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Title: The Ruins of the Roman City of Uriconium, at Wroxeter, near Shrewsbury
Author: Wright, Thomas
Language: English
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URICONIUM, AT WROXETER, NEAR SHREWSBURY***
Transcribed from the fourth, 1863, edition by David Price, email
ccx074@pglaf.org
[Picture: Book cover]
THE
RUINS OF THE ROMAN CITY
OF
Uriconium,
AT
WROXETER, NEAR SHREWSBURY.
BY
THOMAS WRIGHT, ESQ., M.A., F.S.A.
* * * * *
Fourth Edition,
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
* * * * *
SHREWSBURY: J. O. SANDFORD, HIGH-STREET.
LONDON: KENT & CO., PATERNOSTER-ROW.
1863.
PREFACE.
IT is the aim of the following pages to give the degree and kind of
popular information believed to be wanted by the numerous visitors to the
excavations at Wroxeter, who have no Guide to explain what they see, and
are not possessed of that amount of minute antiquarian knowledge which
would enable them to understand everything without such explanation. It
is the first instance in which there has been, in this country, the
chance of penetrating into a city of more than fourteen centuries ago, on
so large a scale, and with such extensive remains of its former
condition; and when the visitor has walked over the floors which had been
trodden last, before they were thus uncovered, by the Roman inhabitants
of this island, he will appreciate more justly, and with greater
interest, the objects which have been discovered, and are deposited in
the Museum, at Shrewsbury; and he will learn to look forward with hope to
the light which a continuance of these excavations must throw upon the
condition and history of this country at so remote a period. Whatever
this light may be, it must not be forgotten that we shall be indebted for
it, in the first place, to his Grace the Duke of Cleveland, who has shown
a generous public feeling in giving permission and encouragement to the
excavations on his land, and to the late B. Botfield, Esq., M.P., through
whose zeal and liberality in the undertaking the excavators were set at
work, when as yet it was uncertain if their labours would be attended
with any success. I have endeavoured to fulfil literally the title of
this little book, and to give the visitor such information as he would
seek from a professional Guide, whilst I have gladly left the description
of the Museum, and especially of those rather numerous human remains
which form so remarkable a part of our discoveries, to one best qualified
for that task, Dr. Henry Johnson, who has so ably and zealously directed
the excavations on the spot, and who has thus, unremunerated, given to
the service of the public so much of his valuable time.
T. W.
TO VISITORS.
PARTIES from a distance wishing to visit the ruins of the ancient
URICONIUM, at Wroxeter, will find every comfort and accommodation at the
Lion, the Raven, the George, and the Crown Hotels, Shrewsbury.
WROXETER is a little more than five miles from Shrewsbury. Conveyances
may be obtained at the Railway Station, Shrewsbury; at any of the
above-named Hotels; and at Howells’s Livery Stables, Cross Hill. Parties
of any reasonable number may be conveyed by either of the latter, on
giving them two days’ notice by letter.
UPTON MAGNA, on the Shrewsbury and Wellington Joint Line of Railway, is
the nearest Station to Wroxeter, from whence it is distant about two
miles and a half, a pleasant walk for an active person.
THE MUSEUM of the Shropshire and North Wales Natural History and
Antiquarian Society, College Hill, where all the moveable articles from
Wroxeter are deposited, is open DAILY to visitors, from 10 till 4, on
payment of sixpence each, and by an order from a Subscriber GRATUITOUSLY.
DONATIONS to the Wroxeter Fund will be gladly received by the Honorary
Secretary, DR. H. JOHNSON, Dogpole, Shrewsbury.
List of Plates.
FROM DRAWINGS BY MR. HILLARY DAVIES, OF SHREWSBURY.
PLATE
The North Side of the Old Wall, at Wroxeter 1
Wroxeter Church, Shropshire (Vignette) 2
First Roman Hypocaust discovered at Uriconium in 1859 3
Roman Tile-Roof, Roman Flag-Roof, Section of Roman 4
Hypocaust, &c.
Plan of Walls, discovered by the Excavations at Wroxeter, 5
Salop, from February 3rd to September, 1863
Column in the Garden of W. H. Oatley, Esq., Wroxeter 6
Ancient Stone Font in Wroxeter Church 7
Capitals found at Uriconium 8
Samian, Upchurch, and Romano-Salopian Pottery 9
Rings and Combs (actual size) 10
Hair Pins, &c. (actual size) 11
Skulls from Wroxeter 12
Roman Remains from Wroxeter, in the possession of Samuel 13
Wood, Esq., and Mask, in the Museum, Shrewsbury.
Upchurch Pottery, Adz, Spear Head, and Romano-Salopian 14
(Red) Ware
Carved Stone Fragments from Uriconium, in the Garden of 15
Edward Stanier, Esq., Wroxeter
Sepulchral Stone 16
The Ruins of Uriconium.
IF we leave Shrewsbury by its long eastern suburb, known, from the
important monastic house which formerly stood at its commencement, as the
Abbey Foregate, passing the more modern monument erected at its
extremity, Lord Hill’s Column, our way lies for about two miles along the
London road, bounded on each side by rich and fertile fields. At the
distance just mentioned, this road approaches close to the river Severn,
and continues to run along its banks, to the great improvement of the
scenery, until we arrive at the prettily-situated village of Atcham, with
Atcham Church in face of us, and the river winding under its stone bridge
in the foreground. Atcham is three miles from Shrewsbury. Crossing the
bridge, we leave the river, which here takes a long sweep to the
southward, and follow the road, which skirts for more than half a mile
the extensive park of Attingham. We here approach another river, the
Tern, which at this point spreads into a fair expanse of water, and
forms, with the mansion of Attingham to the left, and the copses which
skirt it, a scene of striking beauty, while to the right it divides into
two branches which empty themselves into the Severn, a little lower down.
Crossing Tern Bridge, and proceeding a short distance, still skirting the
park, we reach a point where, opposite the entrance to Attingham Park, a
branch road turns off to the right from the old London road. We must
take this branch road, which will lead us to the village of Wroxeter. We
soon cross a small stream, which is known by the name of the Bell Brook,
and after we have passed this brook, the visitor will hardly fail to
remark, wherever his eye rests upon ploughed ground, the extraordinary
blackness of the soil in comparison with that of the land over which he
has previously passed.
In fact he has now entered upon the site of an ancient Roman city, which
is known, from the circumstance of its being mentioned by the geographer
Ptolemy, to have been standing here as early as the beginning of the
second century, when it was called Viroconium,—a name which appears to
have been changed in the later Romano-British period to Uriconium; at
least this is the form under which the name occurs in the later
geographers, and which has been generally adopted by modern antiquaries.
From the point at which we have now arrived, the line of the ancient
town-wall may be traced by a continuous low mound, which runs southward
towards the Severn, the banks of which it follows for some distance, and,
after passing between the river and the modern village of Wroxeter, turns
eastwardly behind the vicarage-house, and makes a long sweep till it
reaches the hamlet of Norton to the north, whence it turns to the
westward again, and reaches the point from which we started, forming an
irregular oval, rather more than three miles in circumference. A portion
of the Bell Brook runs through the Roman city. After crossing this
brook, we approach ground which rises gently, and nearly at the highest
point we see to the left a smith’s shop. At this spot, which is rather
more than five miles from Shrewsbury, the road which has brought us from
that town crosses another road, which turns down to the right, to the
village of Wroxeter, not quite half a mile distant. Wroxeter is an
Anglo-Saxon name, the first part of which is probably corrupted from that
of the ancient Roman city of the site of which it occupies the southern
extremity. The road which has led us to it is called the Watling Street
road, and there is every reason for believing that it occupies in a part
of its course the line of one of the principal streets of Uriconium. It
crosses the river Severn immediately below the village, where there was
doubtless a bridge in Roman times, for it is in the highest degree
improbable that in approaching a town of such importance, the Romans
would cross a river like the Severn only by a ford.
