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Title: The Towns of Roman Britain
Author: James Oliver Bevan
Release Date: July 3, 2010 [EBook #33059]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TOWNS OF ROMAN BRITAIN ***
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[Frontispiece: Roman Britain shewing the chief Roman Roads.]
THE TOWNS OF ROMAN BRITAIN
By the
Rev. J. O. Bevan,
M.A., F.G.S., Assoc. Inst. C.E., F.S.A.;
Fellow of the College of Preceptors and Examiner, Sometime Prizeman,
Exhibitioner and Foundation Scholar of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
Author of
"_The Genesis and Evolution of the Individual Soul_"
"_Egypt and the Egyptians_"
"_University Life in the Middle Ages_"
"_Handbook of the History and Development of Philosophy_"
"_Archæological Map of Herefordshire_"
and numerous other Works.
London
Chapman & Hall, Ltd.
1917
[All Rights Reserved]
THE WESTMINSTER PRESS
411A HARROW ROAD
LONDON W
PREFACE
The Author writes the last line of this book with a sigh at the
incompleteness of his work. He is conscious he has touched but the
fringe of the mantle covering the form of the silent Muse of History,
but his efforts will be justified if he succeeds in persuading even a
single student to persevere and lead the fair Clio to disclose the
full story of which broken whispers are here recorded. No one can
doubt the fascination of this page of our nation's development,
dealing as it does with the dawn of that day of which, please God,
the complete effulgence will shine more and more to the perfect end.
In this brochure attention has been chiefly directed to the _towns_
of Roman Britain, as it would have required a volume of stupendous
size to formulate a record of sites associated with isolated
settlements, camps, burrows, "and bowers," or grounds whereon sports
were conducted. Again, there are spots of interest more or less
connected with Roman occupation, in tradition or in fact, such as
Alderney,[1] Porchester,[2] Glastonbury, Avebury, Arbow Low in
Derbyshire, Stripple Stones, on Bodmin Moor, in Cornwall, the
hill-fort in Parc-y-meirch Wood, Dinorben, Denbighshire. The line we
have been compelled to draw necessarily excludes such as these. The
present work is intended to furnish a compendious guide to readers
who desire to study the fruits of the Roman occupation, to trace out
the roads they laid down, and to possess themselves of the position
and essential features of the centres where they congregated for
commerce, pleasure, or defence. The Author has long been attracted to
the elucidation of the early history of Britain, and this feeling was
intensified by the work he undertook some years ago in connection
with the compilation of an Archæological Map of Herefordshire, on
lines laid down by the Society of Antiquaries. His experience at that
time made him aware how such an undertaking might serve to quicken
the curiosity, and to whet the expectation of the student of old time
as to the wonderful secrets which await the skilful use of such
humble implements as the shovel and the pick in almost any quarter of
our island home.
[Footnote 1: Alderney (Ald, _old_; Ey, _island_). This, the most
northerly of the four Channel Islands seems to have been known to the
Romans as _Riduna_. Remains of ancient dwellings have been found
there.]
[Footnote 2: To the north of Portsmouth Harbour is situated
Porchester Castle, a ruined Norman fortress, occupying the site of
the _Portus Magnus_ of the Romans.]
The Author desires to convey his acknowledgments to Messrs. Philip
and Son, Ltd., of Fleet Street, for their kindness in permitting him
to make use of the blocks for the two Maps which appear in this
volume.
CHILLENDEN RECTORY,
CANTERBURY.
_Nov., 1916_.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Introduction
Historical Sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Early History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Main Divisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Roman Britain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Remains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Introduction of Christianity . . . . . . . . 10
Influence of Roman Occupation . . . . . . . . 11
Roman Roads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Roman Influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
List of Roman Towns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Aldborough (_Isurium Brigantum_) . . . . . . 19
Aldeburgh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Bath (_Aquae Solis_, or _Sulis_) . . . . . . 19
Caerleon (_Isca Siluvum_) . . . . . . . . . . 22
Caerwent (_Venta Silurum_) . . . . . . . . . 24
Caistor Castle (_Venta_) . . . . . . . . . . 24
Canterbury (_Durovernum_) . . . . . . . . . . 24
Cardiff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chester (_Caerleon Vawr_) . . . . . . . . . . 28
Chesterford (_Iceanum_) . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Chichester (_Regnum_) . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Cirencester (_Corininum_) . . . . . . . . . . 30
Colchester (_Camolodunum_) . . . . . . . . . 30
Corstopitum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
The Wall of Hadrian . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
The Wall of Antonine . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Dorchester (Dorsetshire) (_Durnovaria_) . . . 35
Dorchester (Oxfordshire) (_Dorcinia_) . . . . 36
Dover (_Dubris_) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Exeter (_Caer Isca_; _Isca Damnoniorum_) . . 38
Gloucester (_Glevum_) . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Isle of Wight (_Vectis_) . . . . . . . . . . 39
Kenchester (_Magni_) . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Lancaster (_Castra ad Alaunam_) . . . . . . . 40
Leicester (_Ratae_) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Lincoln (_Lindum Colonia_, or _Lindocolina_) 41
London (_Augusta_) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Lympne (_Lemanae_) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Maldon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Manchester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Portsmouth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Reculver (_Regulbium_) . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Richborough (_Rutupiae_) . . . . . . . . . . 50
Rochester (_Durobrivae_) . . . . . . . . . . 51
Silchester (_Calleva Atre-batum_) . . . . . . 51
St. Albans (_Verulamium_) . . . . . . . . . . 52
Winchester (_Venta Belgarum_) . . . . . . . . 54
Wroxeter (_Uriconium_, or _Viroconium_) . . . 55
York (_Eboracum_) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Appendix A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Appendix B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Appendix C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Appendix D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
TABLE OF MAPS.
Roman Britain showing the chief Roman Roads Frontispiece
The Roman Wall To face page 31
INTRODUCTION
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
The earliest notice of Britain is in Herodotus (B.C. 480-408); but he
mentions the Tin Islands (Scilly Islands and Cornwall), only to
confess his ignorance about them. More important is a passage in
Aristotle (B.C. 384-322), who (writing a century later) is the
earliest author who mentions the British Isles by name, as he does in
the following passage: "Beyond the Pillars of Hercules (the Strait of
Gibraltar) the ocean flows round the earth, and in it are two very
large islands (Nesoi Britannikoi), called in British Albion and
Ierne, lying beyond the Keltoi." The application of the name
Britannia to denote the larger island, is due to Julius Cæsar (B.C.
100-44), who is the first _Roman_ writer to mention Britain. The name
itself may be derived from Welsh, _brith_, mottled, tattooed, or from
_brithyn_, cloth, cloth-clad, as opposed to the skin-clad Celts.
The history of Britain would be a very long one if we only knew it.
It is clear that a considerable interchange of commerce was carried
on between the south-eastern parts of the island and Gaul, and that
even the remoter regions of the Mediterranean were largely dependent
upon Britain for their supplies of tin from the Cornish mines, of
lead from Somerset, and of iron from Northumberland and the Forest of
Dean.
Politically, Britain consisted of a number of independent bodies,
united in a federation of the loosest kind, in which the lead was
taken by that tribe which happened at the time to be the most
powerful or to have the bravest or most astute leader.
About B.C. 56 Caius Volusenus was sent to this country by Julius
Cæsar to examine the coast preparatory to an invasion. The step was
threatened, because it was alleged that the Britons had aided and
abetted some of the Gaulish tribes in their resistance to the Roman
domination. On August 26th, B.C. 55, Cæsar himself set sail from
Portus Itius, near Boulogne, with two legions, and effected a
landing, presumably near Deal. A good deal of discussion has taken
place relative to this point, and much has been said as to the action
of the winds and tides in determining his landing place. Probably he
would have made a feint at Dover and one or two other places, under
cover of which the main body would land at a spot weakly defended. At
all events, the resistance offered by the British was soon overcome,
easy terms being imposed on their submission. Soon after, Cæsar left,
but early in the following summer he again invaded these shores with
five legions and two thousand cavalry. He landed in the same
neighbourhood as before, and advanced 12 miles inland to the river
Stour before meeting with the islanders. Ultimately he decisively
defeated Cassivelaunus, the leader, either near London or his
capital, Verulamium. The conqueror departed at the fall of the year,
without leaving behind any garrison, but, at the same time, taking
away hostages to ensure the carrying out of the terms imposed.
Then ensues a period during which direct Roman influence of a
dominant or military character fell into abeyance, so that one is
required to take up the tale at a much later period, viz., the
accession of Claudius, in A.D. 41. That emperor determined to carry
out the intention of Augustus to exact the promised tribute from
Britain. In 43 he despatched Aulus Plautius with four legions, who
obtained an easy victory. Claudius himself received the submission of
the tribes. In 42, Vespasian also--who afterwards became emperor in
69--was warring against the Silurian chief, Caradog, or Caractacus (a
son of Cunobelin). The latter was defeated in 50 by P. Ostorius
Scapula, and found refuge in the country of Cartismandua, queen of
the Brigantes, who, however, ultimately gave up her prisoner.
There is a tradition embodied in the Welsh Triads that Caradog and
his wife were taken to Rome, and that three hostages accompanied
them, by name Bran, Llin, and Claudia, respectively the father, son,
and daughter of the brave British chieftain. It is further surmised
that Llin and Claudia were the Linus and Claudia referred to by St.
Paul in 2 Tim. iv, 21, and that Bran, after seven years banishment at
Rome--where he embraced Christianity under the influence of the great
Apostle of the Gentiles--returned to his native land to proclaim the
new religion to the people.
In 61, Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, revolted against the Roman yoke,
sacked London and Colchester, but was defeated near the former city,
and took poison rather than fall into the hands of the victors.
Agricola became governor in 78, and subjected to his rule the
Ordovices Nivales. Not long after, he attacked the Brigantes and
Galgacus. In 120, Hadrian was engaged in building the Roman or Pict
wall between the Tyne and Solway Frith, which has for so long borne
his name. Nineteen years later, Tollius Urbicus constructed the
rampart, called the Wall of Antonine (Antoninus Pius 86-161), along
the line of Agricola's forts, built between the Forth and the Clyde,
to overawe the wild tribes to the north. This wall is now known by
the name of Graeme's Dyke. In 207 onwards, Severus built a new wall
along the line of Hadrian's rampart. He died at York in 211. The
years 287, 288, saw the reigns of Carausius and Allectus. In 296,
Constantius Chlorus regained Britain for Rome. He also died at York
in 306. In 307 the Picts and Scots overran the country as far as
London. The General Theodosius was sent to oppose them, and drove
them back beyond Valentia, the fifth Roman division northwards. The
title of Emperor was assumed by Maximus in 383, but he was put to
death in 388. Stilicho, the general of Honorius, transferred one
legion from Britain into Gaul. This weakened the defence of the land
against the northern tribes, as the legion never returned. At this
epoch ever-growing confusion and division manifested themselves
within the Roman Empire, whereupon its hold on distant provinces grew
weaker and weaker. At one period there were as many as six Emperors
contending with one another for the sole authority; and in 410, the
year in which Rome was sacked by the Goths under Alaric, the Roman
occupation was terminated according to the terms of a letter
addressed by Honorius to the cities of Britain.
