[Illustration: MAPPA _BRITTANIÆ_ FACIEI ROMANÆ
_SECVNDVM FIDEM_ MONVMENTORVM PERVETERVM DEPICTA
_Tabulam hanc Geographicam Antiquitatis Patriæ Cimelium celeberrimo
viro Gulielmo Stukeley M.D., C.L.M., F.R.S. cet observantiæ
testandæ ergo D. D. Carolus Bertramus 1755._
_C. Bertramus ipse delin: ab Orig: & sculpsit._]
ITINERARIUM CURIOSUM:
OR,
AN ACCOUNT OF THE
ANTIQUITIES,
AND REMARKABLE
CURIOSITIES
IN
NATURE or ART,
OBSERVED IN TRAVELS THROUGH
GREAT BRITAIN.
ILLUSTRATED WITH COPPER PLATES.
CENTURIA II.
TO WHICH IS ADDED,
The +Itinerary+ of +Richard+ of +Cirencester+,
+MONK of WESTMINSTER+.
With an ACCOUNT of that AUTHOR and his WORK.
By WILLIAM STUKELEY, M.D. F.R. & A.S.
_O Patria, O Divûm domus, Albion, inclyta bello!
O quam te memorem, quantum juvat usque morari
Mirarique tuæ spectacula plurima terræ!_
LONDON:
Printed for Messrs. +Baker+ and +Leigh+,
in York-Street, Covent-Garden.
M.DCC.LXXVI.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
ADVERTISEMENT.
The BRILL, Cæsar’s Camp at Pancras. 1
ITER BOREALE 17
RICARDI MONACHI LIBER PRIMUS. 79
RICARDI MONACHI LIBER SECUNDUS. 103
RICHARD OF CIRENCESTER I. 109
RICHARD OF CIRENCESTER II. 117
RICHARD OF CIRENCESTER III. 125
NOTÆ in CAP. I. et II. LIBRI PRIMI. 151
THE WEDDINGS. 169
INDEX.
INDEX COMMENTARIOLUM GEOGRAPHICUM.
THE PLATES.
ADVERTISEMENT.
That Dr. Stukeley had altered the plan of his intended History of
the antient Celts, &c. mentioned in the Preface of the former part
of this work, plainly appears by his publishing _Stonehenge_ and
_Abury_ separately: but, as many of the Plates he left unpublished
were undoubtedly intended for that Work, and others for a Second
Volume of the _Itinerarium_, neither of which were ever completed;
the Editor hopes it will give pleasure to the Learned to see those
Plates, together with such of his Tracts as relate to them, collected
into one Volume, and that they will be found not altogether unworthy
of their attention;—sensible however that the many defects which must
unavoidably happen in publishing a Posthumous Collection from loose
papers, and notes carelessly thrown together, will stand in need of
their candid indulgence.
The Itinerary of Richard of Cirencester, together with Dr. Stukeley’s
Account of, and Observations upon it, were thought by some Friends of
the Doctor a very proper addition. It is a tract truly valuable for the
new light it has thrown on the study of British Antiquities, and being
out of print is now become very scarce.
It may be expected that some account should in this place be given of
the Author, and his Works. A Catalogue of those which have appeared in
print we subjoin; and for his Life we refer the reader to Mr. Masters’s
History of Benet College, Cambridge, printed in quarto, 1753; adding
only, that he died March 3d, 1765, in his 78th year, and was buried in
the church-yard of East-Ham in Essex, having ordered by his will that
no memorial of him should be erected there.
A CATALOGUE of Dr. STUKELEY’s Printed WORKS.
4to. An Account of Arthur’s Oon and the Roman Vallum in Scotland 1720
Fol. Lecture on the Spleen 1722
Fol. Itinerarium Curiosum 1724
12mo. A Treatise on the Cause and Cure of the Gout 1734
4to. An Explanation of a Silver Plate found at Risley in
Derbyshire 1736
4to. Palæographia Sacra, Nᴼ· 1. or Discourses on the Monuments
of Antiquity that relate to Sacred History 1736
Fol. Stonehenge, a Temple restored to the British Druids 1740
4to. A Sermon preached before the House of Commons, 30 Jan. 1741 1741
Fol. Abury, a Temple restored to the British Druids 1743
4to. Palæographia Britannica, Nᴼ· 1. or Discourses on Monuments
of Antiquity that relate to British History 1743
4to. Palæographia Britannica, Nᴼ· 2. 1746
A Philosophic Hymn on Easter-Day 1748
Verses on the Death of the Duke of Montagu 1749
4to. A Sermon before the College of Physicians, 20 Sept. 1750
4to. Palæographia Britannica, Nᴼ· 3. 1751
An Account of Lesnes Abbey, read before the Antiquarian
Society, 12 April, 1753, and published in the
Archæologia
An Account of the Eclipse predicted by Thales, published
in Phil. Trans. Vol. 48
An Account of the Sanctuary at Westminster, published
in the Archæologia 1755
12mo. The Philosophy of Earthquakes, 2 parts 1755
4to. Palæographia Britannica, Nᴼ· 3.
4to. Medallic History of Carausius, Emperor in Britain, part 1. 1757
4to. Medallic History of Carausius, part 2. 1759
4to. Palæographia Sacra, Nᴼ· 2. 1763
4to. A Letter from Dr. Stukeley to Mr. Macpherson on his
publication of Fingal and Temora, with a Print of
Cathmor’s Shield 1763
Several Moral Papers in the Inspector.
He was also engaged, at the time of his death, in a work entitled the
Medallic History of the antient Kings of Britain; and had engraved 23
Plates of their Coins, which were published by his Executor; but the
Manuscript was too imperfect to be given to the Public.
[Illustration: 61·2ᵈ.