On arriving at the smith’s shop just alluded to, the attention of the
visitor will be attracted by a solid mass of masonry, which forms a very
imposing object, and presents those unmistakable characteristics of Roman
work,—the long string-courses of large flat red bricks. This mass of
masonry, the only portion of the buildings of Uriconium which remains
standing above ground, is upwards of twenty feet high, and seventy-two
feet long, with a uniform thickness of three feet, and has been long
known by the name of “The Old Wall.” It stands nearly in the centre of
the ancient city, which occupied the highest ground within the walls,—a
commanding position, with the bold isolated form of the Wrekin in the
rear, and in front a panorama of mountains formed by the Wenlock and
Stretton Hills, Caer Caradoc, the Longmynd, the Breidden, and the still
more distant mountains of Wales. With the exception of this wall, all
that remained of the Roman city, if as some people might perhaps have
doubted, anything did remain,—has been long buried beneath the soil. At
the close of the year 1858, however, it was resolved to ascertain what
these remains were, and an Excavation Committee was formed at Shrewsbury,
for the purpose of carrying this design into effect by means of a public
subscription. Excavations were, accordingly, commenced on the 3rd of
February, 1859, and they have already led to results of the most
satisfactory description. But, perhaps, before we proceed to describe
the ruins which have thus been uncovered, it would be well to tell our
readers something of the general character of the Roman towns in this
island, and to explain how some of them were destroyed, and from what
cases and by what circumstances their remains present themselves in the
conditions in which we now find them.
* * * * *
FIFTEEN hundred years ago, this island, with the exception of the
highlands of Scotland, was covered with flourishing towns, many of them
known to have been of considerable magnitude, situated on numerous public
roads,—these latter of such excellent construction, that they have
remained to the present day the foundation of most of our great English
high roads. These towns, like those in other parts of the empire,
enjoyed free municipal institutions (from which our own mediæval
municipal institutions are derived), and in all but certain duties
towards the imperial government, formed in themselves so many little
republics, possessing all the ambitions and rivalries which seem
inseparable from republican institutions. Among the slight notices of
this island in ancient writers we learn that the towns of Britain were
remarkable for their turbulence, which was encouraged, no doubt, by the
distance of this province from Rome, and by the peculiar character of the
population of the towns, which consisted of blood that was foreign to the
soil, and which was not uniform in character in the different towns. We
know further that, during the fourth century, these towns often
confederated together, threw off the imperial yoke, and raised emperors
of their own; and we have every reason for supposing that, when the
restraint imposed by the central power became slackened, the towns
confederated against one another, and that domestic dissensions and
contests troubled the peace of the island. Such dissensions left the
island exposed to the invasions of its foreign enemies, which had become
very frequent and very formidable during the fourth century. The eastern
coasts were often visited by the Teutonic rovers, Saxons, and Franks; the
barbarous Caledonians, then called Picts, from the north rushed across
the borders, and carried devastation through the land, in which they were
assisted by the Irish, or, as they were then called, Scots, and probably
by the Armorican Celts, or Britons from Gaul. The towns of Britain
united would, no doubt, have presented a force sufficient to meet any of
these invasions, but their very constitution rendered such a union
difficult, except for a short period. Besides their independence of each
other, the towns had only been expected to defend themselves, while the
defence of the province was more especially the duty of the legions, and
on their withdrawal, the towns seem to have followed their old practice
in case of invasion, and shut themselves within their walls, or, at most,
opposed the invaders without any union, thus leaving the open country to
easy destruction.
The history of the conquest of the Roman provinces by the barbarians is,
in general, simply the successive reduction of one town after another.
Such was eminently the case in Britain, and the traditionary annals of
the early Saxon period present little more than a list of conquered
towns. Sometimes a town was taken by stratagem or force, and then it was
plundered or destroyed, but in the far greater number of cases the town
was too strong for the assailants and only submitted by composition, by
which it paid a tribute to the conqueror and retained its old independent
municipal institutions. We all know how many of our old cities and early
municipal towns are thus the representatives of the cities of the Romans.
In some parts of the island the destruction was greater than in others,
and on the Welsh border, through the whole space between Chester (called
by the Romans Deva), and Gloucester (which the Romans called Glevum), the
towns seem to have been all ruined. One of the largest of these towns
was no doubt that of Uriconium. We can only judge by implication, and by
a comparison of what occurred in other places, of the manner in which a
town like Uriconium was treated, when it was overcome by the barbarians.
We know that these invaders were influenced by a love of plunder, but a
love of destruction—we may perhaps call it an impulse of destruction—was
still greater; and it is probable that the plundering of a town like
Uriconium was a hasty and imperfect operation, and that the plunderers
carried off chiefly objects made of the precious metals, or articles of
dress and arms, or other objects on which they set considerable value, as
they moved about rapidly, and could not be provided very extensively with
the means of conveyance. (We are here speaking of the earlier plundering
invasions of the barbarians, such as the Picts and Scots, in which
perhaps Uriconium perished, towards the middle of the fifth century, for
it is hardly probable that the Angles or Saxons could have reached this
part of the island at so early a period.) The first impulse of the
plunderers was to apply fire to the buildings, and the progress of the
conflagration would hasten their departure. Where the inhabitants of the
conquered town had not made their escape and abandoned it before it was
taken—which was perhaps the case in some of the smaller towns—there would
no doubt be a dreadful massacre, and the survivors would be dragged away
into captivity, for the various peoples who preyed upon the carcass of
the mighty empire of Rome, whether German or Celt, or Tartar or Arab,
ambitioned, almost above other plunder, the possession of numerous
slaves. Thus the plundered town was left without inhabitants, and in
flames, of which the latter, as may be judged on the spot from the
massive character of the walls of the houses, were probably partial in
their effect, destroying chiefly the timber and roofs.
Thus the town was left an extensive mass of blackened walls; and such was
the condition in which the ruined Roman towns remained during several
centuries. Roman walls, we all know, were too strongly built to fall
down, and various circumstances combined for their preservation. In the
first place, the population of the country must have been greatly
reduced, and this part of the island especially was probably very thinly
inhabited after it had been ravaged by the invaders. The ruins
themselves would in time be overgrown with plants and trees and would
become the haunt of wild beasts, which were then abundant, thus offering
very little encouragement to anybody to enter them. But they were
protected in a still greater degree by the strong superstitious feelings
with which such ruins were regarded by the people who now occupied the
land. The Teutonic invaders had not only a prejudice against towns in
general, but they believed that all the deserted buildings of the
previous lords of the soil were taken possession of by powerful evil
spirits, on whose limits it was in the highest degree dangerous to
trespass. They imagined, moreover, that the Romans had the power of
casting spells over buildings, which were no less dangerous than the evil
spirits themselves. It will be remembered how, when Augustine and his
brother missionaries came to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity,
the Kentish king and his court gave them their first audience in the open
air; because, as we are told, the Anglo-Saxons were afraid that, should
they be received in a covered chamber in the palace, the strangers from
Rome would be able to cast a spell upon them. It is a remarkable proof
of the strength of this superstitious feeling, that all the
Benedictionals of the Anglo-Saxon period contain forms for blessing the
vessels of metal or earthenware found in ancient sites, and relieving
them from the spells which had been cast upon them by the “pagans,” in
order that the finders might be enabled to make use of these vessels
without any personal danger. When the people of the middle ages, whether
Christians or not, found the beautiful bronze figures on which we set so
much store, they were in the greatest apprehension of personal danger
until they had mutilated them so as to break the charm or spell which
they believed to be laid upon them, for they looked upon these images as
the more general instruments of the ancient magicians. When thus
mutilated they usually threw them into the nearest river. The numerous
bronzes dredged up from the bed of the Thames at London are almost all
mutilated in this manner. This was the case also with the inscriptions,
for the successors of the Romans had no other notion of an ancient
inscription than that it was a magical charm. This superstition has
continued to exist until very recent times, for it appears that, within
the memory of man, the peasantry of Northumberland, on the line of the
great wall of Hadrian, were accustomed, when they found an inscribed
stone—and inscribed stones are there very abundant—to hew out at least a
part of the letters of the inscription with a pick or axe, in order to
destroy the charm.
