Part 34

Chichester, by this inscription found at it, must have been a town of eminence very soon after the Romans had settled here, and in process of time seems to have been much frequented, by the Roman roads, still visible, that terminate here from Portsmouth, Midhurst, and Arundel; though, what is very strange, we have no Roman name now for it. I once thought it might have put in its claim for _Anderida_, which our antiquaries have not yet agreed to fix any where, being situated, very near, both to the _Sylva Anderida_, and the _southern Coast_ of the island, the two properties of that city: _vid._ Camb. Brit. and Somner’s Roman Ports and Forts. But Henry of Huntingdon, who lived in the time of Henry II. telling us, that the Saxons so destroyed _Andredecester_, that _Nunquam postea reædificata fuit, & locus tantum quasi nobilissimæ urbis transeuntibus ostenditur desolatus_, pag. 312. (_Vid._ Dr. Tabor’s Discourse of _Anderida_, Philos. Transact. Nᵒ 356.) it could not be Chichester; for that was not only rebuilt before his time, but was a place of such note, that when the bishops, soon after the Conquest, anno Dom. 1076. removed their churches from small decayed towns, where several of them were then seated, _in urbes celebriores_, Stigand, then bishop of Selsey, settled his episcopal chair at that place.

I shall conclude with observing, that when this inscription was dug up, there were also two walls of stone discovered close by it, three foot thick each, one running north, the other east, and joining in an angle, as the North-street and St. Martin’s lane now turn, which, in all probability, were part of the foundations of the temple mentioned on the marble. October 31. 1723.

To this judicious elucidation of the inscription I have nothing to add, but that it seems to me probable enough, that Pudens, mentioned therein to have given the ground upon which the temple was built, was that Aulus Pudens who married the famous British lady Claudia Rufina, celebrated for her wit, beauty and eloquence. There is room enough in the stone to suppose the letter A at least, as his _prænomen_ was in that part which is lost. _Moncæius de incunab. regiis eccles. christ. vet. Britann._ thinks Claudia, mentioned by St. Paul,[139] 2 Tim. iv. 21. was daughter of the renowned Caratacus, converted to christianity by him, and married to this Pudens, a Roman Senator. But this may be judged rather too early, on account of the time of St. Paul’s death, and that wherein Martial lived, who wrote two elegant epigrams upon her; and we may with more likelihood conclude her to be the daughter of our _Cogidunus_, who lived to Tacitus his time, which was the same as Martial’s: and there is equal reason for the name of Claudia to be given her in honour of Claudius the emperor, as for the king her father taking the same upon himself, as appears in this inscription. Martial’s first epigram upon her is the 13th in his IV. _L._ thus,

_Claudia, Rufe, meo nupsit peregrina Pudenti Macte esto tædis o hymenæe tuis_ &c.

We may well imagine this was wrote in the reign of Domitian, by the first epigram in that book being in honour of that emperor’s birth day; and sixteen years at least must have passed between that and the time of St. Paul’s death, which happened the last year of Nero. The other epigram is the 54th of XI. _L._

_Claudia cœruleis cum sit Rufina Britannis Edita, cur Latiæ pectora plebis habet? Quale decus formæ! Romanam credere matres Italides possunt, Atthides esse suam. Dî bene, quod sancto peperit fæcunda marito Quot sperat generos, quotque puella nurus. Sic placeat superis, ut conjuge gaudeat uno, Et semper natis gaudeat illa tribus._

We may conclude, that if she had been of age sufficient to be converted by St. Paul, she would about this time have been too old to have children, and be accounted beautiful. But times and all circumstances conspire sufficiently to make her the daughter of _Cogidunus_.

Famous was the contest between Neptune and Minerva in naming the city of Athens, which they referred to the umpire of Apollo: he, to avoid the _odium_ of appearing partial on either side, left it to the decision of mortal men, as Varro tells us: howsoever, these two deities are happily reconciled in a joint partnership of the dedication of this temple. The antiquaries are still at variance about the ancient name of this city. Therefore, Sir, that I may not be wholly an unworthy fellow-traveller, _passibus etsi longe inequalibus_, I shall venture, if Minerva is not averse, to offer my thoughts towards a recovery of the Roman denomination of Chichester, which appears plainly to have been an eminent and early station: though the journey of Antoninus reaches it not, yet it would be strange if Ravennas should have passed it by, who is very particular in this part of the island.