CAESAR’S Camp called the Brill at PANCRAS.
_Stukeley desig. dec 1758_]
_The_ BRILL, +Cæsar’s Camp+ _at_ Pancras.
October 1758.
Many and large volumes have been written on the celebrated city of
London, which now, beyond doubt, for magnitude, splendor, riches, and
traffic, exceeds every city upon the globe: the famous Pekin of China
only boasts itself to be larger. London, then called _Trinobantum_, was
a considerable trading _emporium_ in British times, and before Cæsar’s
arrival here. But the greatest curiosity of London, and what renders it
highly illustrious, has never been observed by any writer: to give some
account of it, is the purpose of this paper.
When I resided in London in the former part of my life, I proposed
to myself, as a subject of inquiry, for my excursions now and then
on horseback round the circuit of the metropolis, to trace out the
journeyings of Cæsar in his British expeditions. This I account the
_æra_ from whence we derive the certain intelligence of the state and
affairs of our native country. I was pretty successful therein, and
made many drawings of his camps, and mansions; several of which I then
engraved with a design of printing the copious memoirs I had wrote
concerning them.
No subject concerning our own country antiquities could be more noble.
But what I mean to speak of at this time, is a camp of his, which I
have long since observed no farther off than Pancras church.
In all my former travels, I ever proposed an entertainment of the mind,
in inquiries into matters of antiquity, a former state of things in my
own country: and now it is easy to imagine the pleasure to be found
in an agreeable walk from my situation in Queen’s Square, through the
fields that lead me to the footsteps of Cæsar, when, without going to
foreign parts, I can tread the ground which he trod. By finding out
several of his camps, I was enabled, off-hand, to distinguish them; and
they are very different from all others we meet withal.
It was the method of Roman discipline, to make a camp every night,
though they marched the next morning; but in an expedition like
Cæsar’s, in a new and unknown country, he was to trust to his own head,
and the arms of his troops, more than to banks and ditches: yet, for
the sake of discipline, a camp must be made every night; it was their
mansion, and as an home; where was the _prætorium_, or general’s tent,
and the Prætorian cohorts, as his guards; it was the residence of the
majesty of the Roman genius, in the person of the commander; it was as
a fixed point, subservient to order and regular discipline military;
where and whence every portion and subdivision of an army knew their
regular appointment and action.
This camp was very small; designed but for a night’s abode, unless the
exigence of affairs required some stay: but the third part of the army
lying under arms every night, prevented the danger of a surprise.
Cæsar, led on by divine Providence, entered our country in the year
before the vulgar æra of Christ 54. the second time, about the middle
of the month of July, as we now reckon, in his own Julian kalendar.
I shall not recapitulate what I have observed of the footsteps of
this great man in Kent; I hesitate not in believing that Carvilius,
one of the four kings, as called, who attacked his camp while he was
on this side the Thames, lived at Guildford; the name of the place
shows it; the river was called _Villy_, or Willy, a common British
name for rivers; so that Carvilius was a local title of honour, as was
the British custom, like that of our present nobility: so Casvelhan,
Cæsar’s opponent, was king of the _Cassii_, Cogidubnus of the _Dobuni_,
Togodumnus of the _Dumnonii_, _Taeog_ being _Dux_ in British. It was
the method of the British princes thus to take the names of towns, and
of people, as it was the method of their ancestors the Midianites; of
which we find an instance in Josephus, Antiq. +IV.+ 7. Rekam, a king
there, of the same name as his city, the capital of all Arabia; now
Petra.
Cæsar passed the Thames at Coway stakes, notwithstanding the stakes:
the town of Chertsey preserves a memorial of his name, as Cherburg in
France: he pursued the Britons along the bank of the Thames as far as
Sheperton, where the stakes were placed, and there pitched his camp
with the back of it upon the Thames. At his camp on Greenfield common,
near Staines, a splendid embassy came to him from the Londoners;
desiring his alliance and protection, and that he would restore their
prince Mandubrace, who was then in his retinue. To his little camp, or
_prætorium_, on this account he orders another to be drawn round it,
for reception of these ambassadors, and their prince, together with
forty hostages which he demanded, and corn for his army.
Upon this, ambassadors came to him from the _Cenimani_, people
of Cambridgeshire; the _Segontiaci_, Hampshire; _Ancalites_,
Buckinghamshire; _Bibroci_, about Berkshire; and _Cassii_, of
Hertfordshire; submitting themselves to him. For them he orders another
appendix to his camp, to receive them.
When business was done with them, he moves forward to attack Casvelhan,
who was retreated into his fortified town at Watford. One of his camps
thitherward, is to be seen very fair on Hounslow heath, in the way to
Longford; which I showed to lord Hertford then president, and to lord
Winchelsea vice-president, of the Antiquarian Society, in April, 1723;
who measured it, and expressed the greatest pleasure at the sight.
His next camp was at Kingsbury: it is now the church-yard, and still
visible enough: its situation is high, and near the river Brent: the
church stands in the middle of it.
From hence he went, and forced Casvelhan’s military _oppidum_ at
Watford, and Rickmansworth; a gravelly island of high ground, _sylvis
paludibusque munitum_, as he expresses it; and by this he brought
Casvelhan to submit. It is not my present purpose to speak largely
on these particulars; but from hence he advanced towards
London, effectually to settle his friend and ally Mandubrace, whose
protection he had undertaken, in the kingdom of the _Trinobantes_; and
reconcile him to his subjects, and to his uncle Casvelhan. Mandubrace
was the son of Immanuence, commonly called Lud in the British story,
which signifies the _brown_; who was killed by his ambitious brother
Casvelhan, too near a neighbour to London; his residence being at
Harrow on the hill, and Edgeware called _Suellaniacis_ from him: he
likewise forced Mandubrace to fly to Cæsar in Gaul, to implore his
aid: the great Roman was not averse to so favourable an opportunity of
advancing his glory, by invading Britain, a new world.