We thus understand how a ruined city—like that at Wroxeter—was allowed to
remain untouched for centuries. Many of these ruined towns became the
subject of romantic legends. One of these legends relating to an ancient
ruined city in this neighbourhood, is told in the curious history of the
Fitz-Warines, composed in the thirteenth century, in Anglo-Norman, no
doubt by a border writer. This writer is describing a visit supposed to
have been made by William the Conqueror to the Welsh border in order to
distribute the land to his followers.
“When King William approached the hills and valleys of Wales he saw a
very large town, formerly enclosed with high walls, which was all
burnt and ruined, and in a plain below the town he caused his tents
to be raised, and there he said he would remain that night. Then the
king inquired of a Briton what was the name of the town, and how it
came to be so ruined. ‘Sire,’ said the Briton, ‘I will tell you.
The Castle was formerly called Castle Bran, but now it is called the
Old March. Formerly there came into this country Brutus, a very
valiant knight, and Corineus, from whom Cornwall still retains its
name, and many others derived from the lineage of Troy, and none
inhabited these parts except very foul people, great giants, whose
king was called Geomagog. These heard of the arrival of Brutus, and
sent out to encounter him, and at last all the giants were killed
except Geomagog, who was marvellously great. Corineus, the valiant,
said that he would willingly wrestle with Geomagog, to try Geomagog’s
strength. The giant, on the first onset, embraced Corineus so
tightly, that he broke three of his ribs. Corineus became angry, and
struck Geomagog with his foot that he fell from a great rock into the
sea, and Geomagog was drowned. And a spirit of the devil now entered
into the body of Geomagog, and came into these parts, and held
possession of the country long, that never Briton dared to inhabit
it. And long afterwards, King Bran the son of Donwal, caused the
city to be rebuilt, repaired the walls, and strengthened the great
fosses, and he made Burgh and Great March. And the devil came by
night and took away every thing that was therein, since which time
nobody has ever inhabited there.’ The king marvelled much at this
story, and Payn Peverel, the proud and courageous knight, the king’s
cousin, heard it all, and declared that that night he would essay the
marvel. Payn Peverel armed himself very richly, and took his shield,
shining with gold, with a cross of azure indented, and fifteen
knights and other attendants, and went into the highest palace, and
took up his lodging there. And when it was night the weather became
so foul, black, dark, and such a tempest of lightning and thunder,
that all those who were there became so terrified that they could not
for fear move hand or foot, but lay on the ground like dead men. The
proud Payn was very much frightened but he put his trust in God,
whose sign of the cross he carried with him, and saw that he could
have no help but from God. He lay upon the ground, and with good
devotion prayed God and his mother Mary that they would defend him
that night from the power of the devil. Hardly had he finished his
prayer, when the fiend came in the semblance of Geomagog, and he
carried a great club in his hand, and from his mouth cast fire and
smoke, with which the whole town was illuminated. Payn had a good
hope in God, and signed himself with a cross, and boldly attacked the
fiend. The fiend raised his club and would have struck Payn, but he
avoided the blow. The devil, by virtue of the cross, was all struck
with fear, and lost his strength, for he could not approach the
cross. Payn pursued him till he struck him with his sword; then he
began to cry out, and fell flat on the ground, and yielded himself
vanquished. ‘Knight,’ said he, ‘you have conquered me, not by your
own strength, but by virtue of the cross which you carry.’ ‘Tell
me,’ said Payn, ‘you foul creature, who you are and what you do in
this town, I conjure you, in the name of God and of the Holy Cross.’
The fiend began to relate from word to word as the Briton had said
before; and told how, when Geomagog was dead, he immediately rendered
his soul to Beelzebub, their prince, and he entered the body of
Geomagog, and came in his semblance into these parts, and kept the
great treasure which Geomagog had collected and put into a house he
had made underground in that town. Payn demanded of him, ‘What kind
of creature he was?’ and he said, ‘He was formerly an angel, but now
is, by his forfeit, a diabolical spirit.’ ‘What treasure,’ said
Payn, ‘had Geomagog?’ ‘Oxen, cows, swans, peacocks, horses, and all
other animals, made of fine gold; and there was a golden bull, which,
through me, was his prophet, and in him was all his belief; and he
told him the events that were to come; and twice a year the giants
used to honour their god, the golden bull, whereby so much gold is
collected that all this country was called ‘The White Land.’ And I
and my companion inclosed the land with a high wall and deep fosse,
so that there was no entrance except through this town, which was
full of evil spirits.’ ‘Now, you shall tell me,’ said Payn, ‘where
is the treasure of which you have spoken?’ ‘Vassal,’ said he, ‘speak
no more of that, for it is destined for others; but you shall be lord
of all this honour.’”
And so the vanquished fiend goes on to tell him the future fortunes of
his house; and after King William had been duly informed of this
adventure, and they had thrown the body of Geomagog into a great pit,
they proceeded on their way to Oswestry.
In my edition of this history of the Fitz-Warines I have offered some
conjectures on the spot to which this legend refers; but on comparing all
the circumstances connected with it, I have since been led to the
conclusion that the “burnt and ruined” city which had thus been taken
possession of by the evil spirits was no other than the ruins of the
ancient Uriconium. This story implies that the walls of the town and
houses of Uriconium were still standing above ground as late as the
eleventh and twelfth centuries, and very likely a great portion of them
remained thus standing at the time when the author of the History of the
Fitz-Warines wrote. But during the centuries which had passed since the
city of the Romans became a ruin, it had been undergoing a gradual but
continual change from the accumulation of earth. This rising of the
level of the ground is always found to have taken place under such
circumstances, and may be explained by several causes. In the first
place, the floors must have been covered by a mass of rubbish formed by
the falling in of the roofs and more perishable parts of the buildings.
Vegetation, too, would in the course of years arise, and the walls would
stop and cause to be deposited the dust and earthy particles carried
about in the atmosphere. This deposit we know by experience to be
considerable. It is now little more than three centuries since the
dissolution of the monasteries, and we have all had opportunities of
observing the depth of earth under which the floors of the monastic ruins
now lie, sometimes amounting to as much as three or four feet. What,
then, must it have been on an extensive ruin like that of Uriconium,
which had stood in that ruined and deserted condition from the middle of
the fifth century to the middle of the twelfth?
