Roman Britain in 1914 Part 6

Just two-thirds of the coins are later than A.D. 364; they may be set beside the late h.o.a.rd found at Wookey Hole in 1852, which Mr. Balch might well have mentioned. Plainly, the later Roman layer in the cave belongs to the end of the fourth century. The date of the other layer is harder to fix, since we are not told how the coins and potsherds were distributed between the layers. Probably the cave was long inhabited casually but in the troubled time of the latest Empire became a place of refuge or otherwise attracted more numerous occupants. That, if true, is a more interesting result that Mr. Balch realizes. For in general the cave-life of Roman Britain belonged to the first two or three centuries of our era; it is only rarely, and mostly in the west country, that the caves contain among their Roman relics objects of the late fourth century (see _Victoria Hist. Derbys.h.i.+re_, i. 233-42). I must add that Mr. Balch repeats on pp. 57-8 the error about the significance of the Republican coin which was noted in my Report for 1915.

(35) The _Proceedings of the Somersets.h.i.+re Archaeological and Natural History Society_ for 1913 (vol. lix, Taunton, 1914) record small Roman finds at Bratton and Barrington (part i, pp. 24, 65, 76, and part ii, p.

79), and describe in detail Mr. Gray's trial excavations at Cadbury Castle. Cadbury, it seems, was occupied mainly in the Celtic period, before the Roman conquest.

(36) A little light is thrown on two Somerset 'villas' in _Notes and Queries for Somerset and Dorset_ (xiv. 1914). (_a_) Skinner in 1818 excavated a 'villa' near Camerton which he recorded in his ma.n.u.scripts.

(British Mus. Add. 33659, &c.) and which I described in print in the _Victoria History of Somerset_ (i. 315). His account did not, however, enable one to fix the precise site; he said only that it stood south of a certain Ridgeway and next to a field called Chessils. Mr. E. J.

Holmroyd has now, with the aid of t.i.the maps, discovered a field called Chessils in the north of Midsomer Norton parish, about a mile east of Paulton village, at the point where a lane called in the Ordnance Survey 'Coldharbour Lane', which runs north and south, cuts a lane running east and west from Camerton to Paulton; this latter lane keeps to high ground and must be Skinner's Ridgeway. In Chessils and in adjoining fields called Cornwell, just 525 feet above sea-level, he has, further, actually found Roman potsherds, tiles, and rough tesserae. This, as he says (_Notes and Queries_, xiv. 5, and in a letter to me) will be the site of Skinner's 'villa.' (_b_) In the same publication (p. 122) I have pointed out that the Parish Award (1798) of Chedzoy, near Bridgwater, contains a field-name Chesters. This, as the Rector of Chedzoy attests, is still in use there, as the name of an orchard on the Manor Farm, just west of Chedzoy village. According to older statements, a hypocaust was long ago found in 'Slapeland', and Slapeland too lies west of Chedzoy village (see _Vict. Hist. Somerset_, i. 359). Two bits of slender evidence seem thus to confirm each other, although no actual Roman remains have been noted at Chedzoy lately.

(37) In the _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London_ (xxvi.

137-44) Mr. A. Bulleid describes, with ill.u.s.trations, some excavations which he lately made in the marshes north of the Polden Hills, near Cossington and Chilton. Here are curious mounds which have often been taken for some kind of potteries, and are so explained by Mr. Bulleid; many of these mounds were excavated about a hundred years ago, and Mr.

Bulleid has now dug into others. His results are not very conclusive, but they seem to imply that the mounds, whatever they were, were not used for pottery making, since among many relics of various sorts no 'wasters' have been found. See further, for an account of the finds in this region, _Victoria Hist. of Somerset_, i. 351-3.