[Illustration: 58·2ᵈ.
_Prospect of Cæsars Camp at Sheparton Oct: 28 1723_
A. _Way to Domsday bushes & Chertsey_ B. _Way to Littleton &
Greenfield Common_ C. _Lords bridge_ DD. _Plain Works of the Outer
Ditch_ EE. _of the Inner_ F. _a Canal dug this year_ G. _the
Antient Course of Ashford Brook_
_Stukeley delin._ _Toms Sculp._]
[Illustration: 60·2ᵈ.
CAESARS Camp _on_ Hounslow heath. 18 Apr. 1723.
Stukeley Del.]
[Illustration: 62·2ᵈ.
CAESAR’S Camp at Kingsbury, _the Church built of Roman Bricks from
the City of_ VERULAM.
_W Stukeley delin 20 Sept 1767_]
[Illustration: 63·2ᵈ.
Raven_s_bury _a Roman Camp near_ Hexton _Bedfʳ. 10 Iuly 1724_.
_Stukeley delin._ _E. Kirkall Sculp._
_Simoni Degg_ Ar. _d.d. W. Stukeley_]
It was not suitable to his honour, or his security, to quarter in the
city of London; but he pitched his camp, where now is Pancras church:
his _prætorium_ is still very plain, overagainst the church, in the
foot-path, on the west side of the brook; the _vallum_ and the ditch
visible: its breadth from east to west forty paces; its length from
north to south sixty paces.
This was his _prætorium_, where his own tent was pitched in the centre;
the prætorian cohorts around it. There was no great magnificence in
Cæsar’s tent, here placed; it was not his manner. L. Aurunculeius
Cotta, who was here present, in his commentaries writes, when Cæsar
was in Britain, although he had acquired the highest fame by his
great actions, yet was he so temperate in his manner of life, such a
stranger to pomp, that he had only three servants in his tent. Cotta
was killed the next year in Gaul. When I came attentively to consider
the situation of it, and the circumjacent ground, I easily discerned
the traces of his whole camp: a great many ditches, or divisions of
the pastures, retain footsteps of the plan of the camp; agreeable to
their usual form, as in the plate engraved: and whenever I take a walk
thither, I enjoy a visionary scene of the whole camp of Cæsar, as
described in the Plate before us; a scene as just as if beheld, and
Cæsar present.
His army consisted of about 40,000 men, four legions with their horse.
After long debate of authors concerning the quantity of a Roman legion,
I infer, from Josephus so very often using the expression of ten
thousand, many ten thousands, and the like, that the usual and general
number of soldiers in a legion was ten thousand.
Authors generally state a legion at 6666 men; but they must mean
strictly the soldiery, without officers or horse: so that I conclude a
complete legion of foot and horse to be 10,000. Polibius, Vol. 2. book
iii. writes, in the war of Hannibal, each legion consisted of 5000,
besides the auxiliaries, together with 900 horse; and therefore we may
well judge, a legion with its officers should be reckoned 10,000.
Romans 5000
Auxiliaries 4000
Horse 900
Officers 100
——————
10,000
Strabo writes, the Romans generally had their horses from Gaul.
Cæsar had now no apparent enemy; he had leisure to repose his men,
after their military toil. He was in the territory of a friend and ally
of the Roman state, whom he had highly obliged in restoring him to his
paternal kingdom: nor was it his purpose to abide here for any time:
he therefore did not fortify his whole camp with a broad ditch and
_vallum_ for security; but the army was disposed in its ordinary form
and manner: it might be bounded by a slight ditch and bank, as that of
the whole length of the camp on the west side, (the foot-path from the
bowling-green accompanying; or it might be staked out with pallisado’s
called _valli_) which returns again on part of the north side, at the
_porta decumana_, till it meets the ditch that passes on the west of
Cæsar’s _prætorium_, and so continued downward, to the houses at the
Brill.
This last-mentioned ditch runs on the line that separated the column
of the horse from the _Triarii_, on the west side of the camp; the
foot-way from the Brill accompanying it all the way. The _porta
decumana_ is left open in the back of the camp. The same of the _porta
prætoria_; but the bounds of the camp here at the south-west corner are
visible in two parallel banks remaining; the upper surface of the earth
between them, has been dug away for making bricks.
The oddness of the present division of the north-west pasture, inclosed
by that of the _postica castrorum_, preserves evident tokens of the
camp: the elbow to the west, concurring with a ditch on the eastern
border of the whole camp, preserves the track of the _via sagularis_;
here the baggage and carriages were placed: it extended itself behind
the _prætorium_. Pancras church stands upon this way.
The north-west field before specified is bounded by a ditch, which
marks out the street, that runs along the front of the _prætorium_;
along which were set the tents of the officers, the _præfecti_ of the
horse, and tribunes of the foot; along with the ensigns and standards
of the horse and foot, which were pitched in a line in the ground.
On the west side of the _prætorium_, in this pasture, was the open
place, a square _area_, comprehended between the _via principalis_,
or _principia_, and the _via sagularis_, called the _questorium_:
this was the quarters of the quæstor, M. Crassus; a promising young
man, who afterwards fell with his father, the triumvir, in Parthia.
Pompey married his widow. Hither the soldiers repaired to receive
their allowance of pay and provision: on the west side of it was the
quæstor’s tent, the military chest, the stores: just beyond, northward
was the station of Comius of Arras, auxiliary to Cæsar, with the
Gaulish troops under his command; likewise the tents of the Gaulish
princes, which Cæsar brought over with him to prevent their revolting
in his absence; among whom was the son of Indutiomarus prince of the
_Treviri_.