EARLY HISTORY.
Nothing very specific can be said about the settlements of the Celtic
inhabitants of these islands before the coming of Cæsar. The country
must have been largely covered by forests and intersected by fens.
Different tribes occupied different centres and were nomadic
according to the season of the year. Barter was common, and there
must have been facilities for the distribution of those goods which
had their origin in Gaul. An export trade, too, was actively carried
on in regard to such metals as tin, which were borne in rude
conveyances along well-defined trackways wrought out along the
sheltered sides of hills.
Certain spots--woods, hills, wells--from their size, shape, position,
or some accidental association, were regarded as sacred, and became
the centres of religious worship, of sacrifice, and of schools of
priests. Thus we have--then, or in somewhat later times--Bangor,
Mona, or the Isle of Augury, Stonehenge, Avebury, etc.
The coming of the Romans led to the opening up of new roads, and
caused the building of walls of defence against predatory tribes. It
also accentuated the position of many of the camps, centres of
population, and strategic posts.
MAIN DIVISIONS.
In the reign of Claudius (B.C. 41-A.D. 54), the country south of the
Solway Frith and the mouth of the Tyne formed one Roman province
under a consular legate and a procurator. Ptolemy (_fl._ 139-162)
(who flourished at Alexandria, and was one of the greatest of ancient
geographers) mentions 17 native tribes as inhabiting this district.
The Emperor Severus (146-211) divided the whole into two parts,
Britannia Inferior, the south, and Britannia Superior, the north. In
the division of the country under Diocletian, Britain was made a
diocese in the prefecture of Gaul, and was governed by a vicarius,
residing at York. It was split up into five provinces, of which the
boundaries, though somewhat uncertain, are supposed to have been as
follows:
_Britannia Prima_--the country south of the Thames and of the Bristol
Channel.
_Britannia Secunda_--Wales.
_Flavia Caesariensis_--the country between the rivers Thames, Severn,
Mersey, and Humber.
_Maxima Caesariensis_--the rest of England, up to the wall of
Hadrian.
_Valentia_ (soon abandoned by the Romans), Scotland south of the Wall
of Antoninus.
To ensure the obedience of the natives, various Roman legions,
composed of Gauls, Germans, Iberians, rather than of pure Romans,
were stationed in Britain, viz., at such places as Eboracum (York),
Deva (Chester), Isca (Caerleon), and Magni, or Magna (Kenchester).[1]
[Footnote 1: In the _Itinerary_, as in the Ravenna Geographer, we
have only the form _Magnis_, presumably from a nominative _Magni_, or
_Magna_.]
ROMAN BRITAIN.
The population of Roman Britain was, in the main Celtic; the Cymric
division predominating in the south and east, the Gaidhelic in the
north and west. There existed, besides these, remnants of two earlier
races--a small dark-haired race, akin to the Basques, or Euskarian
(found in S.W. England, S. Wales,[2] and parts of the Scotch
Highlands), and a tall, fairhaired race.
[Footnote 2: See Appendices A & B.]
Under the Romans, many towns (_coloniae_ and _municipia_) were
founded. In several cases their position had been occupied, as winter
or summer quarters, by the aboriginal inhabitants; the choice of the
site being determined by the contour of the hills, the convergence of
trackways, or the proximity to the sea or rivers. Fifty-six Roman
towns are enumerated by Claudius Ptolemy (_fl._ A.D. 139-162). They
formed centres of Roman authority, law, commerce, and civilization;
the conquerors, to a very limited extent, were able to introduce
their own literature. Amongst others, the free inhabitants of
Eboracum and Verulamium enjoyed the coveted rights of Roman
citizenship. The Ravenna Geographer gives a list of towns--the names
of some of which being difficult to identify. Principally to ensure
military dominance, the conquerors made many main roads, mostly
centering in London. They also developed the land into a corn-growing
country.
The history of the towns that became Roman is known to us very
imperfectly and unevenly, in respect of elements earlier than the
conquest of A.D. 43; of the beginnings, whether official or personal;
of their size, original planning, character and composition of the
buildings, of the language, degree of civilization, and comparative
wealth of the inhabitants; of the relation of the town-life to the
life of the adjacent country-side. Further, great mystery shrouds the
particulars of their overthrow when the aegis of the Roman authority
was withdrawn. There are but few survivals of towns to the present
day, and parallels must be sought rather in Pannonia[3] and North
Africa than in the Western European Empire.
[Footnote 3: Now Illyria, a part of Hungary; finally subdued by
Tiberius, A.D. 8.]
REMAINS.
The site of a Roman town always occupied a commanding position as to
elevation, the confluence of roads, or the proximity of rivers. It
was surrounded with walls, which were pierced with gates defended by
towers and bastions. The houses of the well-off were unpretentious
outside, but were fitted inside with comfort and even elegance. The
rooms were built around a courtyard. In the villas at Brading and
Chedworth tesselated pavements have been found, and traces of baths.
Each city was furnished with a Forum, a Basilica, a Temple, and a
series of Public Baths. Outside the walls were a Theatre, an
Amphitheatre, and a Cemetery.
A goodly proportion of articles recovered constitute treasure-trove
in its purest form--objects buried, perhaps, by the owners in
expectation of a raid, and never recovered owing to the incidence of
death. Many finds have been simply fortuitous, but tombs have been
the most valuable repositories. The objects recovered therefrom are
in very different states of preservation. Fashioned iron implements
have suffered the greatest from natural decay, often merely
suggesting the fine smith's work lavished upon them; bronze articles
are the less corroded. Gold, the purest of metals, has defied the
ravages of time, and ornaments can be reproduced in the form and
semblance they possessed when they left the hands of the maker. It is
tolerably certain that women formed a part of the early Saxon and
Danish raiders; and it is no less certain that a few women, at
various times, came over with Roman soldiers or immigrants. To the
graves of women especially we look for the recovery of numberless
articles of use and adornment. Probably, at the first, there were
also surface memorials over the graves so closely jumbled together in
the cemeteries, but the violence of man and the inroads of the
weather would combine to sweep them away at an early period.
The Baths at Bath furnish the best example of the kind in England;
London also has the remains of a Bath of Roman times in the Strand.
It is stated that the church of St. Mary the Virgin at Dover is built
on the site of a Roman bath, and that the market square there
occupies the position of the Roman Agora. Pits used for tanning or
dyeing are to be seen at Silchester, and various other industrial
occupations are indicated from what may be seen at that city, at
Wroxeter, and at various other centres.
INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY.
Before Christianity was planted in Britain, the religion of its
inhabitants was Druidism. Julius Cæsar described this form of
devotion as it existed in Gaul. The history of the beginnings of
Christianity in this country is obscure. Most likely the faith was
originally proclaimed in Britain by various independent agents, in
different parts of the island. There are indistinct echoes of
apostolic origin--of contact with the East and with Spain; but
probably the new doctrine was introduced by merchants from Gaul or by
soldiers in the Roman legions who were sent into the island by
Claudius Cæsar under Aulus Plautius in the year 43 A.D. In the
following pages mention will be made of the martyrdom of certain of
these early saints at St. Albans and Caerleon.
It may be said that the first Christian institution in Britain,
_i.e._, the church of the garrison towns, was Roman in its origin and
atmosphere; and that the second was founded by the followers of S.
Germanus of Vienne, in France, whose Christianity was probably
derived from Ephesus. Also that the origins of Celtic Christendom
contained distinctively Greek elements. In the Romances,[4] too,
there are various obscure but significant indications of certain
influences derivable from Egyptian Christianity; but, vitally and
essentially, the Celtic Church constituted itself. Like that of
Ireland, it was tribal and monastic, not diocesan; and, in both
cases, this loose organization proved to be a source of great
weakness.
[Footnote 4: Compiled by such men as Robert of Gloucester (_temp._
Henry III).]
INFLUENCE OF ROMAN OCCUPATION.
Roman remains found in different parts of the island include
foundations of towns (such as Silchester, Wroxeter), streets,
milliaria, parts of walls and gates; baths, furnaces, flues, wooden
and leaden water-pipes (London, Bath); villas with mosaic pavements,
painted walls (London, Chedworth, near Cheltenham, Brading,
Carisbrooke); altars, votive inscriptions, sculptures, bridges,
weapons, tools, implements, pottery, domestic utensils, gold, silver,
and bronze ornaments and toilet articles, and coins.
The Romans laboured to render permanent their conquest of Britain.
They introduced their native refinement, and greatly improved British
arts. To this fact testimony is furnished by the tumuli, barrows,
earthworks, monoliths, cromlechs, cairns, and such like remains,
which are continually revealing secrets concealed ever since the
debâcle which followed the departure of the Roman hosts from our
shores. Even as these words were being written, the Author read in
_The Times_ of the day an account of Nonsuch Palace at Ye Well, or
Ewell, in Surrey, in which it was stated that in the course of recent
excavations for the creation of a Japanese garden and lakes, Roman
silver coins and pottery were found, testifying to the fact that
Ewell was a Roman settlement, being, in fact, identified with
Noviomagus.[5]
[Footnote 5: About the same time, the discovery of a Roman pavement
was recorded at Filey, and of coins and a Roman bath at Templeborough
Camp, Yorkshire.]
So true is it that below us on every side there have been hidden for
centuries by the dull, heavy soil, innumerable traces of the life,
working, and death of the different races of men successively
inhabiting this island. What a wonderful story would not these
remains be able to disclose if each claimant were granted a voice,
and if each voice could unfold its own narrative!
ROMAN ROADS.
The method of the construction of the Roman roads largely varied with
the nature of the country traversed; but they were uniformly raised
above the surface of the neighbouring land, and ran from station to
station in a straight course, almost regardless of hills. The more
important lines were elaborately constructed with a foundation of
hard earth, a bed of large stones, sometimes two more layers of rough
stones and mortar, then gravel, lime, and clay; and, above all, the
causeway was paved with flat stones. The width was generally about
fifteen feet, and at regular intervals were posting stations. The
distance was regularly marked off by milestones (_mille passuum_--a
thousand paces). The principal roads were four in number, viz.,
Watling Street, the Fosse Way, Icknield Street, and Ermine Street.
Originally, Watling Street probably ran from London to Wroxeter. Its
northward and westward continuations proceeded from Wroxeter into
Wales; its southern continuations between London, Canterbury and the
parts about Dover seem also to have received the same name.
Drayton, in his Polyolbion, XIII (1613), says:
"Those two mighty ways, the Watling and the Fosse ... the first
doth hold her way
From Dover to the furth'st of fruitful Anglesey;
The second, north and south, from Michael's utmost mount,
To Caithness, which the farth'st of Scotland we account."