_Surrey_

(38) The _Surrey Archaelogical Collections_ (vol. xxvi) note various small Roman finds--Roman bricks in the walls of Fetcham Church, possibly Roman plaster at Stoke D'Abernon Church (p. 123), some thirty coins and Roman urns and gla.s.s from Ewell (pp. 135, 148), and an urn from Camberwell (p. 149). The same journal (vol. xxvii, p. 155) notes the discovery, not hitherto recorded, of over 100 coins of A.D. 296-312 in an urn dug up in 1904 at Normandy Manor Nurseries, near Guildford.

(39) A _Schedule of Antiquities in the County of Surrey_, by Mr. P. M.

Johnston (Guildford, 1913), seems intended for students of mediaeval and modern antiquities, and says little about Roman remains; it has no index and cites no authorities.

_Suss.e.x_

(40) A Roman well has been examined near Ham Farm, between Ha.s.socks railway station and Hurstpierpoint. It was 38 feet deep, the upper part round and lined with local blue clay, the lower part square and lined with stout oak planks. The only object recorded from it is a 'first century vase', taken out at half-way down, which suggests that the well collapsed at an early date. Another well, flint-lined, was noted near but not explored; Roman potsherds were picked up not far off (_Suss.e.x Archaeological Collections_, lvi. 197). The remains probably belong to a farm detected close by in 1857 (_S. A. C._ xiv. 178). Traces of Roman civilized life are comparatively common in this neighbourhood.

(41) Mr. R. G. Roberts' volume, _The Place-names of Suss.e.x_ (Cambridge University Press, 1914), much resembles the Derbys.h.i.+re monograph noted above (No. 7). Its selection of place-names is about as limited and its neglect of all but purely phonetic considerations is as marked.

Names such as Cold Waltham (beside a Roman road), Adur, Lavant, Arun, Chanctonbury, Mount Caburn, do not find a place in it. From a full criticism by Dr. H. Bradley in the _English Historical Review_ (x.x.x.

161-6) one would infer that its philology, too, is by no means satisfactory.

_Westmorland_

(42) The _Transactions of the c.u.mberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society_ (xiv. 433-65) contain the first Report, by Mr.

R. G. Collingwood, of the excavation of the Roman fort at Borrans Ring, near Ambleside, covering the period from August 1913 to April 1914. It is an excellent piece of description and well ill.u.s.trated; due attention is given to the small objects; the whole is scholarly and satisfactory.

It is perhaps as well to add that one or two details first found in April 1914 were further explored in the following August, and some corrections were obtained which will be published in the second Report.

For the rest see above, p. 10.

_Wilts._

(43) I have contributed to the _Proceedings of the Bath and District Branch of the Somersets.h.i.+re Archaeological Society and Natural History_ for 1914 (p. 50) a note on the relief of Diana found at Nettleton Scrub, to much the same effect as the paragraph on this sculpture in my Report for 1913 (p. 49).

(44) The _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London_ (xxvi.

209) contain a note by Mr. E. H. Binney on Roman remains on the known Roman site, Nythe Farm, about three miles east of Swindon.

_Worcesters.h.i.+re_

(45) The same _Proceedings_ (xxvi. 206) contain an account by Dr. G. B.

Grundy of two sections which he dug lately across the line of Rycknield Street on the high ground south-east of Broadway, thereby helping to fix the road at this point. A sketch-map is added.

_Yorks.h.i.+re_

(46) In the _Bradford Antiquary_ for October 1914 (iv. 117-34) Dr. F.

Villy continues his inquiries into a supposed Roman road running past Harden, a little north-west of Bradford. Dr. Villy actually excavates for his roads, in very praiseworthy fas.h.i.+on. But I do not feel sure that he has actually proved a Roman road on the line which he has here examined; he has found interesting and indubitable traces of an old road, but not decisive evidence of its date. The same volume includes a note of eight Roman coins of the 'Thirty Tyrants', from Yew Bank, Utley.

