The Towns of Roman Britain Part 2

What a find this lead floor would have been to the builders of the houses above it had they but laid their foundations a few inches deeper! It would have gone the same way as Alfred's coffin at Winchester.

Several other baths--one circular--and hypocausts were opened out, and--perhaps as interesting as anything--the culvert was discovered for drawing off the waste water, an excellent piece of masonry, and high enough for a man to stand upright in it. The remains of these old Baths of the Romans are not mere traces of walls, intelligible only to the antiquary, but are the actual basins, capable still of use, and one can ascend by the same steps and tread the same pavement as did the Roman bather of old.

On the Romans leaving Britain, the baths were for a long time deserted, and were soon buried under alluvium by the flooding of the river; but the hot springs never ceased to pour forth their abundant stream. The waters are impregnated with calcium and sodium sulphates and sodium and magnesium chlorides, and we must not forget the metal which called forth Mr. Weller's description: "I thought they'd a very strong flavour o' warm flat-irons." They are in greater vogue than ever now that radium has been found to be one of the const.i.tuents.

Bath was a place of resort even in Saxon times; for our forefathers--before the days of goloshes, mackintoshes and umbrellas--must have been sad sufferers from rheumatic affections.

It is also clear that the brine-springs, or _wyches_, of Droitwich, in Worcesters.h.i.+re, were also known to the Romans, as well as Spas in other parts of the country. That there was a Roman station at Droitwich is evidenced by the remains of a villa, containing interesting and valuable relics, discovered some years ago during the construction of the Oxford and Wolverhampton Railway.

CAERLEON, IN MONMOUTHs.h.i.+RE.

This is the Isca Silurum of the Romans. It is situated on the right bank of the Usk, and is the Old Port, in contradistinction to the New Port, some 3-1/2 miles distant, lower down the river. Caerleon seems to be a corruption of _Castrum Legionis_. The place was one of the great fortresses of Roman Britain, and const.i.tuted the station of the Second Augustan Legion in the first century A.D. It ranked as a Colony, and as the capital of Britannia Secunda during the period of Roman domination. Its position was favourable for the coercion of the wild Silures. No civil life or munic.i.p.ality seems to have grown up outside its boundaries; like Chester, it remained purely military.

There remain fragments of the walls, and outside these limits there is a gra.s.s-grown amphitheatre, 222 ft. by 192 ft., in which the tiers of seats are distinctly visible. The hamlet on the opposite bank preserves in a modified form the Roman name of _Ultra Pontem_. It is probable that the connecting bridge was a pontoon similar in character to that which survived to the close of the last century.

The local Museum is rich in objects of archaeological interest.

On the hill-side, which formed the burial place of the ancient city, fragments of slabs and memorial urns are even now often exhumed.

Giraldus Cambrensis, or Gerald de Barry, Archdeacon of Brecknock (1147-1220), borrowing from Geoffrey of Monmouth (1130-1140, Bishop of St. Asaph, author of _Chronicon sive Historia Britonum_), says that "its splendid palaces, with their gilded roofs, once emulated the grandeur of Rome," which testimony we receive with a certain amount of incredulity; nevertheless, it bears witness to the reputation it enjoyed in his day.

The city is connected with the romance of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It is said that hither Arthur came at Pentecost to be crowned, and that here he often took council with Dubric, or Dubritius, "the high saint."

The keep of a castle is mentioned in Domesday Book, the ruins of which, now limited to a solitary bastion on the river's side, were very extensive, even in Leland's time (1506-1552). Caerleon was a place of great ecclesiastical importance and the seat of an archbishopric. It is noticeable as the place of martyrdom, according to Giraldus Cambrensis, of two saints, Aaron and Julius. Their bodies were buried in the city, each afterwards having a church dedicated to him. There is good reason for regarding these as historical personages, but as Caerleon-upon-Dee was also called "the City of the Legions," there is some doubt whether their martyrdom occurred at the former, now called Chester, or at the latter, which still retains its British name.

Around the church of S. Cadoc there are abundant remains to show the important centre Caerleon-upon-Usk const.i.tuted in Roman times. There is a tradition that its bishop was one of three who attended the Council held at Arles, in 314, to discuss the validity of ecclesiastical orders conferred by such bishops as in time of persecution had delivered up to be burnt their sacred writings.

CAERWENT.--This place is on the Chepstow side of Caerleon, near Severn Tunnel Junction.

It was a military station, and important discoveries of Roman remains have been made here.

CAISTOR CASTLE, or VENTA.--4-1/2 miles from Yarmouth. Caistor Village is 3 miles distant.

This place occupies the site of a Roman camp, which, in conjunction with Burgh Castle, guarded this part of the coast. No remains of the camp now exist, but Roman urns, pottery, and coins have been found in and near the village. A field west of the church, styled "East b.l.o.o.d.y Furlong" has been fixed upon as the site of the Castrum.

CANTERBURY.--Cant-wara-byrig--the burgh of the men of the headland.

(Hence, Archepiscopus Cantuariensis).

Before the invasion of Caesar, a tribe of the Belgae from Gaul had taken possession of a large portion of South Britain, including Kent.

The princ.i.p.al Roman road was the Watling Street, between Dover and London, which followed much the same course as the modern highway.

