traced exactly throughout its whole course. Far from it: the hand of
the destroyer has been heavy indeed on these relics of the past, built
with a prodigal expenditure of time and material. It is often the
case that the modern “turnpike,” or county, road has been made on the
very site of the ancient road, the old embankment being levelled to
gain additional width. In other places cultivation and the demands of
agriculture may have proved the cause of its obliteration. Here and
there, especially on waste land and heather-clad downs the true Roman
work may still be seen, though covered, perhaps, by grass; but with the
aid of the Antonine _Itinerary_ much may be learnt and many a portion
be recognised. He names, however, only two stations within the county,
and the mileage is short by nearly twenty miles, so in all probability,
through error in copying, one other station has been omitted. The two
stations mentioned are Vindogladia and Durnovaria. Authorities differ
greatly as to the true position of the former of these places; the
other station, however, is remarkable for the proofs of its former
importance. Here we find no less than four roads meeting, from north,
south, east, and west, the east and west roads being the Via Iceniana;
the others are roads of less importance, that to the south leading
to the sea and towards the Roman settlement, Clavinio (or Jordan
Hill), near Weymouth, and that to the north passing Stratton and on to
Ilchester.
Other branch roads were made as necessity required in different
parts of the county. Thus we find traces of a road leaving the Via
Principalis, near Badbury, to connect with the harbour of Poole, and
another, starting from the same point, running northwards. Mr. Warne is
considered to have made a very interesting and clever discovery of a
station which is missing in the _XV. Iter._ of Antoninus. The distance
there given between Vindogladia and Durnovaria is quite obviously too
short by some fourteen miles. But on Kingston Down, near Bere Regis,
the cultured eyes of the learned Dorset antiquarian discovered traces
of a Roman settlement, and on due investigation being made, it was
considered that there was sufficient proof to establish at this point
a station called Ibernium, referred to by other writers as existing in
the county.
The position of Vindogladia, though a subject of long and frequent
debate, and though stated by some to have been at Badbury, by others
at Wimborne Minster, has now been accepted as on Gussage Down, not
far from the north-west border of the county where crossed by the Via
Iceniana. This is due to the researches of Sir R. C. Hoare, and stands
on a par with Mr. Warne’s discovery of the other Roman station on the
great military road.
* * * * *
We come now to a very interesting period of the Roman occupation,
when we may imagine the military operations at an end, a firm and
beneficial government established, and the colonists (at any rate),
who usually obtained a third part of the conquered territory, becoming
rich and enabled to build those houses that must have been the envy and
admiration of the native population, with their decorative floors and
walls, and ample comforts for seasons of heat or cold.
Still, as we have said before, it is not to any printed records that
we can turn for its history, but rather to the result of careful
excavation and the relics unearthed after fifteen centuries’ burial
in the soil: in a word, we trust to the use of the spade for bringing
before our minds the life of the past and restoring the memorials of
ancient Dorset.
In Warne’s map of the county, prepared in the year 1865 after most
patient research and personal investigation, there are more than fifty
sites given where relics of the Roman colonisation have been found,
exclusive of Durnovaria. Mr. Moule, writing in 1893, says: “Roman work
of one kind and another has been found here in Dorset in eighty places,
and that for the most part casually.” But year after year this number
is increased, and, truth to tell, so frequent are the discoveries that
in Dorchester the ordinary labourer, when excavating in the streets,
or elsewhere, is ever on the alert, and many a treasure rewards his
watchful care; and even children whose eyes have been trained aright
will find, when digging in some neglected corner of garden or field,
a bit of common pottery, a fragment of Samian ware, or perhaps a coin
bearing the image of an Emperor of Rome. And thus our history is
written: a word discovered here, a sentence there, until the story of
the life of those days may be once more told afresh. The frequency of
these discoveries is so far interesting that it draws attention to the
large area over which the Roman settlers were distributed. No doubt
they found this land of the Durotriges a pleasant land to dwell in, as
we do now in this twentieth century. But here may be said, in passing,
that Roman colonists were partly at least a Roman garrison. They were
frequently old soldiers intended to keep in check the conquered nation,
and liable to be called back to active service. But if there was no
fear of a hostile rising, the military character of the colony would
gradually be lost. And that, no doubt, soon happened here, for the very
great majority of the relics of the Roman occupation are signs of its
peaceful character.