_Wales_

(47) _Archaeologia Cambrensis_ for 1914 (series vi, vol. xiv) contains useful papers on Roman remains. Mr. H. G. Evelyn White describes in detail his excavations carried out at Castell Collen in 1913--see my Report for that year, pp. 1-58. One must regret that they have not been continued in 1914. Mr. F. N. Pryce describes his work at Cae Gaer, near Llangurig (pp. 205-20), also noted in that Report. The Rev. J. Fisher quotes place-names possibly indicative of a Roman road near St. Asaph, and quotes a suggestion by Mr. Egerton Phillimore that the towns.h.i.+p name Wigfair, once Wicware, stands for Gwig-wair, and that the second half of this represents the name Varis which the Antonine Itinerary places on the Roman road from Chester to Carnarvon at a point which cannot be far from St. Asaph and the Clwydd river (see my _Military Aspects of Roman Wales_, pp. 26-8, and Owen's forthcoming _Pembrokes.h.i.+re_, ii. 524).

Lastly, Mr. J. Ward reports on further finds of the fort wall at Cardiff Castle (pp. 407-10): see above, p. 21.

(48) The excavation of the Roman fort at Gellygaer, thirteen miles north of Cardiff, was brought in 1913 to a point at which (as I learn) it is considered to be for the present finished. I referred to it in my Report for 1913; Mr. John Ward's full description of the results obtained in 1913 is now issued in the _Transactions of the Cardiff Naturalists'

Society_ (vol. xlvi). The princ.i.p.al finds were a supposed 'drill-ground'

on the north-east of the fort, a bit of another inscription of Trajan, a kiln in the churchyard, and a largish earthwork on the north-west of the fort. This last is a regular oblong of not quite five acres internal area, fortified by an earthen mound and a ditch; trenching across the interior showed no trace of buildings or indeed of any occupation, but the search was not carried very far. Several explanations have been offered of it--that it was a temporary affair, thrown up while the actual fort was abuilding; that it was intended for troops marching past and needing to camp for a night at the spot; that it was an earlier fort, begun when the first invasion of the Silures was made, about A.D.

50-2, but never finished. This third view is Mr. Ward's own. Without more excavation, it is rash to p.r.o.nounce positively, and perhaps even a minute search might be fruitless. a.n.a.logies somewhat favour the first theory, but there will always be room for difference of opinion in explaining these excrescences (so to speak) of permanent forts, which are slight in themselves and slightly explored.

As the exploration of this site appears to be closed for the present, and indeed is nearly complete, it may be convenient to give a conspectus of the whole in a small plan (fig. 29).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 29. GENERAL PLAN OF ROMAN WORKS AT GELLYGAER (GLAMORGAN)

(A. Granaries; B. Commandant's House; C. Head-quarters; D. doubtful; E.

Barracks; F. Stabling(?))]

(49) The fourth volume issued by the Welsh Monuments Commission (_Inventory of Ancient Monuments in the County of Denbigh_, H.M.

Stationery Office, 1914) enumerates the few Roman remains of Denbighs.h.i.+re. The one important item is the group of tile and pottery kilns lately excavated by Mr. A. Acton at Holt, eight miles south of Chester, which I have described above (p. 15); the Commissioners' plan of the site seems to have an incorrect scale. Chance finds, important if not yet fully understood, have been found in British camps at Pen-y-corddin, Moel Fenlli, Moel y Gaer, and especially at Parc-y-Meirch or Dinorben (above, p. 28). Isolated coins have been found scantily--a h.o.a.rd of perhaps 6,000 Constantinian copper at Moel Fenlli, a gold coin of Nero from the same hill, another coin of Nero at Llanarmon, 200-300 Constantinian at Llanelidan. A parcel of bronze 'cooking vessels' was found near Abergele (Eph. Epigr. iii. 130) but has unfortunately disappeared. The index also mentions coins under 'No. 458', which does not appear in the volume itself. A Roman road probably ran across the county from St. Asaph to Caerhyn (Canovium); its east end is pretty certain, as far as Glascoed, though the 'Inventory' hardly makes this clear.

(50) A partial plan and some views of the west gate of the Roman fort at the Gaer, near Brecon, are given in the _Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club_ for 1908-11.