The Fosse ran from the sea-coast at Seaton, in Devonshire, (R.
Maridunum) to Leicester, with a continuation known as High Street, to
the Humber.
The Icknield Way seems to have extended from east to west from
Icilgham, or Icklingham, near Bury St. Edmunds, underneath the chalk
ridge of the Chilterns and Berkshire Downs, to the neighbourhood of
Wantage, thence to Cirencester and Gloucester.
The Ermine Street ran north and south through the Fenland from London
to Lincoln.
Besides the four great lines there were many scarcely subordinate
ones. There were, _e.g._, several Icknield Streets. Akeman Street ran
from Bath, north-east by Cirencester, through Wych-wood Forest and
Blenheim to Alcester and Watling Street. A high-road ran from Exeter
to the Land's End in continuation of the Fosse. Another route ran
from Venta Silurum to St. David's Head; another to the Sarn Helen up
the western Welsh coast to Carnarvon (Welsh, _sarn_--a road).
ROMAN INFLUENCE.
To a certain extent the conqueror enters into the entail of the
conquered. Nevertheless he must obey the conditions of life which the
natural features, or the climate of the country of which he has
possessed himself, have compelled the aborigines to adopt.
Occasionally, as in the case of Greece and Rome, the conquered
enslave their masters in regard, at all events, to literature and
art; but this did not obtain in the case before us, for the Roman
occupation of Britain was largely military, and the Britons had
little enough to impart either in literature or art. It is
observable, however, that the Romans either did not seek to impose,
or were unable to impose, their religious ideas on the Britons. In
this connection it must be remembered that the composition of the
Roman legions was largely cosmopolitan.
The moral and religious influence brought to bear upon the native
Britons by reason of the Roman occupation of close on four centuries
can easily be overestimated. A section of the people in the vicinity
of Roman towns were humanized and civilized, but the sequel proved
that (to a certain extent) the fibre of the hardy and courageous
Briton deteriorated and his faculty of resource and fighting
diminished; so that when he was deserted by his Roman masters and
deprived of his leading strings, he fell a prey--though not until
after a protracted and sanguinary struggle--to the Pict and Scot and
Saxon, who were able to combine for the attack, and who were
regardless of ease and privation and love of life. Although the days
of this old time are far away, and the face of the land has changed,
this lesson is not without warning to the ignorant, indifferent,
pleasure-loving sections of our England of the twentieth century, and
this lesson is even now being brought home to us in no uncertain way
in our death-grip with a cruel and relentless foe.
LIST OF TOWNS
Here follows an alphabetical list of the Roman towns described in the
following pages:
Aldborough (Yorkshire), Aldborough (Suffolk), Bath, Caerleon,
Caerwent, Caistor, Canterbury, Cardiff, Chester, Chesterford,
Chichester, Cirencester, Corstopitum, Dorchester, Dover, Exeter,
Gloucester, Isle of Wight, Kenchester, Lancaster, Leicester, Lincoln,
London, Lympne, Maldon, Manchester, Portsmouth, Reculver,
Richborough, Rochester, Silchester, St. Albans, Winchester, Wroxeter,
York.
LIST OF TOWNS
ALDBOROUGH--(A.S. burh, buruh, byrig--an earthwork) is situated in
the West Riding of Yorkshire, 16 miles W.N.W. of York. It is now
remarkable only for its numerous ancient remains.
It was the Isurium Brigantum (the capital of the Brigantes) of the
Romans, and here and there in the neighbourhood the remains of
aqueducts, spacious buildings, and tesselated pavements have been
found, as well as numerous implements, coins and urns. The Museum
Isurianum is in the grounds of the Manor House.
ALDEBURGH, or ALDBOROUGH--is situated in the county of Suffolk, 25
miles E.N.E. of Ipswich.
The borough was incorporated by a charter of Edward VI, and in former
times was a place of considerable extent, but the old town known to
the Romans was gradually submerged by the encroachments of the sea.
BATH.--107-1/2 miles W. by S. of London. On the banks of the Avon.
Aquae Solis, corrupted by the Anglo-Saxons to Akemannes-ceaster--the
invalids' city--reached by the Akemannes Way.
For many centuries it has been known by its truly descriptive name of
Bath.
Tradition says it was founded by the British King Bladud, 863 B.C.;
but there is no real evidence of an early British settlement, though
the hot springs must have been known from the beginning. However, the
name of Aquae Solis is thought to point to a British goddess, Sol or
Solis, somewhat equivalent to the Roman Minerva. It was never a Roman
military station, being used apparently solely as a Spa.
The remains of the Roman Baths were first uncovered in 1755, when the
Duke of Kingston pulled down the old priory to form the Kingston
Baths. The remains disclosed included a bath, hypocaust, channels and
pipes for the passage of water and hot air, and tesselated pavements.
But very little use was made of the discovery for, though some
antiquaries took an interest in it, and a few relics were removed and
preserved, the spot was filled in and the site covered with buildings
for another 120 years. In 1878, however, public interest was aroused,
a number of houses were removed, and a large area (of which that
opened in 1755 was only a small part) was cleared, with the result
that an extensive system of baths in a remarkable state of
preservation was laid bare.
The great bath, some 70 feet long and 28 feet wide, was found to be
floored with lead two-thirds of an inch thick, in a perfectly sound
condition. The service-pipe being cleared out, the bath still held
water as it had done 1,500 years before.
What a find this lead floor would have been to the builders of the
houses above it had they but laid their foundations a few inches
deeper! It would have gone the same way as Alfred's coffin at
Winchester.
Several other baths--one circular--and hypocausts were opened out,
and--perhaps as interesting as anything--the culvert was discovered
for drawing off the waste water, an excellent piece of masonry, and
high enough for a man to stand upright in it. The remains of these
old Baths of the Romans are not mere traces of walls, intelligible
only to the antiquary, but are the actual basins, capable still of
use, and one can ascend by the same steps and tread the same pavement
as did the Roman bather of old.
On the Romans leaving Britain, the baths were for a long time
deserted, and were soon buried under alluvium by the flooding of the
river; but the hot springs never ceased to pour forth their abundant
stream. The waters are impregnated with calcium and sodium sulphates
and sodium and magnesium chlorides, and we must not forget the metal
which called forth Mr. Weller's description: "I thought they'd a very
strong flavour o' warm flat-irons." They are in greater vogue than
ever now that radium has been found to be one of the constituents.
Bath was a place of resort even in Saxon times; for our
forefathers--before the days of goloshes, mackintoshes and
umbrellas--must have been sad sufferers from rheumatic affections.
It is also clear that the brine-springs, or _wyches_, of Droitwich,
in Worcestershire, were also known to the Romans, as well as Spas in
other parts of the country. That there was a Roman station at
Droitwich is evidenced by the remains of a villa, containing
interesting and valuable relics, discovered some years ago during the
construction of the Oxford and Wolverhampton Railway.
CAERLEON, IN MONMOUTHSHIRE.
This is the Isca Silurum of the Romans. It is situated on the right
bank of the Usk, and is the Old Port, in contradistinction to the New
Port, some 3-1/2 miles distant, lower down the river. Caerleon seems
to be a corruption of _Castrum Legionis_. The place was one of the
great fortresses of Roman Britain, and constituted the station of the
Second Augustan Legion in the first century A.D. It ranked as a
Colony, and as the capital of Britannia Secunda during the period of
Roman domination. Its position was favourable for the coercion of the
wild Silures. No civil life or municipality seems to have grown up
outside its boundaries; like Chester, it remained purely military.
There remain fragments of the walls, and outside these limits there
is a grass-grown amphitheatre, 222 ft. by 192 ft., in which the tiers
of seats are distinctly visible. The hamlet on the opposite bank
preserves in a modified form the Roman name of _Ultra Pontem_. It is
probable that the connecting bridge was a pontoon similar in
character to that which survived to the close of the last century.
The local Museum is rich in objects of archaeological interest.
On the hill-side, which formed the burial place of the ancient city,
fragments of slabs and memorial urns are even now often exhumed.
Giraldus Cambrensis, or Gerald de Barry, Archdeacon of Brecknock
(1147-1220), borrowing from Geoffrey of Monmouth (1130-1140, Bishop
of St. Asaph, author of _Chronicon sive Historia Britonum_), says
that "its splendid palaces, with their gilded roofs, once emulated
the grandeur of Rome," which testimony we receive with a certain
amount of incredulity; nevertheless, it bears witness to the
reputation it enjoyed in his day.
The city is connected with the romance of King Arthur and the Knights
of the Round Table. It is said that hither Arthur came at Pentecost
to be crowned, and that here he often took council with Dubric, or
Dubritius, "the high saint."
The keep of a castle is mentioned in Domesday Book, the ruins of
which, now limited to a solitary bastion on the river's side, were
very extensive, even in Leland's time (1506-1552). Caerleon was a
place of great ecclesiastical importance and the seat of an
archbishopric. It is noticeable as the place of martyrdom, according
to Giraldus Cambrensis, of two saints, Aaron and Julius. Their bodies
were buried in the city, each afterwards having a church dedicated to
him. There is good reason for regarding these as historical
personages, but as Caerleon-upon-Dee was also called "the City of the
Legions," there is some doubt whether their martyrdom occurred at the
former, now called Chester, or at the latter, which still retains its
British name.
Around the church of S. Cadoc there are abundant remains to show the
important centre Caerleon-upon-Usk constituted in Roman times. There
is a tradition that its bishop was one of three who attended the
Council held at Arles, in 314, to discuss the validity of
ecclesiastical orders conferred by such bishops as in time of
persecution had delivered up to be burnt their sacred writings.
CAERWENT.--This place is on the Chepstow side of Caerleon, near
Severn Tunnel Junction.
It was a military station, and important discoveries of Roman remains
have been made here.
CAISTOR CASTLE, or VENTA.--4-1/2 miles from Yarmouth. Caistor Village
is 3 miles distant.
This place occupies the site of a Roman camp, which, in conjunction
with Burgh Castle, guarded this part of the coast. No remains of the
camp now exist, but Roman urns, pottery, and coins have been found in
and near the village. A field west of the church, styled "East Bloody
Furlong" has been fixed upon as the site of the Castrum.
CANTERBURY.--Cant-wara-byrig--the burgh of the men of the headland.
(Hence, Archepiscopus Cantuariensis).
Before the invasion of Cæsar, a tribe of the Belgae from Gaul had
taken possession of a large portion of South Britain, including Kent.
The principal Roman road was the Watling Street, between Dover and
London, which followed much the same course as the modern highway.
This road was joined at Canterbury by two others, proceeding
respectively from Lympne and Reculver. Two other important Roman
stations may be distinguished, Durolevum and Vagniacae, the one
probably by Faversham, the other by Springhead, near Gravesend. The
important position of modern Canterbury is affirmed by the fact that
no fewer than 16 roads and railway routes now converge upon the city.
So, too, in the olden time, it was a great nerve-centre, and the
mid-point of the important Roman fortresses of Dover, Richborough,
Reculver, and Lympne.