[Sidenote: +Mantantonis.+]

[Sidenote: TAB. LXXXI.]

I observe the river this city stands upon is called _Lavant_. There are three towns synonymous higher up, East, West, and Middle Lavant; whence I think we may conclude, that the true and original name of the river was _Antona_, not an uncommon appellative of such in the Celtic dialect: Mr. Baxter, voce _Anderida_, calls it _Ant_. Likewise a town called _Hampnet_ stands upon it, which seems some corruption of _Antona_. Now there are two rivers of this name falling into the southern ocean; that which we spoke of lately, the Itchin, running by _Trausantum_; and this we are upon: therefore it appears natural and necessary that they should some way or other be distinguished from one another: the former _Trausantum_, Mr. Baxter, voce _Antona_, says signifies the farther _Antona_; and in this same sense, but in a later manner, Ninius calls it _Trahannon_; as our monk Ravennas, _Onna_, by a softer pronunciation. Our river then must be the hither or nearer _Antona_, however actually distinguished; which we must find out. Looking into that author generally called _Anonymus_, though I suppose his true name is _Ravennas_, as born there, (it being at that time the method of the ecclesiastics to take the sirname of their native towns) he thus mentions some cities hereabouts: _Caleba Atrebatum_, _Anderesio_, _Miba_, _Mutuantonis_, _Lemanis_, _Dubris_, _&c._ Now I imagine _Mutuantonis_ is the place here sought for. This author probably transcribed these names from inspection of a map, sometimes casting his eye along a road, sometimes a river, sea-coast or the like, and sometimes _per saltum_: when he has been reciting many names of cities in the inland parts as far as _Corinium Dobunorum_, or Cirencester, he returns to the south-east part of the island, and begins a new period, as above. Directly in his way to the sea-coasts is _Caleba_, or Farnham, as I shall show in proper place: next is _Anderida_; which cannot be this place, for the reason you brought out of Henry of Huntingdon: no doubt it is somewhere upon the Sussex coast; but its particular site I shall not take upon me now to determine. _Miba_ is with good reason thought to be Midhurst; then very naturally follows _Mutuantonis_, our Chichester: hence he takes his route eastward towards _Lemanis_, _Dubris_, _&c._ in Kent. In short, the evidence is this: the author is plainly describing these parts; and where should _Mutuantonis_ stand, but upon the river _Antona_? and it does not appear, that any other river hereabouts is so called; or, if it did, _Anderida_ may very well thither be referred, which cannot possibly to this place. I take the name of _lavant_, or _mutuant_, to be synonymous words in the British language, to distinguish it, as we said, from _trausant_;, for _llafar_ signifies _sonorous_, _loquax_; and _mwth_ is _citus_, _velox_; either of which, prefixed to _Antona_, describe this rapid or noisy river; and in effect we find it remarkably so. Dr. Holland in his notes at the bottom of Mr. Camden expresly observes, that this river, though sometimes quite dry, at others, and that very often in the midst of summer, is so full as to run very violently: this, no doubt, is owing to its rise in the neighbouring high grounds to the north; for from them it must needs fall with an impetuous torrent. Further, it may possibly be derived from the British _llai minor_, signifying the _lesser Antona_, from its short course; the consonant _v_, or _f_ which is its equivalent, being interposed _euphoniæ gratia_: or if Mr. Baxter’s correction of _Mantantonis_ be thought just, then it signifies the mouth of the river _Antona_; and Chichester now stands very near its inlet into the sea, and formerly nearer. What way soever we take it, it seems reasonable to conclude this is the place. Though it was not properly a sea-port town, yet it is plainly near enough for the establishment of the _collegium fabrorum_ here; and the vast plenty of wood from the adjoining forest favoured their work, whether of timber or the forge. Since this inscription, there was found a Mosaic pavement in Mrs. Downes’s garden; and when that was pulled in pieces as usual, a brass coin was discovered under it of Nero and Drusus Cæs. on one side, represented on horseback; on the other, _C. Cæsar Divi aug. pron. aug. p. m. tr. p._ +IIII.+ _pp._ which no doubt was there deposited to show the _æra_ of that work.

