bridge receiving the name of Pons Aelii, after the Emperor (Publius
AElius Hadrianus). This became the second station on the Great Wall
erected by Hadrian's orders along the line of forts which Agricola had
raised forty years before. This station shared the fate of others on the
abandonment of Britain by its powerful conquerors, who had now for more
than two hundred years been its no less powerful friends and protectors.
Pons Aelii fell into ruins; but so advantageous a site could not long be
overlooked, and we read of a Saxon settlement there, apparently that of
a religious community, from which fact it was known as Monkchester. All
the records of this period seem to have perished, for we hear nothing of
the settlement during the Danish invasions; but a Saxon town of some
kind was evidently in existence at the time of the Conquest, though in
1073 three monks from the south who came to York, and, obtaining a guide
to "Muneche-cester," sought for some religious house in that settlement,
could find none, and were prevailed upon by the first Norman Bishop of
Durham, Walcher, to stay at Jarrow. The years from 1069 to 1080 were
evil years for Northumberland, for at the first-named date the Conqueror
devastated the North, and left neither village nor farm unscathed; and,
as the desolated land was beginning to recover again, Odo of Bayeux and
Robert of Normandy relentlessly laid it waste once more, partly in
revenge for the murder of Bishop Walcher at Gateshead, and partly to
punish Malcolm of Scotland for his invasion of Norman territory.

It was on his return from this expedition, which had penetrated as far
north as Falkirk, that Robert, by his father's orders, raised a
stronghold on the Tyne on the site of the old Roman fort, in the year
1080. His brother, William Rufus, erected a much stronger and better
one, the Keep of which, re-built by Henry II., stands to-day dark and
grim, looking out over river and town, as it has stood since the Red
King ruled the land, and, like his father, the Conqueror, found it
desirable to have a stronghold at this northern point of his turbulent
realm, around which a town might grow up in safety.

The roof and battlements of the Keep are modern, but the rest of it--the
walls, 12 to 18 feet thick; the dismal dungeon, or guard chamber, with
iron rings and fetters still fastened to the walls and central pillar;
the beautiful little chapel, with its finely-ornamented arches; the
little chambers