Come we to the _via prætoria_, or principal street of the camp,
extending along the middle line from the _prætorium_ to the houses at
the Brill; where is the _porta prætoria_ at the _frons castrorum_. The
gate between the two houses at the Brill, leading into the pasture
there, which pasture was the station of the horse, is in the very line
of the _via prætoria_. The front of the camp is bounded by a spring
with a little current of water, running from the west, across the
Brill, into the Fleet brook: the lane out of the great road, along this
spring, terminates in the _frons castrorum_, as an avenue to it; and
may be ancienter than the road along the valley, where the river runs,
to Pancras. This Brill was the occasion of the road directly from the
city originally going along the side of the brook by Bagnigge; the way
to Highgate being at first by Copenhagen house, which is the strait
road thither from Gray’s-inn lane, and before that of the valley to
Pancras, called Longwich in Norden’s _Speculum_.
It is not a little remarkable, that the name of _Brill_ should
through so many ages preserve the sure memorial of this most
respectable monument of Julius Cæsar’s camp. Camden, the Pausanias of
Britain, a genius great in his way as Julius Cæsar, takes notice, in
Buckinghamshire, “of the ancient Roman burgh, where much Roman money
is found, called the _Brill_; which was afterward a royal village of
Edward the Confessor’s; and, instead of Bury-hill, is by contraction
called _Brill_.”
In the additions to Camden’s _Britannia_, Sussex, thus we read: “Hard
by Chichester, toward the west, there has been a large Roman camp,
called the _Brile_, of an oblong form, four furlongs and two perches
in length, two furlongs in breadth: it lies in a flat low ground, with
a great rampire and single graff; probably Vespasian’s camp, after his
landing.” And the like must be said of the Brill in the Netherlands,
probably too one of Cæsar’s camps.
This camp at Pancras has the brook running quite through the middle
of it: it arises from seven springs on the south side of the hill
between Hampstead and Highgate, by Caen wood: there it forms several
large ponds, passes by here, by the name of Fleet, washes the west
side of the city of London, and gives name to Fleet-street. This brook
was formerly called the River of Wells, from the many springs above,
which our ancestors called Wells: and it may be thought to have been
more considerable in former times, than at present; for now the major
part of its water is carried off in pipes, to furnish Kentish-town,
Pancras, and Tottenham court: but even now, in great rains, the valley
is covered over with water. Go a quarter of a mile higher toward
Kentish-town, and you may have a just notion of its appearance at that
time, only with this difference, that it is there broader and deeper
from the current of so many years. It must further be considered,
that the channel of this brook, through so many centuries, and by its
being made the public north road from London to Highgate, is very
much lowered and widened since Cæsar’s time. It was then no sort of
embarrassment to the camp, but an admirable convenience for watering,
being contained in narrow banks, not deep: the breadth and depth is
made by long tract of time. The ancient road by Copenhagen, wanting
repair, induced passengers to take this gravelly valley, become much
larger than in Cæsar’s time. The old division runs along that road
between Finsbury and Holborn division, going in a strait line from
Gray’s-inn lane to Highgate: its antiquity is shown it its name,
Madan-lane.
Let us pass the brook, and consider the eastern half of the camp; only
remarking, that a ditch at present dividing the two pastures, which
was the station of the horse, is continued across the brook and road,
to that eastern half of the camp, and marks, when properly continued,
the two gates on the west and east side of the camp, called _porta
quæstoria_ and _porta principalis sinistra_: below it is the other
cross road of the camp, called _via Quintana_.
To the east of the _prætorium_ was a square plot, analogous to the
_questorium_: this was called the _forum_; this at present includes
the church-yard to its eastern fence, with the houses, the grove and
kitchen garden precisely. To the east of the _forum_ was the quarter
of the legates. Sulpitius Rufus, whose coin I have given above, we
may justly suppose one of them: he is mentioned by Cæsar as his
legate in the civil war; all the time with him in Gaul: and we can
have no scruple in thinking he was with him in Britain too. The coin
is in Goltzius’s _Julius Cæsar_, but reversed, Tab. ix. 1. he gives
no explication of it: it is in gold, but imperfect, here supplied.
Publius Sulpitius Rufus, mint-master to Cæsar, here celebrates a naval
expedition of the emperor’s; and not unlikely his British. Cæsar on
a galley with the eagle in his hand: the Genius of Rome follows him.
It is said, he was the first of the Romans that leaped on the British
shore: finding the soldiers slack in landing, he took a standard in his
hand, and went before them. Cæsar himself says the standard-bearer of
the tenth legion did so.
The coin was struck by him, when governor of some province under Cæsar,
probably Spain, where at Carthagena, in the Franciscan monastery,
remains his monument, thus in Gruter. MCCCCXXIII.
P. SVLPICIVS Q. F. Q. N. COL.
HIC SITVS EST ILLE PROBATVS
IVDICIEIS MVLTEIS COGNATIS
ATQVE PRIVIGNEIS.
C. Trebonius was another legate, a commander of horse, mentioned B. G.
V. 17.
North of the church-yard is a square moted about, in length north and
south forty paces, in breadth east and west thirty; the entrance to the
west: it was originally the _prætorium_ of Mandubrace, king of London,
and of the _Trinobantes_. The ditches have been dug deep to make a
kitchen-garden for the rector of the church, from whom I suppose in
after-times it has been alienated. All the ground of the camp beyond
the _via sagularis_ was ever allotted to auxiliary troops, and allies.
This honour of a _prætorium_ was allotted to Mandubrace, now confirmed
in his kingdom, an associate of Cæsar’s, and friend declared to the
Roman commonwealth; and to give him more authority with his own people.
