Whatever doubt may hang over the Roman name of this station, none attaches to the modern—Wallsend
... Ab illo Dicitur, æternumque tenet per sæcula nomen.
The number of places along the course of the Wall which have derived their names from this great work, is very striking, and proves the importance that has been attached to it. Without examining a map, and simply drawing upon the resources of my own memory and note-book, the following examples occur: In Northumberland, we have Wallsend, Walker, Wall-knoll in Newcastle, Benwell, Wallbottle, Heddon-on-the-Wall, Welton, Wall-houses, Wall, Walwick, Shields-on-the-Wall, Wall-mill, Walltown, Thirlwall, and Wall-end; in Cumberland, we have Walton, Wallbours, Old-Wall, High Wallhead, Middle Wallhead, Low Wallhead, Wallby, and Wallfoot.
The present village of Wallsend is about half a mile distant from the station, a little to the north of the turnpike road. It is, however, of modern erection. Brand says that ‘an old woman, still living, remembers when the site of the present Wallsend was an empty field.’ The traditional account of its erection is, that a plague having desolated the original town, which stood upon the site of the camp, and was built out of its ruins, the terrified inhabitants forsook the spot, and sought shelter in the new locality.
_SECTION, after Warburton, of the Mountains at Bradley, shewing the relation, in the hill-district, between the Wall and the Vallum._ _REID. LITHO. NEWCASTLE._ ]
A person unaccustomed to examine the remains of Roman forts, will probably be disappointed to find the ramparts of Wallsend so feebly marked; but one who brings to the task a practised eye, will give a good account of the land, and express his surprise that so much of the camp is left. The station, it must be remembered, is situated on the edge of a river the scene of an immense commerce, in the vicinity of a large town, and in the centre of a great mining district.
The station of SEGEDUNUM has occupied an area of three acres and a half. The Wall, coming from the west, has struck the north cheek of its western gateway, and there terminated. The walls of the station would be a sufficient protection to the garrison against attack from the north or other quarters, but to prevent the enemy getting within the barrier, by passing between the station and the river, the eastern wall of the station has been brought down to the river, and continued into it to low-water mark.[56]