Bewcastle

Roman legionaries assigned to the fort at what is now Bewcastle must certainly have felt that they had drawn the short straw. The fort stood all on its own, about nine miles north of Hadrian’s Wall, guarding a crossing over the Kirk Beck. The site covered around six acres and most of it is now occupied by the ruins of a Norman Castle. Most of the south wall is still standing but little else remains and the castle is best admired for its setting rather than its architecture.

A much more impressive survival dominates the village churchyard. Here stands the Bewcastle Cross, erected around AD670 and one of the oldest and finest stone crosses in Europe. Standing over 13 feet in height, its intricate Celtic carvings have survived the centuries of weathering and much of the runic inscription can still be made out in the yellow sandstone. One of the carvings, a semicircle with 13 radiating lines, three of which have crossbars, is believed to be a sophisticated sundial, which not only indicated the 12 hours of the Roman clock, but also the three ‘tides’ of the Saxon day - morning, noon and eventide.

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