(London, 1913) Mr. L. H. Dahl deals with the Roman fort at Burgh Castle
(Gariannonum), near Yarmouth, which formed part of the fourth-century
_Litus Saxonicum_. His account, which is not very technical, seems based
on previous writers, Ives, Harrod, Fox. I note a list of thirty coins
which, save for an uncertain specimen of Domitian and one of Marcus,
belong entirely to the late third and the fourth centuries, and end with
two silver of Honorius (_Virtus Romanorum_, Cohen 59). He detects a
Roman road running east from Burgh Castle towards Gorleston, preserved
(he thinks) in an old road sometimes called the Jews' Way; this,
however, seems unlikely. He also maintains the view, which others have
held, that the fort had no defences towards the water. This again seems
unlikely. Burgh Castle, like Richborough, Stutfall, and other forts of
the _Litus_, may well have had different arrangements on its water-front
from the walls on its other three faces. But it cannot have lacked
defences, and excavations prove, here as elsewhere, that walls did
actually exist on this side.
_Northumberland: Corbridge_
(28) A paper by the present writer and Prof. P. Gardner, entitled
'Roman silver in Northumberland' (_Journal of Roman Studies_, iv.
1-12), discusses the relics of what was seemingly a hoard--or perhaps
a service--of Roman silver plate, lost in the Tyne or on its banks near
Corbridge in the fourth century. Of five pieces, four were picked up
between 1731 and 1736, about 100-150 yards below the present bridge at
Corbridge; a fifth was found in 1760 floating in the stream four miles
lower down. One was a silver 'basin', of which no more is recorded.
Another was a small two-handled cup with figures of men and beasts round
it. A third was a round flat-bottomed bowl, with a decorated rim bearing
the Chi-Rho amidst its other ornament. A fourth was a small ovoid cup,
4 inches high, with the inscription _Desideri vivas_. Last, not least,
is the Corbridge Lanx, the only surviving piece of the five, and
probably the finest piece of Roman engraved silver found in these
islands, an oblong dish measuring 15 × 19 inches, weighing 148 ounces,
and ornamented with figures of deities from classical mythology. That
all five pieces belonged together can hardly be doubted, though it cannot
be proved outright. That they all belong to the later Roman period, and
probably to the fourth century, seems highly probable. Whether they were
buried in the river-bank to conceal them from raiders or were lost from
a boat or otherwise, is not now discoverable. But the occurrence of
such silver close to the Roman Wall is in itself notable. It is to be
attributed rather to a Roman officer residing in or passing through
Corbridge than to either a Romanized Briton or a Pictish looter.
Apart from its findspot, the Lanx is important for its excellent art and
for the place which it seems to hold in the history of later Greek art.
It is, of course, not Romano-British work; it is purely Greek in all its
details and no doubt of Greek workmanship. The deities figured on it
have long been a puzzle. They are evidently classical deities; three of
them, indeed, are Apollo, Artemis, and Athena. But the identity of the
other two figures and the meaning of the whole scene have been much
disputed. Roger Gale, the first to attempt its unravelment, suggested
in 1735 that it was 'just an assemblage of deities', and at one time I
inclined to this view--that we had here merely (let us say) a tea-party
at Apollo's; Dr. Drexel, too, wrote to me lately to express the same
idea. But I must confess that nearly all the best archaeologists demand
a definite mythological identification, and my colleague, Prof. Gardner,
suggests a new view--that the scene is the so-called Judgement of
Paris. This mythological incident was often depicted in ancient art,
and--strange as it may sound--in the later versions Paris was not seldom
omitted, Apollo was made arbiter, and the scene was removed from Mount
Ida to Delphi.[11] The two hitherto disputable figures are, Prof.
Gardner thinks, Hera (seated) and Aphrodite (standing, with a long
sceptre). He ascribes the work to the third or early part of the fourth
century, and believes that it was made in the Eastern Empire; from the
prominence granted to Artemis, he conjectures that Ephesus may have been
its origin. But he adds that he would not be sure that the artist of the
piece, while copying a Judgement of Paris, was consciously aware of the
meaning of the original before him. His views will be published in
fuller detail in the _Journal of Hellenic Studies_.
