3 Review(s)

After the success of his 1851 book on the Roman Wall (also reissued in this series), in 1863 John Collingwood Bruce (1805-92) published this shorter work, intended as 'a guide to pilgrims journeying along the Barrier of the Lower Isthmus'. Designed 'for the field, not the library table', it sought 'to inform the traveller what he is to look for, and to assist him in examining it'. Bruce first gives a short history of the wall, including medieval and more recent accounts, and then an overview of the 73-mile structure itself, from Wallsend in the east to Bowness in the west. The remainder of the book, illustrated with maps and line engravings, leads the traveller from section to section, noting details such as the re-use of Roman masonry in more recent buildings. This guide was enormously popular, and newly revised versions continue to be published in the twenty-first century.