Hither Casvelhan was sent for, and reconciled to his nephew, enjoined
not to injure him, as an ally of Rome; assigned what tribute he should
annually pay, what number of hostages he should send to him into
Gaul: for now he was upon returning, having accomplished all that he
proposed, and the time of the autumnal equinox approaching. It was now
September, and 54 years before the vulgar Christian _æra_.
To the north of the eastern half of the camp, a bank and ditch marks
the outward bound there, in a strait line, and becomes crooked as it
goes eastward, just where ends the original northern bound of the
camp. To the south, where was the _frons castrorum_ at the houses of
the Brill, one would reasonably suppose, there might formerly remain
much more evident marks of the camp, as it is so far distant from the
_prætorium_: there might have been a more considerable _vallum_ and
ditch quite around the camp, than now any where appears; and then it
is natural to think, the name of the camp, as called by our Saxon
ancestors, the _Brill_, would be fixed to the habitable part, the
houses, as now.
In the first field of the duke of Bedford’s, by Southampton row,
the _vallum_ and ditch runs, which was drawn quite round London and
Southwark in the civil wars: they afterwards levelled it, and it is now
scarce discernible, which is but 100 years ago; Cæsar’s 1800.
[Illustration: 54·2ᵈ.
_Cæsars passage over the Stour by Chilham and Julabers grave. drawn
10 Oct 1722._
_W. Stukeley delin._ _E. Kirkall Sculp._]
[Illustration: 55·2ᵈ.
_View from a Roman tumulus upon the Watlin street by the Mill on
Barham downs. 10. Oct. 1722._
_W. Stukeley delin._ _E. Kirkall Sculp._]
[Illustration: 56.2ᵈ.
_Prospect of_ Iulabers grave _11 Oct 1724_.
_Stukeley delin._ _E. Kirkall Sculp._]
[Illustration: 57·2ᵈ.
_Prospect of_ Julabers grave _from_ Chilham. _May 24. 1725._
_This drawing is taken from the Woolpack Inn._ A. _Julabers grave._
_Stukeley del._ _E. Kirkall sculp._]
[Illustration: 59·2ᵈ.
_Cæsars Camp on Greenfield Common, between Ashford and Lalam, near
Stanes. Oct. 27. 1723. Lalam Church bears 10ᵈ. W. of South, a Brook
to the East, but farther off than here exprest. This Brook runs
into yᵉ Thames by his Camp at Sheperton._
_Micat inter omnes Julium Sydus._]
Cæsar in his Commentaries, B. Gall. iv. 27. writes, the Britons, in
asking peace after being vanquished, brought some hostages according to
Cæsar’s command, and promised to bring the rest in a few days, as to be
fetched from more distant parts: in the mean time they disbanded their
armies; the princes of the country came from all quarters, recommending
themselves and their principalities to Cæsar. Hence it is obvious, he
staid here many days.
A bank is visible in the pasture between the Brill and end of
Copenhagen road, in the south-east pasture, the boundary of the camp:
we may discern, it is somewhat oblique, not in a true line with the
rest of the _frons castrorum_; but I suppose this owing to the curve of
the river eastward to Battle-bridge: they therefore made this bank in a
square to the river.
We may observe a portion still visible of the original boundary of the
camp eastward, in that part called _latera prætoria_, being at present
a watery ditch; and further downward, the foot-path between two banks
observes the like direction; and the ground of the _porta principalis_,
between them, is open and unfenced.
I judge, I have performed my promise, in giving an account of this
greatest curiosity of the renowned city of London; so illustrious a
monument of the greatest of the Roman generals, which has withstood the
waste of time for more than eighteen centuries, and passed unnoticed,
but half a mile off the metropolis. I shall only add this observation,
that when I came to survey this plot of ground, to make a map of it,
by pacing, I found every where even and great numbers, and what I have
often formerly observed in Roman works: whence we may safely affirm,
the Roman camp-master laid out his works by pacing. To give some
particulars.
The measure is taken from the inside of the ditch, or the line between
the _vallum_ and the ditch: the space of ground, which the camp-master
paces, the workmen throw inward to compose the _vallum_.
The camp on Barham downs contains in breadth thirty paces, length
sixty. The camp at Wrotham, in breadth thirty paces, in length forty.
At Walton by the Thames, it is a square of fifty paces. The foss here
is converted into a mote, as here the _prætorium_ of Mandubrace: so
the camp at Sheperton is a square of the same dimensions, and the foss
turned into a mote, and made an orchard: we observe here at Sheperton
the _prætorium_ is made on the bank of the river Thames; the _postica
castrorum_, beyond the _via sagularis_, neglected. While Cæsar was
pitched here, the turn of the auxiliaries to be in arms all night,
with the other part of the troops, whose duty it was, came on: and the
general’s intention was but to stay one night in this place; so there
was no need to mark out their places in the camp. The stakes placed
here in the river, by the Britons against Cæsar, were now a sufficient
security behind him. Cæsar practised the same method when he fought the
_Belgæ_: passing the river Axona, he placed his camp with the river
behind him, that he might not be attacked from that quarter.
Cæsar’s camp on Greenfield common is forty paces broad, sixty long.
Here he received the ambassadors of the _Trinobantes_, desiring their
prince Mandubrace to be restored: they bring forty hostages and
bread-corn for the army. For their reception another camp is made
around this, which is 80 paces broad, 100 long. Another day came in
ambassadors from the _Cenimani_, _Segontiaci_, _Ancalites_, _Bibroci_,
and _Cassii_. This obliged the camp-master to add the appendix to
the camps, which was of the breadth of 100 paces, equal to the length
of the last; 130 in length, stretching out to the east: but in the
ground-plot of that camp we see an egregious proof of my position,
that they went by paces in marking out their camps; and sometimes by
guess-work, in the square; which obliged the camp-master to carry his
130 paces beyond the angle of the former camp. Concerning the method
of adding new occasional works to a former camp, we observe a like
instance in that camp of Chlorus’s between Clarendon palace and Old
Sarum; made, we may well presume, on the states of Britain sending
their ambassadors hither to him, with submission to his government
after the destruction of Allectus.