[Footnote 11: Compare the Roman provincial bas-reliefs of Actaeon
surprising Diana, with Actaeon omitted (R. Cagnat, _Archaeological
Journal_, lxiv. 42).]
I am glad, further, to have been able to illustrate this paper by what I
believe to be a better illustration of the Lanx than has been published
before, and also to set out in more accurate fashion the curious legal
history of the object after it was found.
(29) In the new _History of Northumberland_, issued by the Northumberland
County History Committee in vol. x (edited by Mr. H. H. Craster,
Newcastle, 1914, pp. 455-522) I have given a long account of the known
Roman remains in Corbridge parish. These are the settlement of
Corstopitum, a small stretch of Roman road and another of the Roman
Wall, and the fort of Halton (Hunnum) on the Wall. The account is
necessarily historical rather than archaeological; it tries to sum up
the finds and estimate their historical bearing, and it also catalogues
all the inscribed and sculptured stones found at Corbridge and Halton,
with the 'literature' relating to them. Mr. Knowles contributes a plan
of the Corbridge excavations to the end of 1912.
(30) The Corbridge excavations of 1913 are described by Mr. R. H.
Forster, who was in personal charge of the work, Mr. W. H. Knowles, and
myself, in _Archaeologia Aeliana_ (third series, 1914, xi. 279-310);
see also a short account by myself in the _Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of London_ (xxvi. 185-9). The discoveries were comparatively
few; they comprised some ill-preserved and mostly insignificant
buildings on the north side of the site, some ditches, and a stretch of
the road leading to the north (Dere Street). Among small objects were an
interesting but imperfect altar to 'Panthea ...', a bronze 'balsamarium'
showing a puzzling variety of barbarian's head, and another piece of the
Corbridge grey _appliqué_ ware. A short account of the excavations of
1914 (see above, p. 9) is contained in the _Journal of the British
Archaeological Association_ (xx. 343).
(31) The _Proceedings of the Berwick Naturalists' Club_ (vol. xxxii,
part 2) print an agreeable paper by Mr. James Curle, describing Dere
Street and some Roman posts on it between Tyne and Tweed.
_Notts._
[Illustration: FIG. 23. ROMAN SITE NEAR EAST BRIDGEFORD, NOTTS. (No.
32)]
[Illustration: FIG. 24. DECORATION OF ENAMELLED SEAL-BOX.]
(32) About ten miles east from Nottingham, and a mile south of the
village of East Bridgeford, the Fosse-way crosses a Roman site which has
usually been identified with the Margidunum of the Antonine Itinerary.
Lately excavation has been attempted, and the _Antiquary_ of December
1914 contains an interesting account of the results attained up to the
end of 1913, with some illustrations.[12] A very broad earthwork and
ditch surround an area of 7 acres, rhomboidal in shape (fig. 23).
In this area the excavators, Drs. Felix Oswald and T. D. Pryce, have
turned up floor-tesserae, roof-slates, flue-tiles, window-glass, painted
wall-plaster, potsherds of the first and later centuries, including a
black bowl with a well-modelled figure of Mercury in relief, coins
ranging down to the end of the fourth century (Eugenius), and other
small objects of interest, such as the small seal-box with Late-Celtic
enamel, shown in fig. 24. No foundations _in situ _have yet come to
light, but that is doubtless to follow; only a tiny part of the whole
area has, as yet, been touched. Margidunum may have begun as a fort
coeval with the Fosse-way, which (if I am right) dates from the earliest
years of the Roman Conquest. Whether any of the first-century potsherds
as yet found there can be assigned to these years (say A.D. 45-75) is
not clear. But the excavations plainly deserve to be continued.
[Footnote 12: By the courtesy of the publisher of the _Antiquary_, Mr.
Elliot Stock, I am able to reproduce two of these illustrations (figs.
23, 24).]
_Shropshire_
(33) Mr. Bushe-Fox's second Report on his excavations at Wroxeter
(_Reports of the Research Committee of the London Society of
Antiquaries_, No. II, Oxford, 1914) deserves all the praise accorded
to his first Report. I can only repeat what I said of that; it is an
excellent description, full and careful, minute in its account of the
smaller finds, lavishly illustrated, admirably printed, and sold for
half a crown. The finds which it enumerates in detail I summarized in
my Report for 1913, pp. 19-20--the temple with its interesting Italian
plan, the fragments of sculpture which seem to belong to it, the crowd
of small objects, the masses of Samian (indefatigably recorded), the 528
coins; all combine to make up an admirable pamphlet.
