on Broomlee Lough and reach the portion of the Wall we have already
noted--Borcovicus (Housesteads), Cuddy's Crag, Hot Bank farmhouse, and
Crag; Lough.

The course of the Wall continues, past Milking Gap, along the rugged
heights of Steel Rig, Cat's Stairs, and Peel Crag, till on reaching
Winshields we are at the highest point on the line, 1,230 feet above the
sea-level. Dipping down to Green Slack, the Wall crosses the valley
called Lodham Slack, and begins to ascend once more. The local names of
gaps and heights in this neighbourhood are highly descriptive, and
sometimes weirdly suggestive; we have had Cat's Stairs, and now we come
to Bogle Hole, Bloody Gap, and Thorny Doors. A little further west from
here the very considerable remains of a mile-castle may be seen, in
which a tombstone was found doing duty as a hearth-stone. The
inscription recorded that it had been erected by Pusinna to the memory
of her husband Dagvaldus, a soldier of Pannonia.

Westward from this mile-castle the Wall climbs Burnhead Crag, on which
the foundations of a building, similar to the turrets, were exposed a
few years ago; then it dips down again