It was at this latter period that the Roman buildings began to be
systematically destroyed. It appears that still in the twelfth century,
England was covered with the remains of Roman ruined towns and villas
standing above ground, as they are still seen, though on a larger scale,
in the countries which formed the Roman province in Northern Africa. We
have seen the superstitious feelings which prevented people approaching
these ruins in our island, and it required nothing less than the hand of
the Church to interfere and break the charm which kept the rest of
society aloof. We learn from the history of the abbots of St Alban’s,
written in the thirteenth century by Matthew Paris, that already in the
eleventh century the abbots of that great religious house had begun to
break the ruins of the Roman city of Verulamium, in order to use them as
building materials. This practice became very general in the twelfth
century, and from that time the Roman ruins were pillaged on an extensive
scale whenever a monastery or a church was to be built. The ancient city
at Wroxeter was probably one of the great quarries from which the
builders of Haughmond Abbey were supplied, and no doubt it contributed
materials to other monastic houses in this part of the country. The
church of Atcham, the adjoining parish, and that of Wroxeter itself, bear
evidence to this appropriation of building materials taken from ancient
Uriconium. At the time when this inroad was made upon the ruins, the
ground, as explained before, was already raised several feet above the
Roman floors; and the mediæval builders, finding plenty of material above
ground, cleared away the walls down to the surface of the ground as it
then existed, and sought them no further. This accounts for the
condition in which we now find these walls, that is, remaining tolerably
perfect just up to the height of what was the level of the ground, at the
time the rest was destroyed. The difference between the tops of the
walls as they now exist under ground, and the present surface of the
ground, is the accumulation of earth which has taken place since this
destruction. It was the destruction of the buildings which first caused
this accumulation, by scattering about the fragments of the plaster of
the walls and the broken tiles and stones which were not worth carrying
away. After the walls above ground disappeared, and the ground was
levelled and cleared, such accumulation went on much more slowly.
The sites of the ancient towns, thus cleared, and the spell which held
their invaders at bay having been broken by the ecclesiastics, became
exposed to a new class of depredators. Coins and objects of some value
were no doubt discovered from time to time by accident, and were greatly
exaggerated by common report, during ages when the existence of hidden
treasure formed a prominent article in the popular belief. Many a
Salopian, doubtless, longed for the hidden treasures of the city of
Geomagog, and many an attempt no doubt was made to discover and obtain
them. Treasure-hunting of this description was a great pursuit with our
mediæval forefathers, and the same superstitious feelings were connected
with it that were attached to all the remains of more ancient peoples.
The treasure-hunter rarely ventured on his search without having first
secured the aid of a magician for his protection as well as for his
guidance, for the same evil spirits were believed still to haunt the
ruins underground, and it was hoped that by the power of the conjuror
they might not only be rendered harmless, but be made to give information
as to the exact spot where the treasure lay. Numerous examples might be
quoted of such mediæval treasure-hunting on the Welsh border, but it will
be sufficient to give one which appears to belong to the very site on
which we are now seeking treasures of another description. An old
manuscript chronicle of the monks of Worcester, which is printed in
Warton’s Anglia Sacra, and has preserved numerous notices of events which
occurred on this border, informs us that in the year 1287, at a place by
Wroxeter, (that is near the village), called “Bilebury,” the fiend was
compelled by a certain enchanter to appear to a certain lad and show him
where lay buried “urns, and a ship, and a house, with an immense quantity
of gold.” We easily recognize in the objects described by the false
Geomagog, though not the material, the numerous figures in bronze which
are from time to time found on Roman sites; and the arms and ship may
perhaps admit of as easy an explanation. The treasure-digger had to
encounter sometimes a worse opponent even than the fiend himself!
Treasure-trove belonged to the feudal lord, and it was a right which he
was inclined to enforce with the utmost severity; and the unfortunate
individual who was caught in the act of trespassing against it found his
way immediately into a feudal dungeon, from which escape was not always
easy or quick. The learned historian of this county, Mr. Eyton, has met
with a record from which we learn that some individuals towards the close
of the thirteenth century were thus caught “digging” for a treasure at
Wroxeter, and that they were thrown into prison. On their examination or
trial, however, it appeared that, though they had dug for a treasure,
they had not found one, and on this plea they had the good fortune to be
set at liberty. This process of treasure-hunting had an effect injurious
to the object of our researches. The mediæval excavator cared very
little about antiquities as monuments of the past, and when, in digging a
hole into the ground, he came upon a pavement, he broke it up without any
scruple. It is to this cause, perhaps, that we must ascribe in many
cases the damaged state in which we find the floors of the Roman houses,
even when they lie at a considerable depth.
I have thus endeavoured to explain the manner in which a Roman town like
Uriconium was ruined; how its ruin remained several centuries untouched,
while a depth of earth was accumulating on the floors; how at a later
period the ruins themselves began to be cleared away, and a new
accumulation of earth was formed over the lower part of the walls which
had been left, until these could no longer be traced on the surface,
except by the appearance of the crops in long periods of dry weather.
This double accumulation of the debris of buildings has often led people
to form erroneous conclusions, and in the account of a former partial
excavation at Wroxeter, published by the Society of Antiquaries, the
writer has fallen upon the rather odd notion that the Roman town had been
burnt twice,—that he saw the layers of burnt materials from two
successive burnings.
The effects of all these causes may be seen in the excavations at
Wroxeter,—the floor sometimes perfect and sometimes broken up; the walls
of the houses remaining to the height of two or three feet or more, as
they were left by the mediæval builders, when they carried away the upper
part of these walls for material; the original level of the Roman town on
which its inhabitants trod, strewed with roof-tiles and slates and other
material which had fallen in during the conflagration under which the
town sank into ruin, and the upper part of the soil mixed up with
fragments of plaster and cement, bricks and mortar, which had been
scattered about when the walls were broken up.
The site of Uriconium presents one great advantage to the antiquarian
explorer, that only a small and not very important portion of the area
has been exposed to the most destructive of all encroachments on its
sanctity, modern buildings; while the situation and nature of the ground
has not required the deep draining which would have cut through the
ancient floors, and these lie too far beneath the surface to be touched
by the plough. It will be easily understood that the preservation of
such remains depends much on the depth of soil which covers them. The
Rev. T. F. More has discovered and made considerable excavations in a
very extensive and most interesting Roman villa, which occupies part of
his beautiful park at Linley Hall, near Bishop’s Castle, but there the
position of the site, and perhaps other circumstances, have caused the
earth to accumulate much less rapidly, and the floors lay so near to the
surface that they have all been destroyed. Where a fragment of the
concrete of the floor remained, it was hardly six inches under the
ground.
Our means of observation have hitherto been so imperfect, that we can
only form vague conjectures as to the internal aspect and distribution of
the buildings of a Roman town in Britain. At the close of the Roman
period the towns were usually, if not always, surrounded with defensive
walls; but there are several reasons for believing that the Roman towns
in this island were not walled until a comparatively late date, perhaps
not till the domestic dissensions and foreign invasions of the fourth
century. These town walls, when closely examined into, are often found
to contain materials taken from older buildings of another kind, which
older materials themselves present the debased style of architecture
which belonged to the declining age of the Roman power. The long
straggling line of wall which surrounded Uriconium as we may conclude
from its very irregularity, can only have been built at a late date,
after the city had gone on for ages increasing in its extent. We are
naturally led to suppose that the public buildings would occupy the
central, or at least the more elevated part of the town, and this has in
several instances proved to be the case. The discoveries made by Sir
Christopher Wren, seem to leave no doubt that a Roman temple occupied the
site of the modern cathedral of St. Paul’s, in London. But buildings of
all sorts would seem to have been mixed very confusedly together; for we
believe that in London, more recent excavations have brought to light
remains of potter’s kilns in close proximity to this temple. In one or
two instances, as at Aldborough, in Yorkshire, (the Roman Isurium), and
in some of the small towns on the line of Hadrian’s Wall, in
Northumberland, masses of the small houses have been uncovered, and their
appearance leads us to believe that the houses of a Roman town in Britain
were grouped thickly together, that they were mostly separated by narrow
alleys, and that there were in general few streets of any magnitude.
* * * * *
WE will now return to the spot where the visitor has halted in view of
the imposing mass of Roman masonry, called the Old Wall, situated, as has
been stated, in a large triangular field formed by the divergence of the
two roads. The Old Wall stands not quite east and west, but sufficiently
near it to allow us for sake of convenience to call it east and west.