[Sidenote: TAB. LXXXII.]

A little way out of the city northward, we passed by a Roman camp, called Brill, I suppose Bury hill, in Ogilby’s maps called _Beauty’s bank_: the Roman road called Stone-street causeway, goes directly north-east from hence through this country, and by Darking church-yard in Surrey; then falls into the Hermen-street at Woodcote.

[Sidenote: TAB. XLIII.]

[Sidenote: +Mida.+]

St. Roc’s hill is a fine elevation, with a spacious circular camp on the top, of a round form, a _castrum æstivum_, belonging to _Mantantonis_. Here is a foundation of a chapel, or a beacon, perhaps both: the reader may gather an idea of the view here from plate 43. At Midhurst is a fine old seat called Cowdrey, belonging to the Browns viscount Montacute: it stands in a valley incompassed with lawns, hills and woods, thrown into a park, the river running underneath. It is a large house of stone, consisting of one court: the hall is cieled of Irish oak after the ancient manner; the walls painted with architecture by Roberti, the statues by Goupé, the stair-case by Pelegrini: the room at the end of the hall is of Holbein’s painting, where that famous old artist has described the exploits of Henry VIII. before Bulloign, Calais, his landing at Portsmouth, his magnificent entry into London, &c. In the other rooms are many excellent pictures of the ancestors of the family, and other history-painting of Holbein’s, relating to their actions in war. The whole circuit of rooms above stairs are stately and well furnished, adorned with many pictures: there is a long gallery with the twelve apostles as big as the life; another very neat one, wainscotted with Norway oak, where are many ancient whole-length pictures of the family in their proper habits, which is a very elegant notion: there are four history pieces; two copies of Raphael’s marriage of Cupid and Psyche; several old religious and military paintings from Battle-abbey. The road to Midhurst to us appeared Roman, and therefore strengthens the supposition of its being _Mida_.

St. Roc’s hill is upon the chalky down running east and west: north of it to Farnham it is sandy, full of _erica_; but the valleys are rich, warm and woody. The heaths between Farnham and Godalmin are full of barrows. Ferndon hill in the way to Godalmin is very steep northwards, and of an hour’s descent; which you rise to insensibly: it runs east and west.

[Sidenote: +Calleva Atrebatum.+]

[Sidenote: TAB. XLIV. 2d Vol.]

At Farnham is the bishop of Winchester’s palace, a magnificent ancient structure of the castle-form, deeply moted, and strongly walled about, with towers at proper distance: it stands upon the edge of a hill, where is a fine park. One large and broad street of the town, below hill, fronts the castle; the main of the rest of the town consists of a long strait street crossing it at right angles, which is the Roman road coming from Winchester: the river runs parallel to it on the south: this is a fine rich soil with much sand in it, and has an extraordinary propriety for the growth of hops. This place I take to be the _Caleva Atrebatum_;[140] which because it is a notion of my own advancing, it requires that I should a little enlarge upon it, and propose it to your discerning judgement. This has been hitherto matter of dispute among antiquaries, and I think cannot otherwise be settled than in fixing it at this place: it will make this VIIth journey of Antoninus and some more very clear, that otherwise labour under insuperable difficulties: therefore this I propose to be the true scheme of that journey.

ITER VII. _a Regno Londinium M. P._ XCVI. _sic_

_Regnum_ Ringwood _Trausantum_ Southampton XX _Venta Belgarum_ Winchester X _Caleva Atrebatum_ Farnham XXII _Pontes_ Stanes XXII _Londinium_ London XXII ———— _toto_, XCVI.

