Part 4

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.--Durobrivae; 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 _depot_ 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 _Archaeologia Aeleana_, 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 Archaeological 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.