The discovery of the sites of Roman villas scattered in more or less
isolated positions throughout the county tend also to prove this, and
especially when the villa is shown to have possessed one of those
beautiful mosaic floors which can only have belonged to a prosperous
and wealthy colonist or to a British landowner left undisturbed in
his possessions, and who employed the Roman craftsmen to build him
a house. These tessellated floors have been frequently exposed to
view in various parts of Dorset, and too frequently, alas! through
ignorance or carelessness, been neglected or destroyed; others,
again, have been examined, plans or drawings made, and been covered
up once more. Among those which have been described may be mentioned:
Thornford and Lenthay Green, near Sherborne; Halstock, six miles south
of Yeovil; Rampisham, twelve miles north of Dorchester; Frampton,
six miles north of Dorchester; Preston, near Weymouth; Creech, near
Wareham; Fifehead Neville, north-west of Blandford; Hemsworth, five
miles north of Wimborne; and in Dorchester itself no less than twenty
different pavements, either complete or in portions, besides one on the
upper area of Maiden Castle. It is difficult to assign a date, even
approximately, to these villas, for the coins found amidst the _débris_
cover practically the whole period of Roman occupation, and the other
objects generally discovered on the site are not of much assistance.
There are no records of inscribed stones being found, which might
have helped; and, as a rule, the more valuable part of the building
materials, such as cut stones, roof slabs, and timbers, must have been
taken away when the houses were left; but the wells and refuse pits are
the happy and profitable hunting-ground of the antiquary.
The tessellated pavements are so interesting and attractive that it is
worth while to describe them in detail. The system adopted in their
construction seems to have been as follows:—If no provision was made
for heating the rooms by means of a hypocaust or hot-air flues, the
ground was prepared by rough levelling, and 6 to 8 inches thick of
flints rammed, or coarse, gravelly mortar or concrete laid; on this 3
or 4 inches of better class white cement, and above some fine cement to
take the tessellæ; and after these were laid a liquid cement would be
run into the interstices before the final polishing was commenced. The
system of laying is well shewn in the annexed illustration, taken of
a pavement _in situ_, before removal to the Dorset County Museum.
[Illustration: PART OF THE OLGA ROAD TESSELLATED PAVEMENT, DORCHESTER.]
The tessellæ themselves, as generally found in Dorset, consist of
small cubes of stone or brick, but vary in size from about ⅜ or ½
inch to 1½ inch; the smaller are used for the decorative portions;
the larger for the borders, or for passages, or for the floors of
houses of a humbler character. The colours are for the most part only
four—namely: white, dark slate (or blue-black), red, and a sort of drab
or grey; occasionally yellow is found, but not often.
The materials of which the tessellæ are composed has given rise to much
discussion and, indeed, much difference of opinion; but, as a general
principle, it may be assumed that, wherever possible, local stone was
used. The red tessellæ are merely brick or tile of a fine description;
but, as a means of obtaining a scientific opinion of the other stones,
microscopic sections have been cut from the tessellæ and submitted
to an expert mineralogist, who has given them the following names.
The very dark stone is a fine-grained ferruginous limestone; the grey
is also a fine-grained limestone; the drab or yellow is an oolitic
limestone; and the white is a hard chalk, showing foraminifera very
well. It is believed that the colour may be altered by submitting the
stone to heat, an opinion held by Professor Buckman, and explained in a
very interesting chapter of his book, _Roman Art in Cirencester_.
The mosaic floors found in Dorchester are, as a rule, of very simple
but effective design, consisting of geometrical arrangements of the
single guilloche, the twist or plait, the double guilloche (which is
extremely handsome in mosaic work), and the ordinary fret. These, being
arranged as outlines of intersecting squares and circles, leave spaces
of varying dimensions, spandrels, or trefoils, which are utilised
for the introduction of many diverse emblems, such as the fylfot or
swastika, the duplex, sprays of foliage, urns, and interlacing knots.
In the County Museum may be seen laid on the floor (in which position
alone can full justice be done to the skill of the Italian artist) two
nearly complete mosaic pavements. One of these shows the area of three
adjoining rooms, with entrances or vestibules; the other pavement,
found in 1905, is in excellent preservation, measuring 21 feet by 12
feet 6 inches, and is remarkable for two ornamental vases, with two
serpents issuing from each.
The pavement at Preston, near Weymouth, still _in situ_, was discovered
in 1852, the coins found near the villa dating from the middle of the
third century. At Jordan Hill, close by, is the Roman settlement,
Clavinio, which has been productive of a large number of very
interesting relics.
At the entrance to the village of Preston, coming from Weymouth, may be
seen an arch spanning a small stream. The form and masonry of the arch,
as well as its proximity to the other remains here noticed, point to
the probability of Roman construction, and is of special interest, as
examples of Roman masonry are but rarely found still existing in the
county.
The pavement at Lenthay Green was discovered in 1836, and was carefully
removed to the dairy of Sherborne Castle. It contains a representation
of a sitting figure playing on a lyre, and a second figure dancing and
playing a pipe.
The villa on Maiden Castle was discovered by Mr. Cunnington in 1882,
and as a result of his excavations he sent to the County Museum many
interesting objects: fragments of mosaic floor, wall-plaster, and roof
tiles, a curious bronze plate (repoussé work) representing a helmeted
figure holding a spear, and coins from Helena, A.D. 290, to Arcadius,
A.D. 408.