Its northern side is evidently the outside of a building, while there
could be no doubt that the southern side, on which the springings of
transverse walls and vaulted ceilings are visible, was the interior. The
excavations were begun on the 3rd of February, 1859, on the northern
side, or outside, of this wall, partly with the object of ascertaining
the depth at which the floors and the foundations of the buildings lay
under the present surface of the ground, which, as we have said before,
was an important fact to ascertain. The bottom of the Old Wall was found
at a depth of fourteen feet, the last ten feet of which were sunk in the
natural substratum of sand, so that the walls of the buildings in this
spot must have had originally very deep foundations. It was found that
this wall was continued underground to the west, and excavations directed
towards the north brought to light successively three walls running
parallel, or nearly parallel, to this first wall, the first of these
parallel walls being at a uniform distance of fourteen feet from the Old
Wall, the next at a distance, also uniform, of thirty feet from this
wall, and the third at a distance from the second of fourteen feet at the
western and sixteen at the eastern end, so that, as the transverse wall
at the eastern end of these walls was not quite at right angles to them,
this large building was a little out of square. This building,
therefore, consisted of three divisions, of which the central enclosure
was 226 feet long by 30 feet wide, and appears to have been paved in its
whole extent with small bricks, three inches long by one inch broad, set
in zig-zags, or, as it is more technically called, herring-bone fashion.
This description of pavement appears generally to have been used in
passages and in open courts, and it seems probable, even from the
magnitude of this enclosure, that it was not roofed. Nothing was
discovered in it to throw any light on the object of so extensive a paved
enclosure, but there could be little doubt that it must have been a
public building of some importance. Portions of the capitals, bases, and
shafts of columns were found scattered about in different parts of the
area, which show that it was not wanting in architectural decoration, and
on one of the pieces of wall-stucco, picked up in this part of the
excavations, where three letters of what had been an inscription in large
characters. Among other objects found here were a fragment of a very
strong iron chain, the head of an axe, and an iron implement which
appears to have been a trident, and to have been originally placed on a
staff, perhaps an ensign of office. The appearance of the face of the
Old Wall, which formed part of one side of the long narrow enclosure on
the south of this central apartment, would lead us to suppose that this
was an open alley, and this is confirmed by the other circumstances
connected with it. In the continuation of the Old Wall to the westward,
the lower parts of two doorways were found, which were approached from
this alley each by a step formed of a single squared stone, which,
therefore, may have been supposed to have led from an exterior into an
interior. The corresponding long passage to the north of the central
apartment presented characteristics of another kind. At the eastern end
were found pavements of rather fine mosaic, of which specimens and
admirable drawings, by Mr. George Maw, of Broseley, are preserved in the
Museum. Mosaic of this description was not made to be exposed to the
air, and the building here must not only have been roofed, but we have
reason to suppose that there must have been a room or rooms of a
character on which elegant ornamentation would be bestowed.
The walls of this building, as we find them under ground, present from
time to time discontinuations, or breaches, caused no doubt by the
breaking up of the walls for materials by the mediæval builders, who
sometimes went deeper for them than usual; and it is very likely that
this may have been caused, in some instances at least, by the
circumstance that on the site of these breaches were doors or passages,
the jambs and ornamental parts of which were formed of large stones which
were more tempting to the old excavators. With the exception of these
breaches, there are no traces of doorways from one apartment of this
building to the other. About the middle of the northernmost wall there
is a very wide breach of this kind, which perhaps represents a grand
entrance from the north. Moreover, in carrying the excavations further
towards the north, it was found that this northernmost wall of the
building formed the side of a street, which was paved in the middle with
round stones, not much unlike the pavements of some of the streets in
Shrewsbury and other old towns as they remain at the present day. The
northern wall just alluded to was traced eastwardly until the edge of the
field in which the excavations are carried on prevented the workmen from
going any further. Immediately to the east of the building we have been
describing was a not quite rectangular inclosure, which, from the
appearance of the walls, was probably a court-yard. A doorway,
approached by a stone step within the great inclosure to the west, led
into it. Beyond this, to the eastward, was a much larger inclosure,
which as far as it was explored, had no tracings of walls or pavement
within, and may possibly have been a garden. At the western end of the
great building, about the middle of the extremity of the great central
inclosure, indications were discovered which probably belonged also to an
entrance. These indications consisted of two original openings in the
wall, within which were found, evidently in their original position, in
one a large squared stone, and in the other two similarly squared stones
placed one upon another. One of these was bevelled off at the outer edge
into a plain moulding, and their general appearance led to the belief
that they had formed the basis of something—perhaps of large columns.
Here, therefore, may perhaps have been the principal entrance into the
long and extensive area which occupied the middle of this building. It
faced the modern Watling Street Road, which evidently represents another
street; and it thus seems to admit of no doubt that this building formed
the corner of two principal streets of the Roman city of Uriconium.
We will now return to the long alley, as we have ventured to call it, on
the southern side of the building we have been describing. It has been
already stated that there were found in this alley two steps, formed each
of a large squared stone, attached to two doorways in the western
continuation of the Old Wall. The more western of these two steps was
very much worn by the feet of the people who had passed over it, as
though it had led to some place of public resort. It was at the more
easterly of these doorways that the excavations were carried to the
southward of the Old Wall. This doorway apparently led into some open
court which communicated with domestic apartments. A trench carried
directly southward from the doorway, brought the excavators to the
semicircular end of a hypocaust, which had warmed a considerable room
thirty-seven feet long, by twenty-five feet wide, and which was in a
state of very perfect preservation when opened, although the floor which
once covered it had entirely disappeared. The pillars, which were formed
of Roman square bricks, placed one upon another without mortar, and of
which 120 were counted, were above three feet high. This room has now
been completely laid open, and on the western side has a complicated
arrangement of walls, which evidently served some purpose connected with
the heating of the hypocausts. A considerable quantity of unburnt coal
was found here. The northern end of this hypocaust, the wall of which
remained to the height of several feet, presents an imposing mass of
masonry, and we learn from it the interesting fact that the Roman houses
were plastered and painted externally as well as internally. The
exterior of the semicircular wall at the north end of this hypocaust was
painted red, with stripes of yellow. Near it lay an immense stone, hewn
into the shape to fit the semicircular wall of the hypocaust, which had
evidently formed part of a massive band of such stones at some height in
the wall. A strong piece of iron is soldered into it with lead, for the
purpose of attaching something to the building externally. A little
alley, considerably wider than the spaces between the pillars of bricks,
ran across this hypocaust, and through an opening in the wall, into
another hypocaust, which was entered from without by a large archway, and
this again was approached by a flight of three steps, each step composed
of one large well-squared stone, descending from a square platform, which
was apparently on a level with the original floors of the rooms. When
the steps were uncovered, a broken shaft of a large column was found
lying across them. The platform at the bottom of the steps, or at least
the corner of it farthest from the arched entrance to the hypocaust,
seems to have been used by the last occupiers of this building as a
receptacle for the dust swept from floors and passages, for the earth,
for about a foot deep on the floor, was literally filled with coins,
hair-pins, fibulæ, broken pottery and glass, bones of birds and animals
which had been eaten, and a variety of other such objects.