Cæsar’s camp on Hounslow heath is very perfect, sixty paces square. His
camp at Kingsbury is thirty paces broad, and forty in length.
Come we now to our work at Pancras. The _prætorium_ is forty paces
broad from east to west, fifty paces long from north to south: the
_prætorium_ of Mandubrace is thirty paces long from east to west, forty
from north to south: thereby it accommodated itself to that part of the
camp, that was called _retentura_.
The breadth of the whole camp was 400 paces, not reckoning the valley
of the brook: the length of the whole is 500 paces. Examine the
intermediate parts, they fall into whole numbers: the breadth of the
pasture, comprehending the station of the _Hastati_ and _Triarii_, on
the west side of the camp, is 150 paces: that of the horse is forty
broad: the correspondent, or eastern part of the camp, is likewise 150
paces broad, comprehending the station of the _Triarii_ and _Hastati_;
so that, subducting the space of the valley where the brook runs,
the whole breadth of the camp, where the tents are pitched, contains
340 paces: a space beyond, on each side, of thirty paces wide, is
supposed to be left between the tents and the _vallum_, where a camp is
fortified: and then the camp contains just 400 paces broad.
The camp is in length 500 paces: the thirty paces beyond, for the way
between the tents and _vallum_, (where a _vallum_ is made) amounts to
560; so that the proportion of length to breadth is as 3 to 2; where
strength and convenience is well adjusted, and is often the proportion
of Roman cities. This space of ground was sufficient for Cæsar’s army,
according to Roman discipline; for, if he had 40,000 men, a third part
of them were upon guard.
The recovery of this most noble antiquity will give pleasure to a
British antiquary; especially an inhabitant of London, whereof it is a
singular glory: it renders the walk over the beautiful fields to the
Brill doubly agreeable, when, at half a mile distance, we can tread in
the very steps of the Roman camp-master, and of the greatest of the
Roman generals.
We need not wonder that the traces of this camp, so near the
metropolis, are so nearly worn out: we may rather wonder, that so much
is left, when a proper sagacity in these matters may discern them;
and be assured, that somewhat more than three or four sorry houses,
is commemorated under the name of the _Brill_: nor is it unworthy
of remark, as an evident confirmation of our system, that all the
ditches and fences now upon the ground, have a manifest respect to the
principal members of the original plan of the camp.
In this camp at Pancras, Cæsar made the two British kings friends;
Casvelhan, and his nephew Mandubrace: the latter, I suppose, presented
him with that corslet of pearls, which he gave to Venus in the temple
at Rome, which he built to her, as the foundress of his family.—_Pliny_
and _Solinus_.
Mr. White of Newgate-street has a gold British coin, found in an urn in
Oxfordshire, together with a gold ring set with a pearl.
When Cæsar returned, he found letters to him, acquainting him with his
daughter Julia’s death. _Plutarch._
I shall conclude with this observation, that on Cæsar’s return to the
continent, the _Morini_, inhabiting the opposite shore, lay in wait
for his men, hoping to obtain great spoils. This was in his first
expedition: it shows Britain was not so despicable a country as authors
generally make it: much more might they have expected it in return
from his second expedition, when the nations of the _Cattichlani_,
_Bibroci_, _Ancalites_, _Trinobantes_, _Cenimani_, _Segontiaci_, sent
ambassadors to him, seeking his favour; all charged with magnificent
gifts: and, beyond doubt, the Londoners were not slack, for so great a
favour as protecting them from the insults of Casvelhan, and restoring
to them their king Mandubrace.
Cæsar, having accomplished his purposes here, returned by Smallbury
green, in order to pass the Thames again at Chertsey. Smallbury green
was then an open place as now, and has its name from his _prætorium_,
like this at the Brill: the road lately went round it on the north
side; and gravel had long been dug from it, to mend the road; yet I
could discern part of it, till, three years ago, they made a new road
across the green, and totally ruined the _prætorium_. There is a spring
arises at the place.
It is fit we should say somewhat of the city of London, the glory of
Britain. Cæsar calls the inhabitants of this country _Trinobantes_:
it comprehends Middlesex and Essex on this side the river; Surry on
the other. The name of _Trinobantes_ is derived from _Trinobantum_,
the most ancient name of London: it signifies the city of the _Novii_,
or _Novantes_, the original name of the people called _Trinobantes_
by Cæsar. _Tri_, or _Tre_, in the very old British dialect, imports
a fortified city. Many names of this kind still remain, in Cornwall
especially.
_Noviomagus_ most certainly is Croydon in Surry. _Magus_ in British
signifies a city on a down, or heath. Newington on the South of London,
and Newington on the north, retain evident remains of the name of the
_Novantes_.
In many coins of the great king Cunobeline, nephew of our prince
Mandubrace, we have inscribed TASCIO NOVANTVM, meaning the tribute of
the Londoners, and of the people _Novantes_, dependent on them, called
by Cæsar _Trinobantes_.