A mosaic floor at Frampton is remarkable for the introduction into the
design of the Christian monogram ☧, known as the Labarum. Extensive
excavations were made here at the end of the eighteenth century,
and four different pavements were found. They contain numerous
representations of heathen deities, Neptune being especially favoured;
a motto worked into one of the borders runs: “_Neptuni vertex regmen
sortiti mobile ventis_,” and some other words partly lost. The
introduction of the monogram of Christ is probably of a later date than
the original work. The pavement is now covered up, but Mr. Lysons,
who superintended the excavations in 1797, obtained accurate drawings
of the whole site, the mosaic work being shown in correct colours on
seven large plates which were published, together with an accurate
description.
[Illustration: TESSELLATED PAVEMENT AT FIFEHEAD NEVILLE, DORSET.]
The pavements uncovered at Fifehead Neville are also of great interest.
The first was discovered in 1881, measuring about 14 feet by 12 feet,
the design consisting of an urn, or vase, in the centre, around which
seven small fish are depicted, and outside them are four sea-monsters,
like dolphins. Coins found here date from A.D. 270 to 340. The second
pavement, found in 1903, requires no description, as we are permitted,
by the Editor of the Dorset Field Club, to reproduce an illustration
which appears in the Club’s _Proceedings_. The general plan of the
design is almost identical with a pavement found in Dyer Street,
Cirencester, though the details are altogether different. They may well
have been designed by the same artist.
* * * * *
Very little has been said, so far, of Dorchester itself, and yet the
modern town is full of memories of the Roman Durnovaria. It lies within
the boundaries of the ancient walls, their position, still plainly
discernible in many places, being marked by broad walks and avenues of
trees. One small portion of the masonry of the wall itself may still be
seen in the West Walk. The position of the gates is also fairly easy to
decide, though no vestige of them remains. The roads which issued from
them have been referred to at a previous page.
It has been asserted recently—and, indeed, proved to the satisfaction
of many local authorities—that the course of a Roman aqueduct can be
traced here and there to the west of Dorchester skirting the adjacent
valleys and hills. It is believed to have been an open water-course,
obtaining its supply from the source of a small stream some twelve
miles distant.
Perhaps, however, the most remarkable relic of the Roman occupation
is the amphitheatre, said to be the best preserved in Britain. It is
larger than the so-called “Bull Ring” of Cirencester, and, being quite
free from trees and bushes, stands out more boldly than the similar
work at Silchester. It is built of chalk, now covered with grass,
somewhat elliptical in plan, the height of the sides being given as
about 30 feet, and the internal measurements 218 feet by 163 feet. On
each side of the entrance there are walks which ascend gradually to the
centre of the mounds, where there are small platforms as if for seating
the principal spectators or judges, but there are no traces of steps
or ledges for the accommodation of the general public; and, judging by
the remarks of early Roman writers, it is very probable that the people
were obliged to stand throughout the public games.
But in addition to these more obvious relics of a bygone age, the
subsoil of Dorchester is full of treasures that emphasise the Roman
occupation. It would be impossible to describe in these pages even
the most interesting of the objects that have been brought to light
in recent years, but it is fortunate that they find their way very
frequently to the County Museum, of which the people of Dorset are
justly proud. It must suffice at the present time to mention that in
its cases may be seen a fine collection of objects made of Kimmeridge
shale; glass hairpins, brooches and bracelets, and a metal mirror;
pottery of all kinds; many examples of mosaic floors, fragments of wall
plaster retaining their brilliant colouring, three curious antefixæ, a
Roman sword handle, which is believed to be almost unique, and a base
and capital of a column of a temple. In looking at these memorials of
the past, and stepping the while on the ancient pavements, the mind is
taken back with irresistible force to the men and women who made use of
them in their daily occupations—the Romans, who for a period of four
hundred years exercised their wise and beneficial influence over the
people of Britain.
THE CHURCHES OF DORSET
BY THE REV. THOMAS PERKINS, M.A.
Out of about three hundred churches which are to be found in Dorset,
three stand out as far ahead of all the rest—the church (once
collegiate, now parochial) of Wimborne Minster; the church of the
Benedictine Abbey at Sherborne, now the parish church; and the great
Benedictine Abbey Church at Milton, now in parochial use. These three,
which receive separate treatment in the present volume, are the only
three Dorset churches that can rank with the great parish churches of
England.
There were before the Reformation many religious houses, each with
its own church, in the county, but at the time of the Dissolution,
in the reign of Henry VIII., most of these, as being of no further
use, fell into decay, and their ruins were regarded as quarries of
hewn stone whenever such material was needed in the neighbourhood.
