Tor-Mohun.
[Clearly a misprint for Bartholomeus _Exoniensis_ Episcopus, the
celebrated Bartholomew Iscanus, the opponent of Thomas à Becket.
Our correspondent should have given the title of the work where he
found the signatures, as they are not appended to the
"Constitutions" in Matthew Paris, Spelman, or Wilkins.]
_Roman Inscription found at Battle Bridge._--I shall be very much
obliged if any one of your numerous readers or correspondents will be so
kind as to furnish me with an authentic copy of the inscription on the
Roman stone which in July 1842 was found at Battle Bridge, St. Pancras,
and also state where the original stone is to be seen. The account of
the discovery of the stone is mentioned in a paragraph which appeared in
_The Times_ newspaper of the 30th July, 1842, in the following manner:
"ANTIQUITIES DISCOVERED.--A Roman inscription has within these few
days past been discovered at Battle Bridge, otherwise, by an absurd
change of denomination, known as King's Cross, New Road, St.
Pancras. This discovery appears fully to justify the conjectures of
Stukeley and other antiquaries, that the great battle between the
Britons under Boadicea and the Romans under Suetonius Paulinus took
place at this spot. Faithful tradition, in the absence of all
decisive evidence, still pointed to the place by the appellation of
Battle Bridge. The inscription, which in parts is much obliterated,
bears distinctly the letters 'LEG. XX.' The writer of this notice
has not yet had an opportunity personally to examine it, but speaks
from the information of an antiquarian friend. The twentieth
legion, it is well known, was one of the four which came into
Britain in the reign of Claudius, and contributed to its
subjugation: the vexillation of this legion was in the army of
Suetonius Paulinus when he made that victorious stand in a
fortified pass, with a forest in his rear, against the insurgent
Britons. The position is sketched by Tacitus, and antiquaries well
know that on the high ground above Battle Bridge there are vestiges
of Roman works, and that the tract of land to the north was
formerly a forest. The veracity of the following passage of Tacitus
is therefore fully confirmed:--'Deligitque locum artis
faucibus, et a tergo sylva clausum; satis cognito, nihil hostium,
nisi in fronte, et apertam planitiem esse, sine metu insidiarum.'
He further tells us that the force of Suetonius was composed of
'Quartadecima legio cum _vexillariis vicessimariis_ et e proximis
auxiliares.'"