The Roman remains found throughout Kent are numerous and important.
There were potteries of purple or black ware at Upchurch, on the S.
bank of the Medway. Leaden coffins, elaborately ornamented glass and
bronze vessels, and gold and silver ornaments, have been found in
Roman cemeteries. The city itself occupies the site of the Roman
Durovernum (Celtic, _dwr_--water), and was established upon that ford
of the Stour at which the roads from the four harbour-fortresses
before mentioned became united into the one great military way
through Britain, which became known as Watling Street in later times.
The Romans do not seem (at least towards the end of their occupation)
to have made the city a military centre, or given it a permanent
garrison, but rather to have used it as a halting place for troops on
the march. In a commercial sense (lying, as it did, in the direct
path of all the south-eastern continental traffic of Britain) its
importance at this epoch must have been considerable. The Cathedral
stands on the site of a church founded in Roman times, and given by
King Ethelbert (together with his own palace adjacent) to Augustine
and his monks. St. Pancras (the foundations of which have now been
uncovered) was originally Ethelbert's "Idol-house"; and St. Martin's,
the sanctuary where the King's christian queen, Bertha, worshipped
under the tutelage of Bishop Luithard. The structures existing in
Ethelbert's day were destroyed, and ultimately the cathedral was
entirely rebuilt by Lanfranc (1005-1089); to this additions were made
by Anselm (1033-1109), and by succeeding builders even as late as
1495, when the addition of Goldstone's Central Tower left the
Cathedral as we have it to-day.
St. Martin's Church cannot be dismissed in a summary manner. It is
said by Bede to have been built whilst the Romans still occupied
Britain. It is dedicated to the well-known Bishop of Tours (371-397).
Certainly the nave shows evidences of Roman workmanship and plaster.
A high arch has recently been discovered in the west wall, on each
side of which is a window, apparently Roman in its origin, but which
has been subsequently lengthened out by Saxon or Norman builders. The
chancel, originally but 20 feet long, is variously conjectured to be
Roman work or to have been built by St. Augustine. There is a
square-headed Roman doorway and a round-headed Saxon one, in the
south wall; also an early English sedile, bordered by Roman tiles on
the same side, eastward.
The writer, the present Rector of Chillenden, feels a peculiar
pleasure in recalling the fact that two of the Priors took their
names from his parish, viz., Adam de Chillenden (_d._ 1274) and
Thomas de Chillenden (_d._ 1411). The name of the latter, in the
Diocesan Calendar, is distinguished by bold type, by reason of the
fact that between 1370 and 1410, the present nave and transepts of
Canterbury Cathedral, with the middle part of the present central
tower, were built upon Lanfranc's old foundations by the Convent
under his superintendence, assisted as he was by King Richard II and
Archbishops Courtenay and Arundel. The Chapel of St. Michael, the
Warriors' Chapel, was also added to by him. Moreover to him is due
the building of most of the cloisters, the great Dormitory windows,
the vaulting here and along the north alley, as also the foliated
window-like screens in the latter alley.
The house in the precincts, known as Chillenden Chambers, was used in
mediæval times for the reception of pilgrims. It has been occupied
for some years by Dr. Walsh, Bishop of Dover.
CARDIFF.--Castle on the Taff, in the County of Glamorgan.
The position between the rivers Taff and Rhymney, as also between the
mountains and the sea, marked out this site, probably to the Romans,
certainly to the Normans, as a favourable position for a fortified
station. The remains of the Keep of the Castle still exist, and the
church of St. John has venerable memories. The buildings of the
Blackfriars and Greyfriars have long ago disappeared. The old church
of St. Mary, too, was washed away by the sea. To the west, beyond the
suburb of Canton, the foundations of Roman buildings have been
uncovered and various objects of interest found and lodged in the
National Museum.
CHESTER.--Otherwise Caerleon Vawr, or Caerlleon ar Dyfyrdwy.
Here was situated the great camp of the renowned Twentieth Legion on
the Dee, the Deva of the Roman Itinerary. It stood at the head of the
then most important estuary on this part of the coast, and at a point
where several Roman roads converged. It is doubtful whether the city
constituted a Colonia. It boasted a fine Basilica. There may still be
seen the remains of a Roman arch impinging upon the Keep, or Cæsar's
Tower, in the Castle.
CHESTERFORD.--In Essex, 47-1/2 miles N. of London.
To-day the Great Eastern Railway crosses the Cam, or Granta, near a
Roman station. Great Chesterford is the ancient Iceanum, once thought
to be Camboricum. The foundations of walls enclosing about 50 acres
are known to have existed a century and a half ago. The site was
thoroughly explored between 1846 and 1848, under the superintendence
of the Hon. R. C. Neville, afterwards Lord Braybrooke. Many Roman
remains were recovered and are preserved at his seat, Audley End--one
of the finest examples of Jacobean architecture now remaining in
England. In this neighbourhood, at Heydon, two miles N.W. of
Chrishall, and in the extreme angle of Essex, there was discovered,
in 1848, a chamber cut in the chalk. It contained a sort of altar and
an abundance of Roman fibulæ. Its purpose has not been clearly made
out.
CHICHESTER.
This city is built on a Roman site, near a line of road now known as
Stane Street. It is usually identified with Regnum, a town of the
Belgae, mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary. A slab of grey Sussex
marble, now at Goodwood, discovered in 1713, on the site of the
present Council House, bears an inscription which gives rise to an
hypothesis which represents Chichester as the seat of the native
king, Cogidubnus, mentioned by Tacitus as possessing independent
authority. It is further conjectured that this king was the father of
Claudia (2 Tim. iv, 21), whose husband seems to have been Pudens,
mentioned in the same verse (traditionally said to have been a Roman
Senator, who became a Governor of Britain). Cogidubnus appears to
have taken to himself the more euphonious name of his imperial
patron, Tiberius Claudius, hence, too, Claudia. It would appear from
this slab that Chichester was the abode of a considerable number of
craftsmen, and that they erected a temple to Neptune and Minerva
under the patronage of a certain Pudens--in his unregenerate days,
doubtless, if this be the same as St. Paul's Pudens. In the early
Saxon occupation, the town was destroyed by one Ella, but restored by
Cissa, hence Cissa's Castra, or Chichester; hence, also, the Bishop's
signature, Cicestriensis.
CIRENCESTER, or CORININUM.--In Gloucestershire, 93 miles W.N.W. of
London, on the river Churn, a tributary of the Thames.
This was a flourishing Romano-British town, a cavalry post, also a
civilian city. At Chedworth, 7 miles, N.E., there has been unearthed
one of the most interesting Roman villas in England.
COLCHESTER.--51 miles N.E. of London, on the right bank of the Colne,
12 miles from the sea.
Colonia Victricensis, Camolodunum, or Camulodunum. (This colony is on
the River Colne, even as another stream of the same name flows by the
colony of Verulamium).
Before the Roman conquest it was the royal town of Cunobelin, the
Cymbeline of Shakespeare. When Claudius had conquered the
south-eastern part of the island, he founded a _colonia_ here, which
may be said to be the first in time of the Roman towns of Britain.
Even now, the walls of Colchester are the most perfect Roman walls in
England. There are other remains, including the guard-room at the
principal gate. A large cemetery has been disclosed along the main
road leading out of the town. A valuable collection of sepulchral
remains has been made and placed in the local museum. The city was
refounded and ultimately developed into a municipality, with
discharged Roman soldiers as citizens, to assist the Roman dominion
and spread Roman civilization.
Under Boadicea, the Iceni burnt the town and massacred the colonists.
CORSTOPITUM, or CORCHESTER.--In Northumberland.
This important station lies half a mile west of the little town of
Corbridge, at the junction of the Cor with the Tyne, which is here
crossed by a fine bridge of seven arches, dating from 1674. It has
been suggested that the name Cor is associated with the Brigantian
tribe of Corionototae. In regard to building operations hereabouts
extensive use has been made of materials derived from Corstopitum.
This--in its day--occupied a commanding position as a Roman Station,
inasmuch as it furnished a storehouse for grain and a basis for the
northward operations carried on about the time of Antoninus Pius.
When these operations became unsuccessful, Corstopitum ceased to be a
military centre, though it still furnished a basis of civilian
occupation. The town was brought to desolation early in the fifth
century, and was never again occupied. It was only to be expected
that valuable finds should be unearthed from the remains. Many have
been found by accident, as _e.g._, in 1734, a silver dish was dug up
weighing 148 oz., and ornamented with figures of deities. Again, much
later, in 1908, there was recovered a hoard of gold coins, wrapped in
leadfoil, and thrust into the chink of a wall by a fugitive who was
fated never to return and recover his treasure. The first-rate
importance of the city in its relation to the Roman Wall, and
military operations based on Corstopitum as a centre, was only fully
revealed by systematic investigations begun in 1907. There were then
uncovered, the foundations of several structures fronting a broad
thoroughfare, one of which is the largest Roman building found to the
present in England, with the exception of the Baths at Bath. Two of
these warehouses were evidently granaries. All testified to the
importance attached to Corstopitum as a storehouse and distributing
centre.
[Illustration: The Roman Wall.]
THE WALL OF HADRIAN.
It may be of interest to insert here a few directions for any
investigator who wishes to track out the Roman Wall. Such a traveller
might profitably visit first the Museum at Newcastle, where many
memorials are preserved. There might be included the Castle Keep and
Chapel, with its richly-moulded Norman arches and the Black Gate,
with the collection of Roman inscribed and sculptured stones from the
eastern fortresses on the Wall between Bowness and Wallsend. The
numerous carved altars are especially noticeable. From Newcastle the
road can be taken alongside the Wall to Chollerford, by way of Denton
Burn, Wallbottle, Heddon on the Wall, Vindobala, Harlow Hill,
Wallhouses, Halton Shields Hunnum, Stagshaw Bank, and so, by a steep
descent, into Chollerford. If the train be taken, it is expedient to
break the journey at Prudhoe to view the ruins of the Castle, built
in the reign of Henry II. The curious old bridge over a ravine is one
of the oldest in the North. From Prudhoe to Corbridge is twenty
minutes or so by rail. The buried city of Corstopitum lies to the
west of Corbridge. There can be traced the Forum, streets, granaries,
baths, and fountain. The excavations conducted during 1908 and the
two following years are deeply interesting. There are Roman altars
and monuments to be seen at Hexham. Close to Chollerford are the
remains of the remarkable Roman bridge over the Tyne. Cilurnum
(Chesters), the largest station on the Wall, lies on the river bank.