[Illustration: FIG. 27. THE PODIUM, AS SEEN FROM THE NORTH
(The measuring staff to the right stands in the _cella_, the floor of
which is slightly higher than that of the portico to the left of it)]
[Illustration: FIG. 28. EAST WALL OF PODIUM, COURSED MASONRY WITH CLAY
AND RUBBLE FOUNDATIONS]
I will venture a suggestion on the temple. This, as I pointed out last
year, is on the Italian, not on the Celto-Roman plan. But one item is
not quite clear in it. All ordinary classical temples stood on _podia_
or platforms which raised them above the surrounding surface at least to
some small extent. Mr. Bushe-Fox speaks of a _podium_ to the Wroxeter
temple. But it appears that he does not mean a _podium_, as generally
understood. The masonry which he denotes by that term was, in his
opinion, buried underground and merely foundation. The floor of the
portico of the temple (he says) was about level with the floor of the
court which surrounded the temple; the floor of the _cella_, though
higher, was but a trifle higher (see figs. 26, 27). This view needs more
reflection than he has given it in his rather brief account. No doubt
a temple in a Celtic land might have been built on a classical plan,
though without a classical _podium_. But it is not what one would most
expect. Nor do I feel sure that it was actually done at Wroxeter in this
case. The walls which Mr. Bushe-Fox explains as the foundations of the
temple are quite needlessly good masonry for foundations never meant to
be seen; this will be plain from figs. 27, 28, which I reproduce by
permission from his Report. Further, as fig. 26 (from the same source)
shows, there was outside the base of this masonry a level cobbled
surface, for which no structural reason is to be found. This, one may
guess, was a pavement at the original ground-level when the temple was
first erected; from this, steps presumably led up to the floor of the
portico and _cella_. The 'podium', then, was at first a real _podium_.
Later, the ground-level rose, and the walls of the _podium_ were buried.
[Illustration: FIG. 25. TEMPLE AT WROXETER]
[Illustration: FIG. 26. FOUNDATIONS OF WROXETER TEMPLE]
_Somerset_
(34) In his handsome volume, _Wookey Hole, its caves and cave-dwellers_
(London, 1914), Mr. H. E. Balch collects for general antiquarian readers
the results of his long exploration of this Mendip cave; some of these
results were noted in my Report for 1913, p. 47. The cave, as a whole,
contained--besides copious prehistoric remains--two well-defined Roman
layers, with many potsherds, including a little Samian and one Samian
stamp given as PIIR PIIT OFII (apparently a new variety of Perpetuus),
broken glass, a few fibulae and other bronze and iron objects, and
106 coins. These coins are:--1 Republican (124-103 B.C., Marcia),
1 Vespasian, 1 Titus, 1 Trajan, 2 Hadrian, 2 Pius; then, 3 Gallienus,
1 Salonina, 1 Carausius, 2 Chlorus, 1 Theodora, 6 Constantinopolis,
1 Crispus, 4 Constantine II, 4 Magnentius, 4 Constantius II, with 20
Valentinian I, 14 Valens, 21 Gratian, 7 Valentinian II, and 6 illegible.
Just two-thirds of the coins are later than A.D. 364; they may be set
beside the late hoard 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. Derbyshire_, 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 Somersetshire 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 manuscripts.
(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 tithe 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 illustrations, 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 glass 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.
_Sussex_
(40) A Roman well has been examined near Ham Farm, between Hassocks
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 (_Sussex
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 Sussex_ (Cambridge
University Press, 1914), much resembles the Derbyshire 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_ (xxx.
161-6) one would infer that its philology, too, is by no means
satisfactory.
_Westmorland_
(42) The _Transactions of the Cumberland 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 illustrated; 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 Somersetshire 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.
_Worcestershire_
(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.
_Yorkshire_
(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 fashion. 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 township 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 _Pembrokeshire_, 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 principal 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 pronounce positively, and perhaps even
a minute search might be fruitless. Analogies 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).
[Illustration: 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
Denbighshire. 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
hoard 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_