To the east of the entrance to the hypocausts, a small room only eight
feet square was found, which had a herring-bone pavement like that of the
great inclosure to the north of the Old Wall. A rather wide passage
through the eastern wall of this small room led into another room with a
hypocaust, the floor of which is also gone. The pillars of this
hypocaust were rather more neatly constructed, but they seem to have been
considerably lower than those of the hypocausts previously opened. This
hypocaust was the scene of a very interesting discovery. Abundant traces
of burning in all parts of the site leave no doubt that the city of
Uriconium was plundered, and afterwards burnt by some of the barbarian
invaders of Roman Britain at the close of the Romano-British period, that
is, towards the middle of the fifth century. The human remains which
have been met with in different parts, bear testimony to a frightful
massacre of the inhabitants. It would seem that a number of persons had
been pursued to the buildings immediately to the south of the line of the
Old Wall, and slaughtered there; for in trenching across what were
perhaps open courts to the south and south-east of the door through the
continuation of the Old Wall, remains of at least four or five skeletons
were found, and in what appears to have been a corner of a yard, outside
the semicircular end of the hypocaust first discovered, lay the skull and
some of the bones of a very young child. In the last of the hypocausts
we have been describing, three skeletons were found, that of a person who
appears to have died in a crouching position in one of the corners, and
two others stretched on the ground by the side of the wall. An
examination of the skull of the person in the corner leaves no room for
doubting that he was a very old man. One at least of the others was a
female. Near the old man lay a little heap of Roman coins, in such a
manner as to show that they must have been contained in a confined
receptacle, and a number of small iron nails scattered among them, with
traces of decomposed wood, prove that this was a little box, or coffer.
The remains of the wood are still attached to two or three of the coins.
We are justified from all these circumstances in concluding that, in the
midst of the massacre of Roman Uriconium, these three persons—perhaps an
old man and two terrified women—had sought to conceal themselves by
creeping into the hypocaust; and perhaps they were suffocated there, or,
when the house was delivered to the flames, the falling rubbish may have
blocked up the outlet so as to make it impossible for them to escape. It
is not likely that they would have been followed into such a place as
this hypocaust. These coins were 132 in number, and the following
description of them has been given by Mr. C. Roach Smith:—
TETRICUS. One much worn, of the _Fides 1
Militum_ type
CLAUDIUS. One, _rev._ CONSECRATIO; an eagle 1
Constantine the Elder. _Obv._ CONSTANTINVS. MAX . AVG. 13
Head diademed, or wreathed, to the
right. _Rev._ GLORIA EXERCITVS.
Two soldiers with spears and
shields, standing; between them two
standards; or (in three instances)
a single standard.
_Mint Marks_ (exergual letters): P
. CONST., 3; TR . P., 6; S . L . C.
1; illegible, 3; total
CONSTANS. _Obv._ Much worn or decayed. 1
_Rev._ FEL . TEMP . REPARATIO. The
emperor holding a globe and a
standard, standing in a galley
rowed by a Victory. This coin is
altogether much worn. It possibly
may have been plated
CONSTANTINE II. _Obv._ CONSTANTINVS . IVN . NOB . 36
C. Laureated head, to the right;
bust in armour. _Rev._ GLORIA
EXERCITVS. Two soldiers standing;
between them two standards, and on
the same a wreath, or other object,
in the field.
_Exergual letters_: TR . P. or TR .
S., 15; P . L . C., 9; CONST., 3;
illegible, 9; total
CONSTANTIUS II. _Obv._ T . L . IVL . CONSTANTIVS . 5
NOB . C. Laureated head, to the
right; bust in armour. _Rev._
GLORIA EXERCITVS. Two soldiers,
&c., as on the coins of the
preceding.
_Exergual letters_: TR . S., 3; P.,
1; SMTS, 1; total
JULIAN. A plated denarius. _Obv._ FL . CL 1
. IVLIANVS: P. F. AVG. Diademed
head to the right. _Rev._ VOTIS V
MULTT . XX, within a wreath
HELENA. _Obv._ T . L . IVL . HELENAE AVG. 2
Head to the right. _Rev._ PAX
PVBLICA. A female figure standing
and holding in the right hand a
branch, and in the left hand a
_hasta pura_. In the field, a
cross; in the exergue, TR . P.
Another without the cross. Total
THEODORA. _Obv._ FL . THEODORAE AVG. Head 1
to the right. _Rev._ PIETAS
ROMANA. A female standing suckling
an infant: in the exergue, TR . P.
URBS ROMA. _Obv._ VRBS ROMA. Galeated head 24
of Rome, to the left. _Rev._
Romulus and Remus nursed by the
wolf; above, two stars: on two, two
stars and a wreath.
In the exergue: PL . C., 11; TR . P
. or TR . S., 10; illegible, 3;
total
CONSTANTINOPOLIS. _Obv._ CONSTANTINOPOLIS. Bust of 34
personified Constantinople, helmed,
and holding a sceptre, to the left.
_Rev._ A winged Victory, with
_hasta pura_ and shield; her feet
upon the prow of the galley, to the
left.
_Exergual letters_: TR . P., 20; P
. L . C . or S . L . C., 9; O .
SIS, 1; S . CONST., 1; illegible,
3; total
VALENS. _Obv._ D . N . VALENS . . . 1
Diademed head, to the right.
_Rev._ SECVRITAS . . . Victory
with wreath and palm branch,
marching to the left. Much
corroded
Rude copies of some of the 6
foregoing
Extremely corroded 6
Total number 132
This is, I believe, the first instance which has occurred in this
country, in which we have had the opportunity of ascertaining what
particular coins, as being then in daily circulation, an inhabitant of a
Roman town in Britain, at the moment when the Roman domination in this
country was expiring, carried about with him. Mr. Roach Smith, speaking
of the great majority of these coins, these of the Constantine family,
remarks to me—“I suspect these coins were sent into Britain even after
the time of Valens, because they are all comparatively sharp and fresh.
It is not improbable that the procurators at Treves and at Lugdunum may
have had large stores of these coins by them, which they sent out at
intervals.” A consideration of these coins gives us an approximation, at
least, towards the date at which Uriconium must have been destroyed; Mr.
Roach Smith agrees in the opinion that a comparison of them points to the
very latest period previous to the establishment of the Anglo-Saxons. At
a later period the freshly struck coins of the Constantine family could
not have been brought over. They shew us that at that time the great
mass of the circulating medium consisted of coins of the Constantine
family, which again explains to us why the first coinage of the
Anglo-Saxons was nearly all copied from the coins of the emperors of that
family. Again, the care with which these small copper coins (for only
one is of plated silver) seem to have been hoarded up, and the anxiety of
their possessors to preserve them in the midst of a frightful calamity,
may perhaps assist us in forming an estimate of the relative value of
money at this period.
The rooms which joined up to the south side of the Old Wall, and which
have been more recently uncovered, were five in number, and it appears
from the remains, which are distinctly visible on the face of the Old
Wall, that they had vaulted roofs of the kind technically called barrel
roofs. In one of these rooms was found a quantity of burnt wheat, which
would lead us to suppose that this might have been a store room. The
most easterly of these rooms has had the interior surface of its walls
ornamented with tessellated work instead of fresco-painting; the lower
edge of which, consisting of a guilloche border, still remains. The
floor below has a plain pavement of small white tessellæ, and is
apparently that of a bath. To the south of these rooms a long passage
was discovered, which appears to have communicated at one end with the
floor of the room in the hypocaust of which the skeletons were found. In
this passage was a square pit of very good masonry, through which a drain
runs, nearly north and south. The stucco of the southern face of the
wall, forming the southern side of the passage just alluded to, presented
an inscription scrawled in large straggling characters incised with some
sharp pointed instrument, and closely resembling in character similar
inscriptions which have been found on walls in Pompeii. When first
uncovered, two lines of this inscription, perhaps the whole of it, seemed
to have been perfectly well preserved, but before anybody had had the
opportunity of examining it, two casual visitors, with walking sticks,
amused themselves with breaking off the plaster, in order apparently to
try its strength, and were not observed by the workmen until the first
line had been completely destroyed, and the second, which had been a
shorter one, was very much broken into, though just enough remained to
show that it must have been written in Latin. Even this small remnant
was nearly destroyed during the interruption of the excavations, and not
a trace of it can now be seen. Thus all the advantages of a discovery
which might have been singularly important for our knowledge of the state
of Britain at this period, have been lost through mischievous wantonness.