In the Museum by the gates are deposited sculptured stones, vases,
etc., discovered hereabouts. Journeying from Brunton to Limestone
Bank, one finds the fosses and vallum exceptionally perfect. On the
whole there are said to have been about 23 important stations on the
Wall, named as follows:--Segedunum (Wallsend), Pons Ælii (Newcastle),
Condercum (Benwell Hill), Vindobala (Rutchester), Hunnum (Halton
Chester), Cilurnum (Chesters), Procolitia (Carrawburgh), Borcovicus
(House-steads), Vindolana (Chesterholm), Æsica (Great Chesters),
Magna (Carvoran), Amboglanna (Birdoswald), Petriana, Aballaba,
Congovata, Axelodunum, Gabrosentum, Tunocelum, Glannibanta, Alionis,
Bremetenracum, Olenacum, and Virosidum. It is noteworthy that not a
trace of the original names survives in the local nomenclature of
to-day, though the exact position of most of the stations has been
made out from other indications.
It will be seen that one Wall extended from Wallsend on the Tyne to
Bowness on the Solway Firth, a distance of 73 miles. It would have
been about 12 feet high and 6 feet thick, in parts 9-1/2 feet thick.
Probably about 10 years were expended in the building. About 10,000
men would be required adequately to garrison its stations. It is
difficult to believe that it was constructed _de novo_, or all at one
time. Probably a line of stations, suggested by the lie of the
country, existed here before Roman times, which line was extended and
consolidated by successive Roman generals and emperors.
The Wall now bears the name of Hadrian, Emperor from 117 to 138, but
other names associated with it are Agricola (37-93), Severus
(193-211), Theodosius (346-395) and Stilicho (_d._ 408).
To complete, or, rather round off, our account, a few words ought to
be added as to the Northern Wall. The Wall of Antoninus, or Graham's
Dyke (perhaps from C. _greim_--a place of strength, and that which is
_dug_--a rampart) extends across the island from the Firth of Clyde
to the Firth of Forth--a distance of about 36 miles. It consisted of
an immense ditch, behind which was raised a rampart of intermingled
stone and earth, surmounted by a parapet, behind which ran a level
platform for the accommodation of the defenders. South of the whole
ran the military way--a regular causeway about 20 feet wide.
Commencing in the west on a height called Chapel Hill, near the
village of Old Kilpatrick, in Dumbartonshire, it ran eastwards,
passing in succession Kirkintilloch, Crory, Castlecary, and Falkirk,
terminating at Bridgeness, a rocky promontory that projects into the
Firth of Forth, south of Borrowstonness in Linlithgowshire. A writer
of the life of the Emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161) states that
Lollius Urbicus, a legate of that sovereign, erected, after several
victories over the Britons, "another rampart of turf" to check their
incursions, but what has been said with reference to the builders of
Hadrian's Wall may be repeated with reference to that of Antonine.[1]
[Footnote 1: Appendix C.]
DORCHESTER (Dorsetshire).--130 miles S.W. from London. On the right
bank of the Frome. Dorcestre (Dwr--a portion of the name of the
Durotriges, or dwellers upon the _dwr_ or water).
Dorchester was a Romano-British town of considerable size, probably
successor to the British tribal centre of the Durotriges. The walls
can be traced in part, and many mosaics and other remains of houses
have been found. Near Dorchester may be seen at Maumbury Rings
remains of an amphitheatre. Maiden Castle, 2 miles S.W. of the town,
is a vast earthwork, considered to have been a stronghold of the
Durotriges.[2] Many other such remains are traceable in the vicinity.
[Footnote 2: Mai-den = _Mai Dun_ = the stronghold of the plain. It is
clearly originally the work of men of the latest Stone Age--men who
lived their lives in round barrows, and who raised this entrenchment
with merely their primitive picks or "celts" as tools, for a defence
against their finally successful invaders, the Durotriges. In their
turn, the latter used the forts against the Romans--unless, as is
more probable, they submitted without fighting.]
DORCHESTER (Oxfordshire).--Situated at the junction of the Thames and
the Thame.
There is a Roman station near the present village, and (across the
Thames) the double isolated mound known as Wittenham Hills (Sinodum),
on the summit of which are strong early earthworks. In 655, this
place was the seat of a bishopric, the largest in England, including
the whole of Wessex and Mercia. In 1086, William the First and Bishop
Remigius removed the bishop's stool to Lincoln.
DOVER.--Roman _Dubris_, on the Dour (_dwr_--water), the principal
Cinque port, is situated close to the South Foreland, and is 72 miles
from London.
It is the eye of England, looking over to the nearest part of the
continent. It is also the gate of England, through which have come
and gone in all historic ages kings and queens and lesser folk on all
kinds of missions, relating both to war and peace. Geologically it is
knit to the French shore, by the existence both of _white_ and
_black_ rocks, _i.e._, chalk and coal. At a time when Britain was
joined to what is now Europe, when the cave bear devoured his prey in
Kent's cavern, and the monkey gambolled in the lofty trees, when the
Thames was a tributary of some great eastern stream, the Dour might
have been a considerable river, as it has worked for itself a deep
erosive valley. Even in early historic times its estuary must have
occupied a great part of the land on which stands modern Dover.
Originally wood fires were lighted on corresponding sites on the E.
and W. cliffs to guide vessels into the intermediate beach and
natural harbour during the darkness of a winter's night. Even when
the Pharos was reared, the primitive mode of illumination by means of
wood or coal was employed. The modern form of lighthouse, with glass
or metal reflectors, dates but from 1758, when the first Eddystone
lighthouse was built. A common coal fire-light was continued at St.
Bees Head, in Cumberland, as late as 1820. Architecturally, the Dover
Pharos (so called from one erected at Pharos, Alexandria, in 285
B.C.--550 ft. high--said to have been visible 42 miles away) is
interesting from the fact that the stones from which it is built are
not native, but are supposed to have been brought over as ballast in
Roman galleys. In some places it would appear that they were built up
wall-shape, liquid cement being poured into the interstices. That the
ubiquitous King Arthur built the first castle on the cliffs, 300 ft.
above the sea, is a tradition--one we should like to believe. His
name is also associated with sites on the Western Heights and Barham
Downs. It is certain that the Roman invaders early took advantage of
the position of this "key" of the island, and that amongst their five
coast castles, under the control of "the Count of the Saxon Shore,"
Dover held a position second only to Richborough. In the Watling
Street, the baths, now destroyed, the church within the Castle, the
Pharos, the Romans have left clear evidence of their occupation. St.
Mary's may be the first Christian church in Britain. To the beginning
of the eighteenth century it was used for worship; it was then
dismantled, and, after being filled with stores, at last became a
coal cellar. With the greatest difficulty it was saved from
destruction in 1860, and restored by Sir Gilbert Scott.
EXETER.--172 miles, W.S.W. from London.
Caer Isca of the Britons (Keltic, _esk_--_exe_--_uisge_--water). In
Camden's time (1551-1623), the name was written Ex-cester.
Exeter is situated on a broad ridge of land, rising steeply from the
left bank of the Exe. At the head of the ridge is the Castle,
occupying the site of a strong British earth-work. Exeter was the
Romano-British country town of Isca Damnoniorum, the most westerly
town in the government of Roman Britain. Traces of Roman walls
survive in mediæval walls, all the gates of which, however, have
disappeared. Exeter is the nexus of a considerable number of roads.
GLOUCESTER.--114 miles W.N.W. of London. On the east bank of the
Severn.
It is doubtful if it were a British settlement. The Roman
municipality, or colonia, of Glevum, was founded by Nerva between 96
and 98. Part of the original walls of the town may still be traced.
ISLE OF WIGHT.--Called by the Romans, _Vectis_; Wight being a
corruption of this word.
This island was known in early times to the ancients, and appears to
have been used as a summer or sea-bathing resort. There are
interesting remains of Roman villas at Brading and Carisbrooke.
KENCHESTER, or Magni, or Magna, sometimes Magnis, is situated on the
Wye, about 4 miles west of the city of Hereford.
Discoveries of coins and other objects suggest that British villages
existed here. The Watling Street running from Wroxeter to Caerleon
passes near, communicating with Stoney Street, south of the Wye. The
site has yielded considerable evidence of Roman occupation.
Kenchester appears to have been a small town, in shape an irregular
hexagon, with an area of some seventeen acres, surrounded by a stone
wall pierced by four gates. The principal street, 15 ft. wide, ran
from east to west; the houses contained tesselated pavements,
hypocausts, leaden and tile drains; coins of various periods; fibulae
(some of silver), glass, pottery, and the like, abound; while two
inscriptions (one dated A.D. 283), lend a distinctive Roman
colouring. Suburbs lay outside; and there was a villa a mile to the
west at Bishopstone. The town, though small, had pretensions to
comfort and civilization; it is the only important Romano-British
site in Herefordshire. A legion was stationed here.
LANCASTER.--Castra ad alaunam--camp on the Lune, from Gaelic
_all_--white. Therefore we have _al_--white; _avn_, or _afon_--water;
which the Romans latinized into Alauna.
LEICESTER.
Before the Roman invasion, Leicester was inhabited by the Coritani.
Under the Romans it formed part of the province of Flavia
Cæsariensis. Watling Street,[3] the Fosse Way and Via Devana converge
on Leicester.
[Footnote 3: This does not actually pass through Leicester, but is
twelve miles away at nearest.]
The principal Roman stations near were:
Ratae --Leicester;
Verometum --Borough Hill;
Manducosedum--Mancetter;
Benones --High Cross.
In this region Roman remains have been found at: Leicester,[4]
Rothley, Wanlip, Hasby, Bottesfold, Hinckley, Sapcote, and Melton
Mowbray. In 1771 a Roman milestone of the time of Hadrian (76-138)
was discovered at a spot two miles from Leicester. Near Blaby, over
the Soar, is a bridge locally known as the Roman Bridge.
[Footnote 4: There is to be seen _in situ_ beneath the Great Central
Station here a beautiful and almost perfect tesselated pavement.]
LINCOLN.--_Llyn_--a deep pool, and _Colonia_. The Britons called it
_Lind-coit_. The name _Linn-dun_, of which _Lindum_ is the Romanised
version, means _The hill-fort of the pool_.
The territory hereabouts was first settled by Belgae; who, however,
at the time of Cæsar's invasion, had become a mixed race with the
real Britons. The country was conquered by the Romans about 70 A.D.,
and formed part of the province of Flavia Caesariensis. The tribe
which occupied Lincolnshire were the Coritani, who had Lindum and
Ratae for their tribal centres. In this territory remains of British
camps are found at Barrow, Folkingham, Ingoldsby, Revesby, and Wells.
Also traces of Roman camps are discoverable at Alkborough, Caistor,
Gainsborough, Gadney Hill, near Holbeach, Honington, near Grantham,
South Ormsby, and Yarborough. The Roman roads in this neighbourhood
are nearly perfect. There is Ermine Street on the eastern side of the
Cliff Hills and the Fosse Way, running S.W. from Lincoln. There is a
famous arch--the Newport--at Lincoln. It is one of the most perfect
specimens of Roman architecture in England. It is sunk fully eleven
feet below the present level of the street, and has two smaller
arches on each side, the one to the west being concealed by an
adjoining house. The Ermine Street passes through this gate, running
north from it for eleven or twelve miles as straight as an arrow.
