TOPIC: Attic ventilation

Inspected an old farm house today.  The only ventilation in the attic was through roof vents near the peak.  No easy opportunity for soffit ventilation because the brick went right up to the roof deck.  The rafters were supported by the bricks.  Hip roof so no place for gable vents. Would adding roof vents closer to the eave help at all or would they cause problems?
Thanks

Do you have some pictures of the deck & roof?

Here is a picture of the roof deck from the attic.  You can see the brick going right up to the roof deck. 

I am not sure how well a typical roof vent would provide soffit- like ventilation in this case.  I do know they make retrofit vents for wood frame homes without soffits but am not sure of installing vents on the lower part of the roof deck.  I would be curious to see if roof vents installed near the bottom would actually draw air in or as you mentioned create unusal air currents within the attic space.  What about treating the brick like a crawlspace and carefully remove bricks in order to facilitate the installation of a pre-fab vent?  Care would have to be taken to ensure the vent was paritially covered to discourage moisture intrusion.

This is obviously an example of a very old residential structure.  Was there actually any problems observed?  I have noticed that in the older homes that lack of ventilation does not create the same types of problems as with newer construction. 

I clicked on your pic after my response.  Is the moisture from a roof leak or from the lack of ventilation?  Guess I should have really checked out your pic before my first response.  Also what type of shingle is installed?

I do not make to big of a deal out of attic ventilation in older homes unless there are obvious issues..
I see them 100 years old with no ventilation and doing fine.