The Towns of Roman Britain Part 3

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 Suss.e.x 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 Gloucesters.h.i.+re, 93 miles W.N.W. of London, on the river Churn, a tributary of the Thames.

This was a flouris.h.i.+ng 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 Cun.o.belin, 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 princ.i.p.al 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 munic.i.p.ality, with discharged Roman soldiers as citizens, to a.s.sist the Roman dominion and spread Roman civilization.

Under Boadicea, the Iceni burnt the town and ma.s.sacred 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 a.s.sociated 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 h.o.a.rd of gold coins, wrapped in leadfoil, and thrust into the c.h.i.n.k 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 s.h.i.+elds 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 aelii (Newcastle), Conderc.u.m (Benwell Hill), Vindobala (Rutchester), Hunnum (Halton Chester), Cilurnum (Chesters), Procolitia (Carrawburgh), Borcovicus (House-steads), Vindolana (Chesterholm), aesica (Great Chesters), Magna (Carvoran), Amboglanna (Birdoswald), Petriana, Aballaba, Congovata, Axelodunum, Gabrosentum, Tunocelum, Glannibanta, Alionis, Bremetenrac.u.m, Olenac.u.m, 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 a.s.sociated 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 d.y.k.e (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 Dumbartons.h.i.+re, it ran eastwards, pa.s.sing in succession Kirkintilloch, Crory, Castlecary, and Falkirk, terminating at Bridgeness, a rocky promontory that projects into the Firth of Forth, south of Borrowstonness in Linlithgows.h.i.+re. 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 (Dorsets.h.i.+re).--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 (Oxfords.h.i.+re).--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 Wess.e.x 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 princ.i.p.al 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 sh.o.r.e, 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 gla.s.s 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 c.u.mberland, 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 a.s.sociated 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 Sh.o.r.e,"

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 wors.h.i.+p; 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 d.a.m.noniorum, the most westerly town in the government of Roman Britain. Traces of Roman walls survive in mediaeval 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.