Many Roman coins and ornaments have been found in the immediate
vicinity of this gate. In the Cloister garden of the Cathedral are
preserved a tesselated pavement and the sepulchral slab of a Roman
warrior.
LONDON.--Londonum, Londinium, the Augusta of the Romans. _Llyn
Din_--the Black Llyn or Lake, or perhaps from Celto-Saxon _dun_, or
_don_--a hill fort. This fort may have been situated where abouts St.
Paul's now stands, or, in a more extended form, it may have been
constituted by Tower Hill, Cornhill, and Ludgate Hill; bounded thus
by the Thames on the South, the Fleet on the West, and the Fen of
Moorfields and Finsbury (afterwards by Hounsditch and the Tower) on
the East.
It must be premised that the course of the Thames, the containing
bounds, the depth of the stream, the character of the rivulets--such
as the Lea, the Fleet, Wall-brook, West-Bourne, Tye-Bourne--presented
marked differences in early historic days from the appearance they
show to-day. The sites north and south of the line where London
Bridge now stands constituted firm ground, with a tendency to an
elevation in the north. These facts determined the position of the
British settlement. At that part of the river the Britons had, if not
a ford, at least a ferry, and finally a rough bridge--perhaps of
coracles or boats--the progenitor of the noble structure now
existing. The ferry went from what is now Dowgate to a similar
opening still existing to the west of St. Saviour's, Southwark.
A British settlement of an early date would not now be thought to
deserve the name of town. No less an authority than Julius Cæsar
tells us that it was nothing more than a thick wood, fortified with a
ditch and rampart, to serve as a place of retreat from the inroads of
enemies. At that time, we may, therefore, imagine a clearing carved
out of the forest, extending probably from the site of St. Paul's
Cathedral to that of the Bank of England, the dwellings of the
Britons being spread about the higher ground looking down upon the
river, including Tower Hill. At the time of the revolt of the Iceni,
the Roman governor, Paulinus Suetonius, being unable to make a stand,
abandoned London to Boadicea, who entirely destroyed the city, after
having massacred the inhabitants. We find London holding an important
place in the Antonine Itinerary, Londinium being a starting point for
nearly half the routes described in the portion devoted to Britain.
Traditionally, Constantine the Great walled the city, at the request
of his mother Helena, who is said to have been a native of Britain.
Probably we should place the northern wall somewhere along the course
of Cornhill[5] and Leadenhall Street; the eastern in the direction of
Billiter Street and Mark Lane; the southern in the line of Upper and
Lower Thames Streets; the western on the S.W. side of Walbrook. About
the centre of each side might be placed the four main gates,
corresponding with Bridge Gate, Ludgate, Bishopsgate and Aldgate.
[Footnote 5: Perhaps somewhat to the north of the modern street. A
portion is to be seen in the churchyard of St. Giles, Cripplegate.]
The vision of Geoffrey of Monmouth of a great British city, Troy
Novant, founded by Brut, a descendant of Æneas, must be relegated to
the limbo of myths. A more probable story is that one Belinus formed
a port or haven on the site of the present Billingsgate, though it
does not follow that he built a gate of wonderful structure, still
less that he built over it--as the story goes--a prodigiously large
tower. It should be noted that "gate" may not mean a gate at all in
the modern sense of the word, but only an opening or an entrance,
even as the "Yats" leading to the harbour of Yarmouth.[6] Mayhap this
settlement constituted the headquarters of Cassivellaunus, which were
taken and sacked by Julius Cæsar. At all events, Tacitus (61-117
A.D.) the first Roman author who mentions London by name, speaks of
it as an important commercial centre. It had not, up to A.D. 61, been
dignified by the name of a Colony. A temple, dedicated to Diana,
appears to have stood on the site of our Eastminster, S. Paul's, and
another, to Apollo, at Westminster. When Tacitus wrote, Verulamium
and Camulodunum possessed mints, whilst London did not. The earliest
Roman London must have been a comparatively small place, with a fort
to command the passage of the Thames. Perhaps to the Romans are due
the primitive embankments which were designed to restrain the
vagaries of the river at the times of tide and flood. London Stone,
built into another stone in Cannon Street, outside the wall of St.
Swithin's Church, is generally considered to be a milliarium (to mark
so many thousand paces) or central station from which to measure
distances, but it may conceivably have had some more ancient and
peculiar designation in connection with a public or sacred building.
Old London lies 20 feet or so below the present street level, so
that, when excavations are made for any purpose, Roman remains are
frequently found and parts of the Roman wall uncovered.
[Footnote 6: In like manner we have Margate, Kingsgate, Westgate,
Ramsgate, Sandgate, &c., indicating probably sites where a passage
has been cut through the cliff by a stream or human agency.]
Remains--pavements, etc.--are to be seen in abundance in the
Guildhall Museum.
When the old General Post Office in St. Martin's-le-Grand was
demolished a large series of Roman rubbish pits was disclosed. The
lowest portions of 120 of these were carefully excavated. The "finds"
included a few whole pots and many thousands of fragments of Samian
and coarse pottery, besides building materials, whetstones, beads,
knives, coins, and other small articles. It has been possible to
assign dates to most of the holes--between A.D. 50 and 200. By the
association in the same hole of datable with undatable pottery, light
has been thrown upon many types of the latter.
Not long ago, while the buildings 3-6 King William Street were being
demolished, another series of five large Roman pits was uncovered.
From the fragments obtained therefrom nine Samian vessels of the
first century have been pieced together, and are now in the Guildhall
Museum. These include a decorated vessel, finer than any previously
found in London, and two specimens of a shape unknown hitherto in
England. A lamp, two coins, and other objects of pottery and bronze
were also obtained from this source.[7]
[Footnote 7: Besant's _London_ and his _Westminster_ convey a
fascinating account of what was a labour of love on the part of the
author to compile. All sorts of unexpected pleasures await the
wanderer in London's highways and byeways. One of these may be
noticed in respect of the Roman bath in the Strand. Turning down
Strand Lane (a narrow passage between King's College and Surrey
Street), a few yards bring one to the baths. The lane itself is as
ancient as anything in London, inasmuch as it must have been in very
early times a path by the side of the stream fed by the bath spring,
and perhaps by the Holy Well, which afterwards gave its name to the
notorious Holywell Street, this stream finally flowing into the
Thames.]
It is a moot point whether the Saxon migration along the Thames
waterway was checked by the presence of London, which remained a city
stronghold since Roman times, but it is evident that a gap was made
in the history of the city just after the departure of the Romans,
and the theory of continuous occupation can hardly be maintained in
face of the fact that the mediæval City streets in no case follow the
Roman roads traces of which lie beneath the mediæval houses.
LYMPNE, or _Lemanae_.--Pevensey District, Anderida.
It is considered that Reculver was the earliest Roman coast-fortress
in Kent, that Richborough was founded somewhat later, and that Lympne
and Pevensey constituted the latest stations; also, that (probably
even before the time of Constantine) a division of the Romano-British
fleet was stationed at Lympne and a series of buildings erected by
their crews. When Romney Marshes were covered by an inland sea, and
many streams drained this eastern side of the Andred Forest, the
Romans established the military station Lemanae, at the estuary of
the chief of those streams, and defended it by the castrum, the ruins
of which are now known as Stutfall Castle. Some of the stones of this
castrum were used by Archbishop Lanfranc in the construction of a
church at Lympne.
MALDON, Essex.--Situated on an acclivity rising from the south side
of the Blackwater--44 miles E.N.E. of London, and 16 S.W. from
Colchester or Camulodunum, with which it has sometimes been
identified, or rather, confounded.
It is supposed to have received its name[8] (Cross Hill) from a cross
erected on the eminence. A large number of Roman remains have been
found in the neighbourhood, testifying to the importance of the place
during the time of their occupation. On the West side of the town
there are also traces of a large camp, which was doubtless utilized
by different bodies of invaders and settlers. The oldest historical
mention of Maldon is in 913, when Edward the Elder encamped near it
to oppose an incursion of the Danes.
[Footnote 8: Maldon may be a shortened form of a second
Ca_mul_odunum. _Dun_ would be a _hill-fortress_, and a cross being
erected thereon would give rise to the appellation _Cross Hill_.]
MANCHESTER.--180 miles N.W. of London. (Celtic _man_--a district).
It is situated in the neighbourhood of four rivers, viz., the Irwell,
Medlock, Irk, and Tib. It has been conjectured that at Castlefield
there stood a British fortress, which was afterwards taken possession
of by the soldiers of Agricola; at all events, it would appear to be
certain that a Roman Station of some importance existed in this
locality, as a fragment of a wall still exists. Even up to the end of
the eighteenth century considerable evidences of Roman occupation
were visible in and around Manchester, and from time to time in the
course of excavation (especially during the digging for the
Bridgewater Canal) old-time remains have been found. The coins
recovered were those of Vespasian, Antoninus Pius, Trajan, Hadrian,
Nero, Domitian, Vitellius, and even as late as the time of
Constantine. The period immediately succeeding the Roman occupation
is largely legendary; but up to the seventeenth century there was a
floating tradition that Tarquin, an enemy of Arthur, kept the castle
of Manchester, but was subsequently killed by Launcelot of the Lake.
The town was probably one of the scenes of the preaching of Paulinus,
the celebrated Bishop of York and of Rochester (597-644), and is said
to have been the residence of Ina, King of Wessex, and his queen,
Ethelburga, after he had defeated Ivor, in the year 689. It suffered
greatly from the ravages of the Danes. In Domesday Book, Manchester,
Salford, Rochdale, and Radcliffe are the only places named in
South-east Lancashire.
PORTSMOUTH.--74 miles S.W. of London.
To the north of the harbour is situated Porchester Castle, a ruined
Norman fortress occupying the site of the _Portus Magnus_ of the
Romans. Portsmouth and Southampton must have been used by the Romans
as a passage way to the Isle of Wight, where the remains of villas
show that the island furnished a place of residence for rich and
distinguished Romans.
RECULVER.
At the time of the Roman occupation Thanet was an island, and to
guard the north-west end of the important channel of the "Wantsume,"
which separated the island from the main part of Kent, the Romans
built Regulbium, corresponding to the greater Rutupiae of the
southern outlet.[9] The Roman fort was probably one of the earliest
in the country. It must have covered about eighty acres, and was
garrisoned by the first cohort of Vetasii from Brabant. In 670,
Bassa, a priest, erected a monastery and church here, which, nearly
three hundred years later, were annexed by the monks of Christ
Church, Canterbury. The greater part of these buildings was
ruthlessly destroyed by the villagers in 1809, but the intervention
of the Trinity House authorities in the following year saved the
towers of the church, to serve as landmarks to the mariner. The
churchyard is being slowly eroded by the sea.
[Footnote 9: It is possible that works now proceeding, necessitated
by the Great War, may result in the regulation of the waterways close
to Sandwich and in its neighbourhood in such wise as to open up again
this channel, and constitute Thanet once more an island in fact as
well as in name.]