During the month of May, 1859, the work of the excavators was
interrupted; when it was resumed, they proceeded to explore the building
to which these hypocausts belonged, beginning from the side of the field
adjoining to the Watling Street Road,—that is, from the side of one of
the main streets of the old Roman town,—and they found walls in the line,
or nearly in the line, of the western wall of the great public building
just described. Another street has since been discovered to the south,
running east and west, parallel to that met with to the north of the
buildings first excavated. The excavations have since that time been
followed in various parts of the two acres first inclosed by the
Excavation Committee, and a large extent of ruins is now laid open. But
I will here interrupt my narrative, while I give an account of the
general character of the buildings, the ruins of which have already been
brought to light.
* * * * *
As yet, the excavations on the site of Uriconium have not been carried
far enough to enable us to form any idea of the general distribution of
the Roman town, but it is evident that the buildings on which the
excavators are employed were inclosed by three main streets, crossing at
right angles, forming a square mass. It has been stated that the few
discoveries hitherto made as to the character of the streets in the Roman
towns in Britain would lead us to think that they were little more than
narrow alleys, but this was certainly not the case with these three
streets of Roman Uriconium, which seem to have been fine wide streets,
and in the one to the north, the pavement of small round stones appears
to have occupied only the middle part of the street, designed probably
for carriages and horses. A tolerably wide space on each side seems, as
far as can be traced, to have been unpaved. But, although we have as yet
made little advance towards discovering the general character of
Uriconium as a city, and the manner in which the houses were distributed
over the Roman town, we had found sufficient fragments of different kinds
to give us a tolerable notion of the houses themselves.
The average thickness of the walls of a house, even where they only
separated one small room from another, was three feet. They are rarely
less than this, and it is only in one or two cases of what appeared to be
very important walls that they exceed it, when they reach the thickness
of four feet. This measure of three feet was no doubt a well understood
one for the wall of a house, and it was continued in the middle ages,
when, in ordinary dwellings, only the division walls between house and
house were of solid masonry. Municipal regulations then fixed these
partition walls at a minimum of three feet in thickness, the cause of
which limitation was probably the fear of fires; and in these mediæval
municipal regulations, it was further ordered, that closets or cupboards
in the wall should in no case be made more than one foot deep, so that if
your own cupboard and your neighbour’s happened to back each other, there
would still be a foot of solid masonry between the two houses. And the
masonry of the Romans may well be called solid. Its character may be
seen perhaps to most advantage in the Old Wall above ground. The process
of building seems to have been to raise first, gradually, the facings of
neatly-squared stones, supported no doubt between frames of woodwork, the
supports of which left holes which are still seen in the face of the
wall. The interior was then filled up with rubble mixed with liquid and
apparently hot cement, which formed the mass of the wall, and in setting
has become in course of time harder than the stones themselves. After a
certain number of rows of facing-stones, the Roman builders almost
invariably placed a string-course of broad thin bricks, the object of
which is not at all evident, for they do not go through the wall so as to
form real bonding-courses. The Old Wall still standing in probably
nearly its original height, will also give us a notion of the elevation
of the principal houses of the Roman towns.
In spite, however, of this rather considerable elevation, which,
reckoning for dilapidation at the top and the portion buried under
ground, cannot have been much less than thirty feet, it seems nearly
certain that the Roman houses in Britain had no upper stories, and that
all the rooms were on the ground floor. No traces of a staircase have
ever been found, and all the fragments which are met with, indicate that
the rooms were open to the roof. These roofs appear to have been of
substantial construction, and were probably supported on a strong frame
of woodwork. The common coverings of the Roman houses of this island
consisted of large square tiles with strongly flanged edges, and these
tiles being joined side to side, a curved tile forming the half of a
cylinder was placed over the flanges of the two tiles which joined, thus
holding them together, and at the same time protecting the juncture so
that rain could not pass through it. These tiles, and the manner in
which they were arranged, will be understood by our figures, (_pl_. IV.,
_figs._ 1, 2, 3). The Roman houses were also very commonly roofed with
slates, or rather flags, and this appears to have been the more usual
description of roofing in Uriconium. These roof-flags are found
scattered about abundantly on the floors, sometimes unbroken. They are
formed of a micaceous laminated sandstone, which is found on the edge of
the north Staffordshire and Shropshire coalfield, at no great distance
from Wroxeter, and must have produced a glittering appearance in the
sunshine. Their form is represented in our cut, (_pl_. IV., _fig._ 5);
it was that of an elongated hexagon, with a hole at one end, through
which an iron nail was passed to fix it to the wooden frame-work. The
nail is often found still remaining in the hole. These flags, which are
very thick and heavy, were placed to lap over each other, and thus formed
a roof in lozenges or diamonds, as represented in _fig._ 6. Slates
forming one half of the hexagon (_fig._ 4), were placed at the top of the
roof, so as to make a strictly horizontal line. It is a curious
circumstance, that in the illuminations of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts we
find roofs of houses which evidently represent both these methods, and
which appear, therefore, to have been continued long after the Roman
period. In fact they are still used in Yorkshire, and perhaps in other
counties, and have been used very recently on the Welsh border. In the
towns which were the head-quarters of a legion, as at Caerleon, Chester,
and York, or which had been occupied for some length of time by legionary
detachments, we often find the name and number of the legion stamped on
the roof-tiles. These roof-tiles were frequently used for other
purposes. They are sometimes employed in the string-courses in walls,
when the builders appear to have run short of the ordinary square tiles
or flat bricks; and they are still more frequently used to form the beds
of drains and aqueducts, when the flanged edges were turned up and, set
in the cement, formed the side of the water-course. A very good example
of this use of the roof-tiles may be seen in the drain at Wroxeter
mentioned above.
Internally, the walls of the Roman houses were covered with fine hard
cement, which was painted in fresco, that is, the colours were laid on
the cement while it was wet, and they thus set with it, and became almost
imperishable. In some of the houses in Roman Britain, and especially in
the large villas, the internal walls were covered with fine historical
subjects as in the walls at Pompeii, and sufficient remains have been
found in this island to show that they were here also executed in no mean
style of art. Nothing of this kind has yet been discovered in Uriconium;
but numerous fragments are picked up in the diggings, on which the
colouring is perfectly fresh, and which exhibit portions of designs which
are always elegant and in good taste. In one case a piece of the stucco
from the internal surface of a wall contained some letters of an
inscription. One of the walls near the hypocaust where the three
skeletons were found presented a singular and rather laborious method of
ornamenting its interior surface. Instead of being painted, it was
tessellated, the surface being covered with tessellæ, one half of an inch
by three-fifths in dimension, set in the cement, alternately of dark and
light colours, in horizontal lines, so as to produce somewhat the
appearance of chequer-work. Perhaps, when entire, it presented an
ornamental pattern. I have already stated that a similarly tessellated
wall was found in the easternmost part of this line of rooms.
Circumstances have come to light which show that the exterior of the
walls of houses were also plastered and painted. The exterior of the
semicircular end of the largest hypocaust yet opened was thus plastered
over, and painted red with stripes of yellow.
It is worthy of remark that in the walls, to the certainly not very great
elevation they now generally reach, few doorways are discovered, a
circumstance which is by no means easily explained. Small rooms are
found without any apparent means of access. Perhaps, in such cases, the
doorway was at a certain elevation in the wall, and was approached on
both sides by wooden steps, which have long perished, and left no traces
of the means of entrance. Of course none of the walls of the houses
remain sufficiently high to enable us to judge of the manner in which
light was admitted into the rooms, whether from side windows, or from
openings in the roof. Probability, however, is in favour of roof-windows
being in common use, and an interesting circumstance connected with the
excavations at Wroxeter seems decisive as to the material of the windows.