This road was joined at Canterbury by two others, proceeding respectively from Lympne and Reculver. Two other important Roman stations may be distinguished, Durolevum and Vagniacae, the one probably by Faversham, the other by Springhead, near Gravesend. The important position of modern Canterbury is affirmed by the fact that no fewer than 16 roads and railway routes now converge upon the city.

So, too, in the olden time, it was a great nerve-centre, and the mid-point of the important Roman fortresses of Dover, Richborough, Reculver, and Lympne.

The Roman remains found throughout Kent are numerous and important.

There were potteries of purple or black ware at Upchurch, on the S.

bank of the Medway. Leaden coffins, elaborately ornamented gla.s.s and bronze vessels, and gold and silver ornaments, have been found in Roman cemeteries. The city itself occupies the site of the Roman Durovernum (Celtic, _dwr_--water), and was established upon that ford of the Stour at which the roads from the four harbour-fortresses before mentioned became united into the one great military way through Britain, which became known as Watling Street in later times.

The Romans do not seem (at least towards the end of their occupation) to have made the city a military centre, or given it a permanent garrison, but rather to have used it as a halting place for troops on the march. In a commercial sense (lying, as it did, in the direct path of all the south-eastern continental traffic of Britain) its importance at this epoch must have been considerable. The Cathedral stands on the site of a church founded in Roman times, and given by King Ethelbert (together with his own palace adjacent) to Augustine and his monks. St. Pancras (the foundations of which have now been uncovered) was originally Ethelbert's "Idol-house"; and St. Martin's, the sanctuary where the King's christian queen, Bertha, wors.h.i.+pped under the tutelage of Bishop Luithard. The structures existing in Ethelbert's day were destroyed, and ultimately the cathedral was entirely rebuilt by Lanfranc (1005-1089); to this additions were made by Anselm (1033-1109), and by succeeding builders even as late as 1495, when the addition of Goldstone's Central Tower left the Cathedral as we have it to-day.

St. Martin's Church cannot be dismissed in a summary manner. It is said by Bede to have been built whilst the Romans still occupied Britain. It is dedicated to the well-known Bishop of Tours (371-397).

Certainly the nave shows evidences of Roman workmans.h.i.+p and plaster.

A high arch has recently been discovered in the west wall, on each side of which is a window, apparently Roman in its origin, but which has been subsequently lengthened out by Saxon or Norman builders. The chancel, originally but 20 feet long, is variously conjectured to be Roman work or to have been built by St. Augustine. There is a square-headed Roman doorway and a round-headed Saxon one, in the south wall; also an early English sedile, bordered by Roman tiles on the same side, eastward.

The writer, the present Rector of Chillenden, feels a peculiar pleasure in recalling the fact that two of the Priors took their names from his parish, viz., Adam de Chillenden (_d._ 1274) and Thomas de Chillenden (_d._ 1411). The name of the latter, in the Diocesan Calendar, is distinguished by bold type, by reason of the fact that between 1370 and 1410, the present nave and transepts of Canterbury Cathedral, with the middle part of the present central tower, were built upon Lanfranc's old foundations by the Convent under his superintendence, a.s.sisted as he was by King Richard II and Archbishops Courtenay and Arundel. The Chapel of St. Michael, the Warriors' Chapel, was also added to by him. Moreover to him is due the building of most of the cloisters, the great Dormitory windows, the vaulting here and along the north alley, as also the foliated window-like screens in the latter alley.

The house in the precincts, known as Chillenden Chambers, was used in mediaeval times for the reception of pilgrims. It has been occupied for some years by Dr. Walsh, Bishop of Dover.

CARDIFF.--Castle on the Taff, in the County of Glamorgan.

The position between the rivers Taff and Rhymney, as also between the mountains and the sea, marked out this site, probably to the Romans, certainly to the Normans, as a favourable position for a fortified station. The remains of the Keep of the Castle still exist, and the church of St. John has venerable memories. The buildings of the Blackfriars and Greyfriars have long ago disappeared. The old church of St. Mary, too, was washed away by the sea. To the west, beyond the suburb of Canton, the foundations of Roman buildings have been uncovered and various objects of interest found and lodged in the National Museum.

CHESTER.--Otherwise Caerleon Vawr, or Caerlleon ar Dyfyrdwy.

Here was situated the great camp of the renowned Twentieth Legion on the Dee, the Deva of the Roman Itinerary. It stood at the head of the then most important estuary on this part of the coast, and at a point where several Roman roads converged. It is doubtful whether the city const.i.tuted a Colonia. It boasted a fine Basilica. There may still be seen the remains of a Roman arch impinging upon the Keep, or Caesar's Tower, in the Castle.

CHESTERFORD.--In Ess.e.x, 47-1/2 miles N. of London.

To-day the Great Eastern Railway crosses the Cam, or Granta, near a Roman station. Great Chesterford is the ancient Iceanum, once thought to be Camboric.u.m. The foundations of walls enclosing about 50 acres are known to have existed a century and a half ago. The site was thoroughly explored between 1846 and 1848, under the superintendence of the Hon. R. C. Neville, afterwards Lord Braybrooke. Many Roman remains were recovered and are preserved at his seat, Audley End--one of the finest examples of Jacobean architecture now remaining in England. In this neighbourhood, at Heydon, two miles N.W. of Chrishall, and in the extreme angle of Ess.e.x, there was discovered, in 1848, a chamber cut in the chalk. It contained a sort of altar and an abundance of Roman fibulae. Its purpose has not been clearly made out.

CHICHESTER.