RICHBOROUGH.--Rutupiae.
This furnishes one of the finest remaining relics of Roman Britain.
Built somewhat later than Reculver--about the middle of the third
century A.D.--the castle guarded the principal and oldest port of
entry into Britain in the Roman period. The rectangular enclosure
still existing was the fortress of a considerable Roman settlement
which lay to the south and south-west. At a little distance is an
amphitheatre with three entrances. Out of the West or Decuman Gate,
the Roman road to London and the North started. In the centre of the
North wall is the opening of the Postern Gate, and there were
probably central gates on the east and south. The feature of greatest
interest remaining is the subterranean structure in the centre. This
consists of an overhanging platform on a concrete foundation. There
are traces of an encircling wall, and projecting upwards from the
centre is an extraordinary cruciform platform. An underground passage
runs round the whole. Some antiquaries consider that all this formed
part of some temporary or substitutional building raised in lieu of
an original more ambitious design; others think it may have been a
signal tower combined with a lighthouse. In the Liverpool Museum are
to be found many objects discovered here, including mural paintings,
pottery, toys, dice, a steelyard with weights, and bone spurs, used
for cock-fighting.
ROCHESTER.--Durobrivæ; Horfcester, 33 miles E.S.E. of London.
Its situation on the Roman Way from the Kentish ports to the
metropolis, as well as its strategical position on the bend of the
Medway, gave Rochester and the adjacent places on the river early
importance. It was a walled Romano-British town, though of no great
size. The original bridge across the Medway to Strood probably dates
from the Roman period, taking the place of a ferry.
SILCHESTER.--In North Hampshire--Calleva, 10 miles south of Reading.
A Romano-British town, which was thoroughly explored under the
auspices of the Society of Antiquaries between 1890 and 1909. The
whole plan of the ancient town within the walls was disclosed as
successive portions were uncovered. The suburbs, and the cemeteries,
which, as usual, were located without the gates, have not yet been
excavated. The ruins of the Town Hall still remain. The Duke of
Wellington, whose residence is at Strathfieldsaye, is the owner of
the site. He has arranged that most of the objects found at
Silchester shall be deposited in the Museum at Reading.
ST. ALBANS.--Verulamium.
Originally within the limits of the territory of the tribe of which
Cassivellaunus was, at one time, the head. Before the Roman Conquest
it was a British capital. In Roman times it received the dignity of a
_municipium_--implying municipal status and Roman citizenship for its
free inhabitants. Tacitus informs us that the town was burnt by
Boadicea in 61 A.D., but it soon rose again to prosperity. The site
is still easily recognisable, its walls, of flint rubble, surviving
in stately fragments, enclosing an area of well-nigh 200 acres. Of
the buildings formerly occupying this area but little is now known.
The theatre was excavated in 1847, and parts of the forum in 1898.
The tower of the famous Abbey is largely built of bricks taken from
the Roman buildings!
During the first three centuries ten distinct general persecutions
swept over the nascent Christian Church. Owing to the remote position
of Britain, it appears to have escaped these fiery trials until the
time of the Emperor Diocletian, about 304. Several names among the
Britons have been traditionally handed down to us as having received
the honour of martyrdom, but the premier place among them has always
been accorded to a young soldier who was stationed at Verulam. It
appears that he was converted by an evangelist named Amphibalus, to
whom, when the trial came, he gave shelter, and even facilitated his
escape by an exchange of garments. When brought before the judges and
charged with concealing "a blasphemer of the Roman gods," Alban
avowed himself a convert to the proscribed religion and refused, in
spite of torture, to burn incense upon the heathen altars. He was
therefore beheaded outside the city about the year 285 (although the
precise date is uncertain).[10] About A.D. 785, Offa, king of that
part of Britain which we call the Midland Counties, caused search to
be made for the bones of the proto-martyr, and built a noble
monastery and church where they were found, which possibly may be
identified with the older parts of the present structure.[11]
Eventually his shrine was reared up in the South transept of the
Cathedral. Behind and just above the shrine is the Watching Gallery,
where devotees offered continual prayer and guarded the relics from
fire and robbery. Close by is another shrine in memory of S.
Amphibalus. The monastery attained to great eminence--its head was
the premier Abbot of England--and the shrine was loaded with
ornaments of enormous value. The glory departed at the time of the
Dissolution under Henry VIII. The Monastic Church is now admitted to
the rank of a Cathedral. The building was restored (or deformed?) at
great cost by the first Lord Grimthorpe, who did things with all his
right, but, as in this case, as some say, with all his wrong.
[Footnote 10: Appendix D.]
[Footnote 11: These words are written within a mile of a site in Kent
which bears the name of St. Albans, inasmuch as a small
daughter-house was established there.]
The church in the neighbourhood of old St. Albans, on the North side
of the chancel, contains a monument to the memory of Francis Bacon,
Viscount St. Albans, a great lawyer, an incisive thinker, the founder
of the school of inductive philosophers--a man who, unhappily, was
cast from his exalted legal position by the malice of his foes. How
far he himself contributed to his disgrace we will not say.
WINCHESTER.--Wynton, otherwise, Venta Belgarum (_Venta_, a Latin form
of _Win_, which is derived from the Celtic, _gwent_, a plain; hence
also _Venta Silurum_, and Bennaventa=Daventry); 66-1/2 miles S.W.
London.
The city is situated in and above the valley of the Itchen, mainly on
the left bank. Tradition ascribes its foundation to Tudor Rous
Hudibras, and dates it 99 years before the first building of Rome!
Earthworks and relics testify that the Itchen Valley was originally
occupied by Celts, and it is certain from its position at the centre
of six Roman roads, and from the relics found there, that the Caer
Gwent (White City of the Celts--_Ghwin_--white[12]) under the name of
Venta Belgarum, was an important Romano-British country town. Legends
accumulate here around the persons of Arthur and his knights. After
the conquest of Hampshire by Gervisus, the place became the capital
of Wessex, then of England, when the Kings of Wessex consolidated the
kingdom. Alfred and Canute resided here, amongst other English
sovereigns; and here were laid to rest Alfred's remains, until--at
the close of the eighteenth century--the coffin that contained them
was sold by a mercenary municipality for the sake of the lead in
which they were enclosed! Egbert, Edmund the Elder, and Canute were
also buried here. Edward the Confessor was crowned in the Minster in
1043. Being near the New Forest, and only 12 miles from Southampton,
Winchester was much frequented by the Norman Kings. William I wore
the crown there at Easter, even as at Westminster at Whitsuntide, and
at Gloucester at Christmas.
[Footnote 12: The two words _gwent_ and _ghwin_ probably look to each
other in a common meaning. _Gwent_, that which is extended, as a
plain; _ghwin_, that which presents a uniform lightish tint, such as
a plain or a lake, as contrasted with dark patches or morass.]
WROXETER.--(Towards the Welsh border the _c._ or _ch._ of _chester_
becomes an _x_, and the tendency to elision is very strong.) The
equivalent is Uriconium, properly Viroconium. The original Celtic
name survives in _Wroxeter_ and _Wrekin_, it being derived from
Celtic _rhos_--a moor. Wroxeter is situated on the Severn, 5 miles E.
of Shrewsbury.
It was a large Romano-British town, originally the chief town of the
Cornovii. At first (perhaps about 45-55 A.D.) it constituted a Roman
legionary fortress, held by Legio XIV (Gemina) against the Welsh hill
tribes. However, its garrison was soon removed, and it became a
flourishing town with stately Town Hall, Baths and other
appurtenances of a thoroughly Roman and civilised city. It was larger
and probably richer than Silchester. The lines of its walls can still
be traced, enclosing about 170 acres. Parts of important public
buildings have been disclosed by the excavations, which are still
progressing. They are carried on under the auspices of the Society of
Antiquaries.[13]
[Footnote 13: See Appendix D.]
YORK.--(Celtic, contracted from _eure-wic_; _wic_, from L. vicus),
otherwise Eboracum.
It lies in a plain watered by the Ouse, at the junction of the Foss
stream with the main river, 188 miles N. by W. of London.
In British times the city bore the name of Caer-Ebroc. It was chosen
by the Romans as an important _depôt_ after the conquest of the
Brigantes by Agricola in 79. Ultimately it became the most important
Roman centre in North Britain. The fortress of Legio VI (Victrix) was
situated near the site of the present Minster, and a municipality or
colonia sprang up where now stands the railway station on the
opposite side of the Ouse. There is a large collection of remains to
be found in the hospitium of St. Mary's Abbey, derived from the
cemetery and the site of the railway station. The base of the
Multangular Tower, N.W. of the walls, is Roman, of mingled brick and
stone work. The present names of the Bars are Micklegate, Bootham,
Monk (Goodrum), and Walmgate. Of the Norman fortress erected by
William the Conqueror in 1068 some portions were probably
incorporated in Clifford's Tower, which was partly destroyed by fire
in 1684. The Cathedral, or Minster of St. Peter, if surpassed by some
other English fanes in certain special features, is on the whole the
most striking and imposing specimen of ecclesiastical architecture in
Britain.
The Emperor Hadrian visited York in 120. The Emperor Severus died in
this city in 211, and his body was probably burnt on the hill which
now bears his name. After the death of Constantius Chlorus at York,
his son, Constantine the Great (who, according to an ancient but
incorrect tradition, was born at York), was inaugurated in this
imperial centre. The Romans withdrew in 410, and after that, scarcely
is anything known of the state of things hereabouts until 627, when
King Edwin was baptized and Paulinus consecrated in what then
constituted the metropolitan church.
APPENDIX A
Of late years measurements and records in regard to racial characters
have been made more or less thoroughly throughout Europe, partly by
individual enterprise, partly by Government officials, who have
mainly taken children and soldiers as the material of observation. It
is thus established that there is along the Mediterranean, throughout
the Spanish Peninsula, extending into the western borders of France,
and as far north as the West of England, parts of Wales and of
Scotland, and of Ireland (where dwell the descendants in the British
Isles of the ancient Picts or long-barrow men), a predominating race
which is called "the Mediterranean" or "Iberian" race, characterized
by a narrow, long, skull, dark colour of the hair, eyes, and skin,
and short stature.
Fringing the north and north-west border of Europe, occupying
Scandinavia, and largely dominating Great Britain and Ireland (where
it has overrun the earlier Iberian, or Pictish people) is the second
great European race--the Nordic. It was formerly called the
"Teutonic," but, as this term has been misapplied in Germany for
political reasons, so as to include a large body of the last, or
third, race, it is better to use the word "Nordic." The Nordic race
is, like the Iberian, long-headed, but in contrast it is blond and
very tall.
