The causeway was a Roman road which started at Portgate on Hadrian's Wall, north of Corbridge, and extended 55 miles (89 km) northwards across Northumberland to the mouth of the River Tweed at Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Leading down to them is a sunken track called The Cut, which has been claimed to be the true line of the Devil's Causeway – its actual route through Hartburn is disputed.

Possibly there were two routes through the woods, both now marked by sunken lanes, the western one pre-dating the building of the bridge, and the eastern one post-dating it.

The Old Vicarage in Hartburn is at heart a Northumbrian pele tower, with later additions including an 18th-century library wing added by Dr John Sharpe.

It was commissioned by Mr and Mrs Straker of nearby Angerton Hall, whose gardens Lutyens renovated in 1904, and unveiled on 31 July 1921.