The _Novii_, or _Novantes_, the original people of this country, knew
how to take the proper advantage of the noble river Thames, and built
this their fortified city of _Trinobantum_ upon a most convenient
situation, celebrated by all writers. The inhabitants of this potent
city carried on a very considerable trade with the continent, and
were rich and flourishing, as those numerous coins of Cunobeline
are evidences beyond all exception. _Londinium copia negotiatorum &
commeatuum maxime celebre_, says Tacitus. These coins are in gold,
silver, copper: I have engraved twenty-three plates of them. Nor, in
my opinion, have we reason to doubt of Billings-gate being built by
him, as his royal custom-house; and why Ludgate should not take name
from Immanuence Lud, father of our prince Mandubrace, I see not. The
business of a society of antiquaries is to separate truth from fable,
by evidence, by reason, and judgement. Authors are certainly mistaken
in thinking our British ancestors a rude and barbarous people. Need
we a further testimony of our continental trade, Cæsar speaks of the
Gaulish merchants who traded hither: he convened them together to
inquire concerning the nature of the country; and I have the strongest
reasons in the world to induce me to believe, that Britain was peopled
before the opposite continent, by a great and polite nation; and that
our British coins are the oldest of any in Europe.
Cunobeline, very young, was carried to Rome by his uncle Mandubrace,
four years after Cæsar’s expedition here, and his restitution to the
kingdom of the _Trinobantes_. Cunobeline became well acquainted, and
even intimate with Augustus, in the dawning of his power; being about
the same age. Augustus entertained a great kindness for him; and he
bore a share in his warfare, being præfect of a Roman legion, the XX.
VV. called _Cretica_, as Richard of Cirencester informs us; which is
the reason that he so often struck the figure of a boar on his British
coins, that being the ensign and cognisance of the legion. After
he returned, and was king of Britain, he kept up a friendship and
correspondence with Augustus, during his whole, and that a very long
life. He struck many coins in honour of Augustus, and the plainest
imitations of the coins of Augustus. He sent him magnificent presents,
paid a tribute to him, built the city Cæsaromagus in compliment to him.
He celebrated the Actiac games like those done by Agrippa at Rome, by
Herod at Cæsarea, and many other states of the Roman empire. By these
means he staved off, for his life, an actual subjection of Britain to
the Romans.
I cannot agree with my late learned friend Mr. Baxter in his derivation
of _Trinobantum_, that it is of Belgic original. The word _Tri_ or
_Tre_ of the old Cornish, prefixed, sufficiently confutes the notion:
here is none of the Belgic pronunciation, as in the west of England.
Cæsar’s assertion of the supereminent power of the _Trinobantes_, shows
they were an aboriginal people: they had indeed been under some sort of
subjection to the _Cassii_, or _Cattichleuni_; but that may have been
recent, when Casvelhan invaded them, and slew their king, his brother
Immanuence, father to our Mandubrace, as Cæsar tells us.
The very name of their neighbours, _Cattichleuni_, confirms our
opinion; signifying the clan of the _Cassii_; a most ancient word of
the Britons, equivalent to the Latin _civitas_, used by Cæsar; still in
use in Scotland. Baxter owns the _Cassii_ to be of Frisian, or British
origin.
This word _Frisian_ puts us in mind of the British stories of
_Trinobantum_ being _Troja nova_, built by the wandering Trojans: so
deep rooted among our ancestors is the notion of a Trojan original.
I know several foundations that may be assigned for this notion:
one seems to come from the utmost source of antiquity, the founder
of the British nation, APHER, grandson of ABRAHAM: for which I can
bring very large proofs, not so much pertaining to this place. He is
the Greek Phryxus, a near relation to Melicerta or Melcartus, the
Tyrian Hercules: he founded the Phrygians; he gave name to Africa,
and Britain; so that _Phrygii_, _Frisones_, and _Bryges_, _Britones_,
_Brigantes_, are all words in different pronunciation meaning the
same. Of it I say no more at present, than that it further illustrates
my opinion of the _Trinobantes_ being most ancient, an aboriginal
people here; and that their city was fenced about, whether with a
wall, or with a _vallum_, and ditch, I cannot pretend to say, any more
than when it was first called _Londinium_: and it is not my humour to
carry conjectures beyond what they will reasonably bear. But I think
I am not distant from truth, when I judge the _Novii_ to be the same
as the _Nubæ_ of Africa, on the west side the Nile; neighbour to the
_Troglodites_, says Strabo: these were neighbours too to the Arabians;
the Red sea between them: natural navigators they must needs be. And
Josephus makes the children of ABRAHAM by Keturah to be settled by him
in _Trogloditis_, and Arabia the Happy, upon the Red sea. _Antiq._ i.
15. The colony of these people at Cadiz is always said to come from the
Red sea. Pliny mentions the _Nubæi_, a people of _Arabia Deserta_.
Further, _Novantæ_ are a people in the west of Scotland, now Galloway.
_Novantum promontorium_, the Mull, _Chersonesus_, and _Novaritæ_;
and the city _Novantia_, north of Severus’s wall. The river Nid, in
Scotland, is called _Novius_. No reason to think either one or the
other of Belgic original, but undoubtedly a colony of our _Trinobantes_.
Josephus, in his xiv. of the antiquities of the Jews, gives us the
decree of the senate and people of Pergamus, in favour of the Jews;
setting forth, “Since the Romans, following the conduct of their
ancestors, undertake dangers for the common safety of mankind, and are
ambitious to settle their confederates and friends in happiness, and in
firm peace—”
The decree proceeds as at large set forth by Josephus, and well worthy
perusal; concluding, “That the Jews would remember, their ancestors
were friendly to the Jews, even in the days of ABRAHAM, who was the
father of the Hebrews; as we have also found it set down in our public
records.” Many useful observations may be made from this testimony.
1. We learn hence, mankind at that time, which was but about forty
years before the vulgar Christian _æra_, had the same notion of the
Romans, as I have enlarged upon in chap. 1. of the Medallic History
of Carausius. The Romans, for their valour, virtue, fortitude and
temperance, were the nation chosen by divine Providence to conquer,
polish, and set free, all the world, to prepare for the advent of
Messiah.