Of the Benedictine nunnery of Shaftesbury, once one of the most
wealthy religious foundations in the kingdom, nothing remains save
the foundations, which recent excavations have disclosed to view; of
Cistercian Bindon, only the gatehouse and a few ivy-clad walls, rising
only a few feet above the ground; of Benedictine Cerne, a splendid
barn and a beautiful gatehouse, and a few fragments incorporated in
some farm buildings; of its daughter abbey at Abbotsbury, a still
larger barn, testifying to the wealth of the community, and some
ruined walls—this is all that remains to mark the spots where day
after day through many centuries the words of prayer and praise rose
almost without ceasing, and monks and nuns lived their lives apart from
the busy world, spending their time in meditation, in adorning their
churches with the carving of capital and boss or miserere, in copying
and illuminating manuscripts, in teaching the young, in giving alms to
the needy, in tilling their lands in the days while yet they cherished
the high ideals of the founders of their orders, before they lapsed
into luxury and riotous living.
A few monastic barns remain in other places, as at Tarrant Crawford
and Liscombe. These owe their preservation to the fact that they could
at once be utilized; for those who received grants of abbey lands, no
less than their predecessors, required buildings wherein to store their
corn; whereas the refectory, dormitory, cellars, and other domestic
buildings designed for a community of monks or nuns were useless when
such communities no longer existed; and the churches, unless they could
be turned to account as parish churches, would also be of no use.
After the three great ministers already mentioned there is a wide gap,
for though many of the Dorset parish churches are of architectural
or archæological interest, either generally or because they contain
some special object—a Saxon font, a Norman doorway, a Decorated Easter
sepulchre, a canopied tomb, or the effigy of a noble who fought in
the French wars of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries—yet as a
rule the churches are comparatively, if not actually, small, and are
for the most part built in the Perpendicular style, the most prosaic
and uninteresting of the mediæval styles of architecture, though in
mason-craft it can hold its own against all the rest. And, moreover,
Dorset Perpendicular is not equal to that which is to be found in the
neighbouring county of Somerset. We look in vain for the splendid
fifteenth century towers which are the glory of the Somerset churches;
here and there in isolated places, and, strange enough, not on the
Somerset border, we find traces of the Somerset influence; but for the
most part the Dorset towers are utilitarian appendages, not structures
carefully designed with a view to beauty of outline and richness and
appropriateness of ornament, as the finest of the Somerset towers are.
Spires of mediæval date are rare in Dorset. There are but two—one at
Winterborne Steepleton, near Dorchester, and one at Trent, a parish
added for administration purposes to the County of Dorset in 1895;
there is a spire also at Iwerne[15] Minster, but it cannot be called
a mediæval one, for though the tower of this church was formerly
surmounted by a beautiful spire, yet that to be seen to-day is only a
reproduction, built of some of the stones of the old spire, which was
taken down at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The upper part
above the lower of the two moulded bands, preserves the original slope;
the lower has a different slope, as the builder had, in a vertical
distance of about ten feet, to connect the base of the original spire
with the horizontal section of the upper part, which was originally
about thirty feet above the base. The original spire was forty feet in
height; the present one is only twenty feet. The stone not used in the
rebuilding was sold to a road contractor for metalling the roads.
The hand of the restorer has been laid very heavily on Dorset
churches. In some cases, where there was absolutely no necessity for
it, old churches were entirely destroyed to make room for smart new
buildings; others have been restored—a few judiciously, the majority
injudiciously; a few only, so far, have entirely escaped. Many causes
in Dorset, as elsewhere, have led to extensive restoration—the desire
to adapt the building to the form of worship fashionable at the time,
or to put back, as it is called, the church into what was supposed
to be its original form, as if such a thing were possible; the
love of uniformity, which has led to the removal of seventeenth and
eighteenth century additions, such as pulpits and galleries, which were
supposed to be out of keeping with the main portion of the church;
by which removals much interesting history has been destroyed. Oak
pews, sometimes carved, have been swept away in order to put in more
comfortable benches of pitch pine; encaustic tiles have taken the
place of the old stones, which, if they had become uneven, might have
been relaid; ancient plaster has been stripped from walls, and the
stones pointed; churchyards have been levelled, and, in some cases, the
paths have been paved with old headstones. Unfortunately for Dorset,
there has been found no lack of money to carry out these supposed
“improvements,” so that the work of “restoration” has been done most
thoroughly throughout the length and breadth of the county, and there
is now little more that is likely to be done. It is, indeed, almost too
late to utter the prayer of Thomas Hardy:—
From restorations of Thy fane,
From smoothings of Thy sward,
From zealous churchmen’s pick and plane,
Deliver us, good Lord![16]
But despite the fact that Dorset is architecturally much poorer at
the beginning of the twentieth century than at the beginning of the
nineteenth, there is still much that the archæologist may take joy in,
though his joy may be mingled with regret at treasures of old time that
have vanished for ever.