ROCHESTER-WARD, a township in the parish
of ELSDON, southern division of COQUETDALE ward,
county of NORTHUMBERLAND, 12 miles (N.) from Bellingham,
containing 491 inhabitants. A small village,
called High Rochester, situated on the brow of a rugged
eminence, occupies the site of the ancient Bremenium,
the strongest of the Roman stations in the north, and
previously the chief fortification of the Ottodini. Portions
of the walls on the west and south-west sides still
remain; they were seven feet in thickness, chequered
with ashlar-work, and defended by triple ramparts of
earth. The hypocaust was in the north-eastern part
of the walls, and the conduits leading to it were, a
few years since, in a tolerably perfect state. Numerous
altars, urns, and other relics, have been found here; and
in the neighbourhood are several rude sepulchral monuments
of the ancient Britons, which prove that it
must have been the scene of many sanguinary conflicts
between the Ottodini and the Romans, before the conquest
of the former.