We have no difference in the copies, but in the sum total at top, which is owing only to a transposition of the letters C and X. therefore all we have to do is to find out the towns; the particular numbers being indisputably right, and rightly cast up in the _Suritan_ edition; and all the places that admit any question, are only _Calleva_ and _Pontes_, which in this manner mutually prove one another, as being absolutely conformable to geography, and the nearest way one should chuse to go at this day, and having from Southampton a Roman road accompanying all the way. This summer I rode through Winchester and Farnham, through Alresford and Alton, and observed in many places signs sufficient of that nature; though it is horridly out of repair, and even in the midst of summer very bad, notwithstanding such plenty of materials every where to mend it: this has obliged coaches and horsemen frequently to make excursions for their ease and safety. Mr. Aubury likewise pronounces it a Roman road long since in his manuscript collections. Between Farnham and Alton the bank is visible, in several places between Alresford and Alton: the right reverend author of the additions to Camden takes notice of it. The distance is twenty two miles, as in the Itinerary; but to Wallingford, where Mr. Camden places it, it is thirty; to Henley somewhat more: beside, from the one you must cross the Thames three times, from the other twice in the way to London; a thing the Romans would certainly avoid, if possible: but from Farnham by way of Stanes is the direct road, and distances correspondent as before.

_Calleva_ is again mentioned in the XIIIth and XIVth journeys, both which I have already corrected; and they mutually confirm one another, and take away all difficulties when they are considered together. Lastly, _Calleva_ is mentioned in the XVth journey of Antoninus: I shall exhibit it in this form, which I conceive to be its original one. We have cleared all the other parts of it before, where it differs from this in the printed copies.

ITER XV. _a Caleva Atrebatum, Iscam Dumnoniorum M. P._ CXXXXI. _sic_

_Caleva Atrebatum_ Farnham _Vindoma_ Silchester XV _Venta Belgarum_ Winchester XXI _Brigæ_ by Broughton XI _Sorbiodunum_ Old Sarum VIII _Vindogladia_ Boroston XII Ibernium _Bere regis_ XIIII _Durnovaria_ Dorchester IX _Moridunum_ Seaton XXXVI _Isca Dumnoniorum_ Excester XV —————— CXXXXI

Perhaps the last X in the sum total was corrupted into a V after the station was dropped out. The first part of it here establishes the site of _Calleva_ in respect to _Venta Belgarum_; as in the XIIIth and XIVth journeys in respect to _Spina_; so that it is proved from different points of a triangle, and as it were by mathematical demonstration.

I imagine the occasion of over-sight in this matter is owing to Mr. Camden’s settling the _Atrebates_ in Berkshire; and his authority, no doubt, with every one is of the greatest weight deservedly: yet I suppose his only reason for it is because he thought Wallingford the _Calleva Atrebatum_, as having some resemblance to his supposed _Gallena_. In his Roman map he has set these _Atrebates_ partly north of the Thames in Oxfordshire, where himself puts the _Ancalites_, and partly south, where rightly he fixes the _Bibroci_ in Berkshire: this is in my judgement too far northward. I doubt not but the _Bibroci_ inhabited Berkshire intirely to the Thames, as I proved in a former letter; to which we may add, that if, as he says, this country was called by the Saxons _Berrocscyre_, there can be no difficulty in asserting the word derived from _Bibroci_. The _Atrebates_ came undoubtedly from _Gallia Belgica_, where were a people of the same name upon the sea-coasts; and if we place them here in Surrey about this their capital, they may with some propriety with Mr. Camden be said here in Britain to live over-against their own country, where Ptolemy places them in the maritime parts upon the Sein; but not if he sends them up to the top of the Thames: nor is it probable they should have penetrated so far up the country, even beyond their brethren the _Belgæ_, by all allowed the most powerful colony of transmarine people at that time. The _Segontiaci_ as well as _Bibroci_, on this side the Thames, would confessedly oppose such passage; therefore, if we give Sussex to the _Regni_, we must reserve Surrey for these _Atrebates_, and Farnham their capital; and this is agreeable to Ptolemy, who places them next the _Cantii_.

[Sidenote: TAB. LVI.]

