BEFORE the invasion of Britain by the Romans, whilst yet the island was
divided into independent states, the present scite of Horncastle with its
immediate neighbourhood was doubtless appropriated, like the rest of the
country of the Coritani, to the pasturing of herds and flocks. In the
formation of settlements no other circumstances influenced the Britons
than the conveniences which might be afforded them in their accustomed
occupations. Vallies fertilized by streams, and the contiguous hills
would supply food for their cattle and sheep, whilst the neighbourhood of
forests invited to the pursuits of the chase. The rich tracts of open
grass land stretching along the banks of the river Bane, and its
tributary stream, would be populously occupied by the pastoral
inhabitants of this district. Hence it may be presumed, that when the
weak efforts of the Coritani for independence had left them vanquished by
the victorious arms of the Romans, under Ostorius Scapula, and finally a
tributary state by the more efficient achievements of Suetonius Paulinus,
this portion of the country was soon secured by fixing on the present
scite of Horncastle a military station. From the almost imperishable
masses of the ancient wall which still remain, and by the numerous coins,
urns, and other vestiges of the Roman people which have been found in
this place, and are still met with in turning up the soil, it apparently
became in process of time a station of considerable importance. It is
however difficult to make any definite suggestions as to the period at
which the fortifications might have been erected, no inscription having
been found throwing light upon the subject.
To secure by effectual barriers against insurrections, the conquests
which had already been made, whilst yet the bordering people to the
north, the fierce and powerful Brigantes, remained unsubdued, might be
deemed a sufficient inducement for raising frequent and effectual
military works among the inhabitants of this state: for it was not until
Petillius Cerealis was appointed by the emperor Vespasian to the command
in the province of Britain, that that hitherto unbridled nation were
either conquered or involved in all the calamities of warfare. Though
there be no precise data by which the decision may be guided, as to the
time of the earlier military erections which were formed at this place;
yet it cannot be ascribed to a much later period than the above
occurrences so intimately connected. At all events, it may not be
considered posterior to the effects which resulted from the wise policy
of Agricola. Immediately on his arrival to assume the command, he placed
along the frontiers of the several subjugated districts, a chain of
fortresses: these were constructed with so much care and judgment, that
the inhabitants of those parts where the Roman arms had not then
penetrated, could never consider themselves secure from the vigor of the
conqueror. {4a} The people, soon after this, completed their submission
to the yoke by yielding to the allurements of Roman manners. Their
ferocity was tamed: from a savage people, running wild in woods, they
became cultivated, acquiring knowledge, and dwelling in towns; and
finally sweetened their slavery, by indulging in the pleasures of
polished life.
From the circumstance of this station being situated on the river Bane,
several antiquaries have concurred in fixing here the BANOVALLUM of the
Roman geographer Ravennas. This opinion has been the more readily
adopted from the etymology of the name; the latter part of the word being
Latin, and collectively signifying a fortification on the Bane. It is
indeed probable that the Romans might have been induced at first to make
a station at this place, from its convenient situation, easily rendered
defensible by a _vallum_, or temporary barrier, drawn across the aperture
of the two rivers from one bank to the other, and thence came its
designation. Afterwards they built the indissoluble stone wall, whose
vestiges after the lapse of ages are manifest nearly the whole compass
round. {4b} It is to be regretted that Ravennas gives no distances: he
merely places BANOVALLUM next after LINDUM, so that nothing decidedly
certain can be gained from his work.
But, though it cannot be positively ascertained that this spot was the
Roman BANOVALLUM; yet as the name most evidently points out a
fortification on the river Bane, there appears little reason to question
it; both from its contiguity to the colony of LINDUM, with which place it
had communication by means of a military road; {5} as also from its
situation; particularly as no other remains of the Romans have been
discovered on that river, nor yet any near to it, except some coins at
the village of Ludford, where the Bane has its source; and traces of an
encampment at Tattershall, more than a mile distant from its banks.
In what circumstances this station may have been involved from the final
subjugation of the Britons by Agricola, under whose paternal government
the province felt some portion of enjoyment in cultivating the arts of
peace, is not known: but, from the evidence of antiquities, it is
perceptible that it continued a place of importance down to the period
when the Romans in the decline of their empire had withdrawn from
Britain; though probably, in the security of a long abstraction from war,
its military strength was somewhat disregarded. No sooner however had
the necessities and the mistaken policy of the enervated inhabitants,
again left to themselves, called to their assistance the warlike Saxons,
against the eruptions of the northern barbarians, than we find this place
agitated, in common with the rest of the country, by all the calamities
which were connected with the desperate contests that ensued;—the Britons
struggling for liberty, against the eagerness for dominion on the part of
the victorious Saxons. These people, according to the practice which
prevailed amongst them of changing the names of Roman stations, gave to
this the appellation of HYRNCASTRE or HORNECASTRE, from its situation in
an angle formed by the junction of the two rivers, which denotes a
fortification in a corner, of which the present name is evidently a
corruption.
The Roman fortress was at that time either destroyed, or in a very
dilapidated state; for Horsa, the Saxon general and brother of Hengist is
stated to have enstrengthened the fortress of Horncastle. This
fortification however did not continue long; for Horsa being defeated in
an engagement with the Britons, under the command of Raengeires, at the
neighbouring village of Tetford, Vortimer king of the Britons caused it
to be beaten down and rendered defenceless. {6}