A legacy of Romans - or giants?

There can be lots of chilly days with fogs, rain and even snow or hail and, of course, being the month of March, we can experience powerful breezes and even gales. March, it is said, is the month of many weathers.

Despite the downside of the period, the sun is proving once again that it does produce wonderful, life-giving warmth and light which makes us more cheerful, causes the birds to sing, the animals to mate, the flowers to bloom and the trees to produce their delicate new leaves.

In all, therefore, it's a happy time with the promise of wonderful things to come. Not surprisingly, spring is always welcome and I believe it was Chaucer who reckoned that March, with its links to this bright new season, was the month in which the world began.

Incidentally, March 21 used to be the feast day of the famous St Benedict, founder of western monasticism, but, for reasons I do not know, his feast was moved to July 11.

Today, however, remains the feast day of St Enda, a fifth-century Irish warrior who turned to religion as he matured.

After a young life of violence, he reformed and was ordained in Rome. He returned to his native Ireland to build a monastery on the uninhabited island of Aranmore in Galway Bay.

An overheard conversation in a splendid rural inn revealed that some people remain confused between the General Wade who built military roads in Scotland and the legendary giant Wade, who built his famous causeway across the North York Moors. So we have two Wades, both of whom were road-builders.

General George Wade (1673-1748) was a soldier who became military governor in England during the Jacobite rebellion.

In 1724, he was despatched to the Scottish Highlands, where he began to build a series of metalled roads and his fame in this respect has been perpetuated in the lines:

Had you seen these roads before they were made

You would lift up your hands and bless General Wade.

Nearer to home, however, the giant Wade is credited with the building of Wade's Causeway on Wheeldale, near Goathland, in the North York Moors, although, in reality, this was built by the Romans.

Nonetheless, it is a fascinating story and Wade's Causeway survives on our moors. It is open to the public and can be reached from Goathland, where the route is well sign-posted.

The road is 16ft (4.87m) wide and about a mile and a quarter long. It is made up of large flat stones covered with smaller pebbles and gravel, and the centre is raised for drainage.

There are drains and culverts and, although this was once a smooth road, it is now very rough with larger stones protruding.

At more than 1600 years old, it is a remarkable feat of construction, especially considering our own roads were mud lanes until little more than a century ago.

The Roman road was re-discovered in 1914 and came into the care of the Department of the Environment.

Wade's Causeway, as it will always be known, is part of the Roman network which extended from Malton towards the famous Cawthorn Camps near Pickering and then through Cropton Forest and over the moors to Wheeldale.

It passed Julian Park near Goathland, then Randymere Reservoir and across the River Esk near Grosmont towards Dunum Sinus, which some believe to be Dunsley. It ended at the Roman signalling station at Goldsborough, near Sandsend.

When the Romans left, the road fell into disrepair. Stones were used to build local houses and farms and in time it was smothered by heather and bracken.

By the Middle Ages, the road had been forgotten, but one can imagine the puzzlement in the mind of simple moorfolk whenever a part of it was uncovered.

In their minds, this was a huge pathway across the moors and such was it's size and complexity that it could only have been built by a very clever giant.

According to legend, there was a giant nearby. He was called Wade and lived with his wife, Bell, in a huge castle at Mulgrave, near Sandsend.

The myth arose that he and Bell built that castle with their bare hands and also built Pickering Castle, 18 miles away, by tossing their hammer to one another across the moors.

They lived in both these fine homes, but Bell had a giant cow upon which the family depended and it was her task to milk it.

Making the journey across the moors in winter was hazardous, even for a giant, for there were deep and dangerous bogs, so the giant pair decided to build a road.

That simple tale explained the presence of this mighty road on the moors and in its original form - longer than the present portion - it followed almost exactly the route of the ancient Roman road.

The story was supplemented by other yarns, such as Bell carrying in her apron huge amounts of stone or shingle from Sandsend beach.

On one occasion, her apron strings broke under the strain and the equivalent of 20 cartloads of stone fell to the ground. They can still be seen as a hillock near the Causeway, in addition to other small mounds along the entire route.

On another occasion, Wade became so angry that he scooped a huge handful of earth from the moors and threw it at Bell. Happily, he missed. That mound is now called Blakey Topping and it was scooped out of what is now the Hole of Horcum.

In fact, when the sun is in the right place, you can see the outline of his fingers on the side of the Hole of Horcum!

There are other reminders of Wade and Bell upon those moors, such as a stone at Littlebeck called Old Wife's Neck because of its similarity to a giant woman's head.

The interesting thing about this legend and its various interpretations is that a man called Wade did exist. He was one of the conspirators by whom Ethelred, the brutal King of Northumbria, was murdered in AD 796.

Wade was considered a saviour of the people, but the King's friends were far from pleased. Wade actually lived in a castle at Mulgrave, sometimes called Foss Castle, and he fortified it while continuing to fight cruelty between the Scottish Border and the Humber for more than 30 years.

Wade became a folk hero who was adored by the peasants of his time, and was said to be gentle and tender in all his domestic endeavours.

He was not immortal, however, and either died from distemper or was fatally wounded by Ardulph, Ethelred's next-but-one successor.

He managed to stagger home to Mulgrave, where his grave was marked by Wade's Stone.

One of the country's best-known artists, Piers Browne, lives at Nappa Scar, near Askrigg in Wensleydale.

Recently he published a superb book called The Glorious Trees of Great Britain, with a foreword by Prince Charles and an introduction from David Bellamy.

It is a most handsome volume comprising paintings by Piers Browne with words by poets and authors, past and present. Among the contributors I spotted the names of William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Thomas Gray, Robert Browning, John Keats, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Walter Scott, Dylan Thomas and many more, including a certain Nicholas Rhea.

In all cases, their words are a celebration of trees, either in general or in particular, but it is the artistry of Piers Browne which gives this book its unique character.

In his foreword, Prince Charles writes of the steely glint of winter sun on the bark of an elderly oak and the first fresh green leaves of a birch in spring and it is such images of trees, enhanced by the words of poets and authors, which have provided Piers Browne with his wonderful raw material.

My modest piece concerns a visit to the famous Fortingall Yew in Glen Lyon, Scotland. This tree is said to be the oldest piece of vegetation in Europe, being some 3,000 years old and living still despite attacks by advancing age, fire and axes. Piers has produced an atmospheric painting of the village, complete with golden eagle.

With the trees of Scotland in mind, Piers is having a Scotland launch of his book at Broughton Place, Broughton, near Peebles. The village is the birthplace of author John Buchan and Piers' launch is from Sunday until April 22, except Wednesdays.

More details can be obtained from Piers on 01969 650434 or www.piersbrowne.com.