_Scotland_

(51) The fifth Report of the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments in Scotland, _Inventory of Monuments in Galloway.

II. Stewartry of Kirkcudbright_ (Edinburgh, 1914) shows that the eastern half of Galloway, like the western half described in the fourth Report in 1912, contains nothing that can be called a 'Roman site' and very few Roman remains of any sort. Indeed this eastern half, the land between Dumfries and Newton Stewart, seems even poorer in such remains than the district between Newton Stewart and the Irish Sea. Its only items are some trifles of Samian, &c., found in the Borness Cave, and some iron implements found in a bronze caldron in Carlingwark Loch. This result is, of course, contrary to the views of older Scottish writers like Skene, who talked of 'numerous Roman camps and stations' in Galloway, but it will surprise no recent student. Probably the Romans never got far west of a line roughly coinciding with that of the Caledonian Railway from Carlisle by Carstairs to Glasgow. Their failure or omission to hold the south-west weakened the left flank and rear of their position on the Wall of Pius and helped materially to shorten their dominion in Scotland in the second century.

(52) In the _Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland_ for 1913-4 (vol. xlviii) Mr. J. M. Corrie describes some polishers and other small objects found casually at Newstead (p. 338), and Dr.

Macdonald expands (p. 395) the account of the Balcreggan h.o.a.rd which he had contributed to the _Scotsman_ (my Report for 1913, p. 11). Mr. A. O.

Curle (p. 161) records the discovery and exploration of a vitrified fort at the Mote of Mark near Dalbeattie (Kirkcudbright), and the discovery in it of two clearly Roman potsherds. The main body of the finds made here seem to belong to the ninth century; whether any of them can be earlier than has been thought, I am not competent to decide.

(53) The well-known and remarkable earthworks at Birrenswark, near Lockerbie in Dumfriess.h.i.+re, have long been explained as a Roman circ.u.mvallation[13] or at least as siege-works round a native hill-fort.

In 1913 they were visited by Prof. Schulten, of Erlangen, the excavator of a Roman circ.u.mvallation round the Spanish fortress of Numantia; they naturally interested him, and he has now described them for German readers (_Neue Jahrbucher fur das kla.s.sische Altertum_, x.x.xiii, 1914, pp. 607-17) and added some remarks on their date. His description is clear and readable; his chronological arguments are less satisfactory.

He adopts[14] the view generally adopted by English archaeologists (except Roy) for the last two centuries, that these camps date from Agricola; he supports this old conclusion by reasons which are in part novel. I may summarize his position thus: Two Roman roads led from the Tyne and the Solway to Caledonia, an eastern road by Corbridge and Newstead, and a western one by Annandale and Upper Clydesdale. On the eastern road, a little north of Newstead, is the camp of Channelkirk; on the western are the three camps of Torwood Moor (near Lockerbie), Ta.s.sie's Holm (north of Moffat), and Cleghorn in Clydesdale, near Carstairs. These four camps are--so far as preserved--of the same size, 1,250 1,800 feet; they all have six gates (two in each of the longer sides); they all have traverses in front of the gates; lastly, Torwood Moor is fourteen Roman miles, a day's march, from Ta.s.sie's Holm, and that is twenty-eight miles from Cleghorn. Plainly they belong to the same date. Further, Agricola is the only Roman general who used both eastern and western routes together; accordingly, these camps date from him. Finally, as Birrenswark is near Torwood Moor, it too must be Agricolan.

[Footnote 13: It is proper to add a warning that the traces of the 'circ.u.mvallation' are dim, and high authorities like Dr. Macdonald are sceptical about them. The two camps are, however, certain, and there must have been communication between them of some sort, if they were occupied at the same time.]

[Footnote 14: No doubt it is by oversight that Dr. Schulten omits to state that the view which he is supporting is the ordinary view and not his own.]

Dr. Schulten has not advanced matters by this speculation. His first point, that the four camps are coeval, and his reasons for that idea, are mainly taken from Roy--he does not make this clear in his paper.