The third great European race occupies a vast wedge intruding between
the areas occupied by the Iberian race to the South and the Nordic
people to the North. It fills all but the northern border of Russia
and occupies Hungary (where there are also intrusive Huns of
Mongolian origin), Austria, Roumania, Serbia, and Bulgaria. It also
populates Germany (except its northernmost provinces) and occupies
the north and north-west of Italy, the west and centre of France and
half of Belgium. It is characterized by the round head, sturdy size,
and a colouration intermediate between that of the Iberians and
Nordics, a colouration which may tend to brunette or blond according
as either of these races is mixed with it. It is best called the
Alpine race, but is also styled the Celtic, on account of its
association with the Celtic culture and language; though it never
occupied Ireland, and does not exist at the present day in Cornwall
and Scotland, and is hardly recognisable in Wales.
The Nordic element is predominant in Great Britain and Ireland,
associated with the earlier and partly absorbed Iberian, with hardly
a trace of the Alpine or Celtic race, in spite of the talk about
Celtic fringes and the ancient introduction and prevalence of Celtic
language and culture due to the influence of small groups of Celtic
immigrants.
APPENDIX B
In the course of an enquiry in Australia, having for its object the
fostering a love of the country districts and stemming the exodus to
the cities, which is a disquieting feature of life in the
Commonwealth, medical inspectors in the schools of Victoria have come
to the conclusion that blue-eyed people seek the land, and that the
city populations are recruited largely from the brown-eyed. If this
conclusion could be generally supported, it opens up interesting
questions as to the connection of eye-pigmentation with race, and its
possible modification by inter-marriage. From the uncertainty of our
knowledge as to the immediate cause of eye and hair pigmentation one
cannot but be faced with the alternative--either that little formal
attention has been paid to the subject, or that the elements of
investigation are uncertain and conflicting. What would Mendel have
said to this problem?
APPENDIX C
In the course of the compilation of this History, the Author
re-perused the _Handbook to the Roman Wall_, in the fifth edition,
put forth by Mr. Robert Blair, many years after the death of the
original compiler, Dr. Bruce. In the light of succeeding events it is
curious to note what is said of Corstopitum, a site noted in the text
as being near Hadrian's great line of wall and its defences. Thus the
record runs:
This site, which lost its military importance with the retreat of the
Romans, apparently became a commercial emporium, and underwent very
various fortunes, culminating in its destruction by barbarians; so
that, from the fifth century, it ceased to be from that day to this;
no man dwelling on the site.
Mr. Blair says of the place itself:
Its form and extent gave it the aspect of a city rather than of a
camp. Remains of a bridge across the Tyne are to be seen when the
river is low. Excavations were made in the summer of 1906. Nothing of
account was found except a few walls, an intaglio, some fragments of
pottery and a few coins.
How frigid and disappointing is not this record! But listen to the
story which Sir Arthur Evans related to the British Association for
the Advancement of Science in his Presidential address at Newcastle
last September:
The work at Corbridge, the ancient Corstopitum, begun in 1906, and
continued down to the autumn of 1914, has already uncovered
throughout a great part of its area the largest urban centre--civil
as well as military in character--on the line of the Wall, and the
principal store-house of its stations. Here (together with well-built
granaries, workshops, and barracks, and other records of river life
as are supplied by sculptured stones and inscriptions, and the double
discovery of hoards of gold coins) has come to light a spacious and
massively constructed stone building, apparently a military
store-house, worthy to rank besides the bridge-piers of the North
Tyne among the most important monuments of Roman Britain. There is
much here, indeed, to carry our thoughts far beyond our insular
limits. On this, as on so many other sites along the Wall, the
inscriptions and reliefs take us very far afield. We mark the
gravestone of a man of Palmyra, an altar of the Tyrian Hercules--its
Phoenician Baal--a dedication to a pantheistic goddess of Syrian
religion and the raised effigy of the Persian Mithra. So, too, in the
neighbourhood of Newcastle itself, as elsewhere on the Wall, there
was found an altar of Jupiter Dolichenus, the old Anatolian God of
the Double Axe, the male form of the divinity once worshipped in the
prehistoric Labyrinth of Crete. Nowhere are we more struck than in
this remote extremity of the Empire with the heterogeneous religious
elements, often drawn from its far Eastern borders, that before the
days of the final advent of Christianity Roman dominion had been
instrumental in diffusing. The Orontes may be said to have flowed
into the Tyne as well as the Tiber.
This quotation has been given at length in order to sustain the
contention--put forth more than once in this book--that treasures
associated with the Roman epoch lie around us in every part of our
island, and that all sorts of novel surprises mutely await the advent
and quest of the diligent investigator.
But to return for a moment to Corstopitum. It has been realised that
the city was a centre of iron-work and pottery-making to supply the
needs of the troops. It furnished a base for the invasion of
Caledonia by Lollius Urbicus in A.D. 140, and for the great
expedition of Septimius Severus in A.D. 208. Much of the area
excavated during 1906 and the following years has been filled in, but
the most important buildings remain open--two large granaries, the
fountain or public water-pant, and a large unfinished building, which
may have been designed as a military storehouse, or as the praetorium
of a legionary fortress which never came into being. The most
remarkable finds made here have been the Corbridge lion in stone,
which now enjoys an European reputation, and two hoards of gold
coins, now in the British Museum.[1]
[Footnote 1: _Vide_ Official Handbook to Newcastle and District, put
forth on the occasion of the last visit of the British Association to
that city.]
The Map above gives the line of Hadrian's Wall through the two
counties of Northumberland and Cumberland, viz., from Wallsend to
Bowness, and indicates the principal places on the route. For further
details of this absorbing subject the reader is referred to such
works as the Proceedings and Transactions of learned societies, such
as the _Archæologia Æleana_, or the _Lapidarium Septentrionale_. The
_Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, Vol. vii gives a full rendering of
the inscriptions.
APPENDIX D
"The Society of Antiquaries, in conjunction with the Shropshire
Archæological Society, carried on extensive excavations at Wroxeter
during the years 1912, 1913, and 1914.
"Wroxeter, the ancient Viroconium or Uriconium, is situated on the
east bank of the Severn, between five and six miles south-east of
Shrewsbury. The lines of its walls can still be traced, enclosing an
area of about 170 acres, and the town must have been an important
centre in Roman-Britain, as it stood at the junction of two of the
main roads, viz., the Watling Street from London and the south-east,
and the road from the legionary fortress of Caerleon in South Wales.
There were also other roads running from it into Wales and to
Chester. The town is referred to by the Ravenna Geographer as
Viroconium Cornoviorum, and was probably the chief town of that tribe
which inhabited a district including both Wroxeter and Chester.
"That the site was inhabited soon after the invasion under Claudius
in 43 A.D. is evident. Coins and other objects of pre-Flavian date
have been met with in some quantities, and there are tombstones of
soldiers of the XIV Legion from the cemetery. This legion came over
with Claudius, and left Britain for good in the year 70 A.D.
Wroxeter, situated on the edge of the Welsh hills and protected from
attack on that side by the river Severn, would have formed an
admirable base for operations against the turbulent tribes of Wales,
and it is more than likely that it was used as such in the campaigns
undertaken by Ostorius Scapula in 50 A.D. and by Suetonius Paulinus
in 60 A.D.
"The Welsh tribes were finally subdued before the end of the reign of
Vespasian, and the country became more settled. Wroxeter appears to
have ceased to be a military centre and to have grown into a large
and prosperous town. It is in this period--namely, the last quarter
of the first century A.D.--that the occupation began on the part of
the site recently excavated. Very little of the earlier buildings
remained, as they all appear to have been built of wood and
wattle-and-daub.
"In the second century more substantial houses were erected, and in
the course of the excavations the following buildings were uncovered.
In 1912, four long shops, with rooms at the back and open fronts with
porticoes on the street. In 1913, a temple, which must have been of
some architectural pretensions, and contained life-sized statues, of
which several fragments were discovered. In 1914, a large dwelling
house, consisting of a number of rooms with a large portico on the
street and a small bath-house on the south side. The porticoes of all
these buildings formed a continuous colonnade by the side of the
street. At the back of the large dwelling-house another structure was
discovered. Unfortunately it could not be entirely explored, as its
west part was beyond the reserved area. It consisted of two parallel
walls, 13 ft. apart, which enclosed an oblong space with rounded
corners 144 ft. wide and 188 ft. long to the furthest point
excavated. No other building of this form appears to have been found
elsewhere, and it is difficult to say for what purpose it was used,
especially as part of it is still unexcavated. It is possible,
however, that it may have been a place of amusement for games,
bull-baiting, etc., and that the two parallel walls held tiers of
wooden seats.
"The buildings that faced the street had been altered and rebuilt
several times, the mixed soil being from 8 ft. to 10 ft. deep in
places, making the work of excavation very slow and laborious. For
instance, in 1914 there was evidence of at least four different
periods of buildings on the same site. In the early period there were
wood and wattle-and-daub houses. Over the remains of these in the
first half of the second century three long buildings were erected
with open fronts or porticoes similar to those found in 1912. About
the middle of the second century these three buildings were
incorporated in one large house with corridors, two courtyards, many
rooms, some with mosaic floors, and others fitted with hypocausts. A
bath-house, with cold baths and hot rooms, was situated at the
south-west corner. At a later period this dwelling was considerably
altered, several of the rooms being swept away, and the central part
of the building turned into one large courtyard with corridors on
three sides. Two new hypocausts were inserted and extra rooms and a
long corridor or verandah built at the back. Water was supplied to
the houses by a water main at the side of the road. By shutting
sluice-gates it was possible to divert the water into side channels
which ran through the houses, flushing their drains, and discharging
at the back into the river. Eleven wells were found during the
excavations, varying from 10 ft. to 12 ft. in depth and stone-lined.
"A number of crucibles and some unfinished bronze castings, etc.,
have been met with, showing that metalworking was carried on on the
site. There was also evidence of other industrial processes, such as
enamelling and working in bone. A very large number of small objects
has been discovered during the excavations, such as cameos and
engraved gems (some still set in finger rings), many brooches of
different metals, enamelled ornaments, and a quantity of interesting
articles in different metals, bone, glass, etc.
"The great quantity of pottery found may be judged by the fact that
upwards of 900 potters' stamps on Samian ware have been recorded. The
coins number between 1,200 and 1,300, among them being a few British
varieties. No coins later than the end of the fourth century have
been, as yet, met with, and the town does not appear to have been
inhabited after that date. What was the cause of its destruction or
desertion is, as yet, uncertain, but it is hoped that future
excavations will solve the problem.
"Detailed accounts of the excavations are printed in the Reports of
the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, Nos.
1, 2, and 4."
The above has been extracted, by kind permission of the Council, from
the proceedings of the British Association for the Advancement of
Science for 1915; and is taken from the Report of the Committee on
"Excavations on Roman Sites in Britain," comprising the Special
Return made by J. P. Bushe-Fox, F.S.A.
WORKS BY REV. J. O. BEVAN, M.A., F.G.S., F.S.A.
(_Rector of Chillenden, Canterbury; Sometime Prizeman, Exhibitioner,
and Foundation Scholar of Emmanuel College, Cambridge_).
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