2. These Phrygians were a colony of the defendants of ABRAHAM by
Keturah. At Pergamus the ancient and famous physician Æsculapius had
a shop, and practised physic, as Lucian testifies. Midian, the father
of Phryxus, APHER, was a great physician, and no other than the Greek
Chiron; as I have shown elsewhere: so our Druids, the people of APHER,
were famous for medicine. The Genius of physic remained at the place:
the famous Galen was born here.
3. These people assert, what they say is written in their public
records; so that they had an early use of letters, from the Abrahamic
family: our Druids likewise had the use of letters from the same
fountain.
4. What they say is confirmed by the Lacedemonians claiming like
kindred to the Jews; as we read in Maccabees, xii. 19. 23. and
Josephus, xii. 4. 10. Mr. Whiston mentions, on this occasion, the
testimony of the Armenian writer, Moses Chorenensis; affirming that
Arsaces, founder of the Parthian empire, was of the seed of ABRAHAM,
by Keturah: and thus we find this posterity of the great patriarch,
from Britain by sea, to Parthia by land; the extent of the habitable
world: and Josephus often mentions his countrymen the Jews exceeding
numerous, in after-times, in every country and city throughout the
habitable world; which is true to this very day, both in respect to
Jews, properly speaking, by Sarah, as well as the Arabians by Hagar,
and Keturah: for by these latter all Asia and Africa are at this day
peopled: the signal favour of God to the greatest of all men, ABRAHAM.
Return we to the city of _Trinobantum_. I shall mark out the original
form, which we may conceive it to have been of, in the time we are
writing of. If we look on the plan of London, which I engraved long
ago in my _Itiner. Cur._ we discern, the original ground-plot of the
oldest part of the city is comprehended, in length, from Ludgate
to the present Walbroke; in breadth, from Maiden-lane, Lad-lane,
Cateaton-street, to the Thames. This makes an oblong square, in
proportion as 2 to 3: I have there made it to be composed of two
principal streets, crossing two other principal streets; which makes
nine principal quadrangular spaces, for the habitations, _area_’s, and
public buildings.
I have reason still to acquiesce in this disposition of the most
ancient city of London; as we must suppose it in the time of
Immanuence, father to Cæsar’s ally Mandubrace, whom he now resettled
therein. I am very much confirmed in my opinion, by the ground-plot
I have lately made of _Cæsaromagus_, now Chelmsford, built by
Mandubrace’s nephew, the great king Cunobeline, to the honour of
Augustus, his great friend and ally; for that city was exactly of the
same form and disposition.
Hence then we gather, the oldest London was bounded on the west by
Ludgate, and the wall there; on the east, by the current or rivulet
called Walbroke, coming from the morass of Moorfields; which morassy
ground extended to Smithfield, and guarded the whole north side of
the city; as the Thames on the south: it is well known, that the
Mansion-house stands on a great and deep morassy ditch; that the
foundation of it cost a very great sum, in driving piles, and the
like, to set the building upon. The city of London is situate much as
Alexander projected for Alexandria, between a morass and the sea.
Here was a natural and good boundary on all sides. To the west was a
steep cliff hanging over the rivulet of Fleet: its steepness is very
considerable now, as may be seen about the Old Bailey, where is at
present a flight of steps, through the old wall: in former days it
was much more considerable: the other sides had the river and water;
so that the spot pitched upon for the city must be reckoned very
judicious: the soil a hard and dry gravel.
There is the strongest confirmation for this assignment, deducible
from observing three principal roads leading from the gate of
Walbroke, at the end of the Poultry, at Stocks market, or the
Mansion-house: Cornhill was the great road directly into Essex:
Lombard-street conducted to Cunobeline’s custom-house, Billingsgate:
Threadneedle-street and Broad-street went obliquely toward the
north-east, and the present Bishops-gate, and so in later times to the
great Roman road called Hermen-street, crossing the Thames where London
bridge now is; making a meridian line through the length of the island.
By collating several old plans of London, I discern there were four
principal streets running from west to east. 1. The Watling-street,
from Ludgate. 2. Thames-street, the boundary toward the river: this
on the right hand of Watling-street. 3. On the left hand, Cheapside,
Pater-noster row being originally part thereof: at the end of it,
beyond the Poultry was the eastern gate of the city. 4. That called
Maiden-lane, and Cateaton-street, which was the northern boundary of
the city, and running along the original wall of it.
[Illustration: 47·2ᵈ.
Caesaromagus _Chelmsford built by King Cunobeline_
_P. Benazech Sculp._]
[Illustration: 48·2ᵈ.
CAMVLODVNVM
Colonia.
_Stukeley delin._]
[Illustration: 49·2ᵈ.
_G. V.ᵈʳ Gucht Scul._
+C. JVLIVS CAESAR.+
_In marmore penes Cl. Ric Mead M.D. sui tabulam dicat Wᵐ. Stukeley.
1722._]
[Illustration: 50·2ᵈ.
_The Carpentry of Cæsars bridg over the Rhine._
_Stukeley delin._]
[Illustration: 51·2ᵈ.
_The Side view of Cæsars bridg._
_Stukeley design._]
[Illustration: 52·2ᵈ_
Cæsars camp _at Deal, in his first Expedition into_ Britain.
_Illustrissimo Heneagio Comiti Winchilsea Militiæ Cæsareæ Specimen
d. d._
_Guliel. Stukeley_
_Stukeley design._ _Toms Sculp._]
[Illustration: 53·2ᵈ.
_Cæsars Camp upon Barham Down. drawn 10. Oct. 1722._
_W. Stukeley delin._ _E. Kirkall sculp._]