A little without Farnham eastward, the road divides into two branches with an acute angle: one goes to Guildford and Darking, where it meets the Stane-street coming from Chichester; the other to Stanes, which I prosecuted to Farnborow, probably a station or inn, or camp to secure the road over this wild country; for it is deep sand from Farnham to Egham: but where in particular the Roman road went is not easy to define, because of the extraordinary sandiness of the whole country:[141] but at Frimley, near here, about sixteen year ago, an urn with Roman coins and intaglia’s was found: Mr. Titchburn had them. This is directly in the way to Farnbarow. I suppose there was a Roman way from Silchester through Stretley, Hartley row, Harford bridge, which signifies _trajectus militaris_, but from the mooryness of the soil is quite worn away. I take this road to be a continuation of that coming from the Bath by Marlborough;[142] but at Stanes I saw our road very evidently go through the fields west of the bridge, and directly over-against it; for it must be understood that the Romans drew a road, as I said before, under the Icening-street, and parallel to it, which went from _Regnum_ to London. This is what we have been upon, and composes this VIIth _Iter_: From thence it passed through Colchester to the sea-coasts of Suffolk. Now between Stanes and London it is notorious, being the common road at present, till you come to Turnham green:[143] there the present road through Hammersmith and Kensington leaves it; for it passes more northward upon the common, where to a discerning eye the trace of it is manifest; then it goes over a little brook called from it Stanford-bridge, and comes into the Acton road at a common, and a bridge, a little west of Camden house, so along Hyde-park wall, and crosses the Watling-street at Tyburn, then along Oxford-road. But of this part of it, going to Old-street, north of London, I spoke before.

[Sidenote: +Pontes.+]

[Sidenote: TAB. LXXXIV.]

Between Oxford-street and Stanes, this Roman road was originally drawn through Brentford, which undoubtedly was a mansion between them; and this is a very strait line: I rode the broken part of it between Acton road and Turnham green: it is still a narrow strait way, keeping its original direction, but full of dangerous sloughs, being a clayey soil and never repaired: it butts full upon Stanes bridge, and then beyond it passes forward in a strait line through gardens and yards into the corn-fields, where its ridge is still left, the highest part of all the field, though they plough close to it on both sides; and it is now a road for three quarters of a mile; then it enters a narrow lane, and at last degenerates into a foot-path toward Thorp-lea, in the way to Farnham; the common road leaving it all this while in the way to Egham. So that undoubtedly Stanes was the _Pontes_ of Antoninus;[144] the distances of 22 miles on both sides answering the fact, and the Itinerary; with which I shall at present conclude mine in the words of the poet,

_Hic labor extremus, longarum hæc meta viarum._ +Virg.+ Æn. III.

THE PLATES IN _ITINERARIUM CURIOSUM_, Cent. I.

And where explained.

1. Rural Curiosity. Marlborough _mount, and the cascade at_ Wilton. Pag. 64

2. Lincolnshire _decoys_. 18

3. Seats. _Lord_ Hartford’s _house at_ Marlborough. 64

4. Ichnography of castles. Ludlow _castle, ground-plot and prospect_. 74

5. _Prospect of the same._ 74

6. Views of castles. Rochester _castle_. 120

7. Bridges. Croyland _bridge_. 34

8. Ichnography of Palaces. Whitehall _ruins ground-plot_. _Pref._

9. Ruins of Palaces. _King_ John’_s palace at_ Clarendon. 138

10. Seals. _Of the church of_ Norwich. _Pref._

11. Crosses. _St._ Guthlack’_s, Ivy cross_, Ednam, Hadenham, _and others_. 12, 19, 34, 107

12. Waltham _cross_. 37

13. Prospects. Blackston _cave, &c. near_ Bewdley. 74

14. Hermitages. Dale _abbey, &c. and_ Blackston _cave ground-plot_. 53, 74

15. Portraits. _Sir_ Harry Spelman. _Pref._

16. Monumental brasses. _Bishop_ Smith, _founder of_ Brazen-nose _college_. 92

17. Marbles. Aylwin _alderman of_ England. 81

18. _King_ John’_s effigies at_ Worcester. 68

19. View of churches. Boston, Lincolnshire. 31

20. Colsterworth _church_. 85

21. Holbech _church_. 20

22. Religious ruins. _Priory of_ Leominster. 72

23. Gatehouses. Reding _abbey, and_ Worcester _college_. 63

24. Places of interment of archbishops. _St._ Augustin, _St._ Augustin’_s abbey_. 123