Considerable quantities of fine window glass have been found scattered
over the floors of the houses, of an average thickness of full one-eighth
of an inch, which have been duly deposited in the Museum at Shrewsbury.
It is the more curious as it has been the common opinion, until recently,
that the Romans, especially in this distant province, did not use
window-glass; and the fragments of window-glass which have been found
more recently in the excavations on the sites of Roman villas have been
much thinner than that found at Wroxeter, and of very inferior quality.
It is evident, that some of the rooms, all the walls of which were only
walls of separation from other rooms, must have received light from
above, or have been quite dark.
I must now describe a peculiar characteristic of the domestic economy of
a Roman house in Britain, and in the other western and northern provinces
of the empire. The Romans did not warm their apartments by fire lighted
in them, as was the case in the middle ages, and in modern times, but by
hot air circulated in the walls. The floor of the house, formed of a
considerable thickness of cement, was laid upon a number of short
pillars, formed usually of square Roman tiles placed one upon another,
and from two to three feet high. Those of the largest of the hypocausts
yet found at Wroxeter were rather more than three feet high. Sometimes
these supports were of stone, and in one or two cases in discoveries made
in this country, they were round. They were placed near to each other,
and in rows, and upon them were lain first larger tiles, and over these a
thick mass of cement, which formed the floor, and upon the surface of
which the tessellated pavements were set. Sometimes small parallel
walls, forming flues instead of rows of columns, supported the floors, of
which an example has already been found in the excavations at Wroxeter.
Flue-tiles,—that is, square tubes made of baked clay, with a hole on one
side, or sometimes on two sides,—were placed against the walls end-ways,
one upon another, so as to run up the walls. These arrangements,—which
were called hypocausts, from two Greek words, signifying _heat
underneath_, and were used in Italy and Greece chiefly for warming baths,
are represented in _plate_ IV., _fig._ 7, where AA is the floor of
cement, BB the pillars supporting it, and CC the flue-tiles running up
the wall of the room. They had an entrance from the outside, somewhat
like the mouth of an oven, and fires being lighted here, the hot air was
driven inward, and not only filled the space under the floor, but entered
the flue-tiles by the holes in the sides, was carried by them up the
inside of the wall, and no doubt had some way of escape at the roof. The
ashes and soot of the fires have been found in the hypocausts at
Uriconium, just as they were left when the city was overthrown and ruined
by the barbarians. The ashes are chiefly those of wood, but considerable
remains of mineral coal have been discovered. These hypocausts must
sometimes have become clogged and out of order, and it would be necessary
to cleanse them, as people in aftertimes cleansed chimneys. A sort of
alley across the middle of the large hypocaust last-mentioned was
probably intended for this purpose. It communicated with another
hypocaust adjoining it to the north by a doorway, and this other
hypocaust was entered by a rather large archway at the foot of the steps
already mentioned. People appear to have been sometimes satisfied with
having the hot air merely under the floor, and the flue-tiles were not
always used. Comparatively few of them, indeed, have been yet found in
the hypocausts of Uriconium.
* * * * *
THE requirements of agriculture have rendered it necessary to cover up
again all the excavations to the north of the Old Wall, and the walls of
the great public building at the corner of the two streets can no longer
be seen by the visitor. A piece of ground, however, immediately to the
south of the Old Wall has been taken by the Excavation Committee at
Shrewsbury upon a rent, and in this piece of ground the excavations are
now carried on. It forms a parallelogram, 319 feet long, by 279 feet
wide, containing an area of exactly two acres, including the Old Wall at
its northern edge. This piece of ground has been strongly fenced round
with hurdles, and it is entered by a gate from the Watling Street Road.
By the liberality of the Excavation Committee the public are admitted to
this inclosure freely, and it is to be hoped that the visitors will
acknowledge this liberality by carefully abstaining from committing any
injury on the Roman remains, or by walking upon or entering into the
parts in the course of excavation.
The plan annexed (_pl._ 5) of the excavations now in progress will enable
me to explain them to the visitor. The darkly-shaded mass _a a_
represents the Old Wall, or portion of Roman masonry standing above
ground; to the north of which lay the extensive building formed by the
walls _b b_, _c c_, _d d_, running parallel to the Old Wall. The wall _d
d_, bordered upon a wide street. To the east of these walls lay an
inclosure, e, perhaps a court-yard, and a large space, _f_, which has
been conjectured to have been a garden, but which has been very
imperfectly explored. All these remains have been explained above; they
have been buried again, and the ground is now covered with crops. The
Old Wall, which stands just within the north-eastern corner of the space
separated from the rest of the field by a fence of hurdles, now forms the
northern boundary of the excavations.
The visitor is introduced into this space by a gateway from the road,
nearly at its north-western corner. Opposite this gateway he will see an
apartment, which the excavators are now in the course of exploring. It
is nearly a square, and is about thirty-four feet in its longest
dimension. The side towards the street seems to have been open, or at
least the masonry of the wall presents the appearance of having had wide
folding doors, or a framework of wood of some kind in two compartments 6,
6. In the centre of the room is a large pier of masonry (1), perhaps a
table for workmen. More towards the north-western corner, a sort of
furnace or forge (2) was found, built of red clay, with a hole or cavity
in the upper part sufficiently large for a man to thrust his head in. As
the surface of the cavity, internally, is completely vitrified, and as
there was much charcoal strewed about, there can be no doubt that the
cavity had been occupied by a very fierce fire. A low wall has been
traced, running across the room east and west in a line with this
furnace; and two transverse low walls of similar character. Upon the low
wall a little behind the forge (at 3), the excavators came upon what was
supposed to be the lower part of a column with its base; but it is formed
roughly, and I think it more probable that it was a stone table for the
use of the workman at the furnace. It was at first supposed that this
might belong to a colonnade running along the wall; but no trace of such
a colonnade has been found, although a large piece of a shaft of a column
lies in the middle of the room. This column, however, is of larger
dimensions than the supposed base (3). Had such a colonnade existed, it
seems so little in accordance with the existence of a forge, that we
might be led to suspect that the room had, at some late period, been
diverted from its original purpose, and occupied by a worker in metals,
or even in glass, as fine specimens of glass were found scattered about,
and also many fragments of metal. But objects of all kinds seem to have
been thrown about in such a manner, when the town was plundered, that it
would be unsafe to argue upon the purpose of any particular building,
merely from moveable articles found in it. Among other things found in
this room were nearly a dozen hair-pins, two of which were much more
ornamental than any we had found before; a much greater quantity of
fragments of Samian ware, and of higher artistic merit, than had
previously been met with in one spot; a portion of a large bronze fibula;
a number of coins, and other things. One of the vessels of Samian ware
is a fine bowl, with figures in high relief, representing a stag-hunt.
Upon the low wall of the sill (6) a number of copper Roman coins (about
sixty) were found together; and near them the fragment of a small earthen
vessel, in which probably they had been carried by some one who dropped
them here as he was hurrying out of the place. Turning from the gate of
the field to the right, or south, along the inside of the hedge, the
visitor will come to a portion of uncovered wall, _h h_, running north
and south, upwards of eighty feet, in which there are two entrance
gateways, _i_, _p_. The first of these is about twelve feet wide, and
was approached by a sort of inclined plane, formed of three large squared
masses of stone, each about four feet square by eleven inches in
thickness. The other entrance which was only five feet wide, was
approached by two steps, each similarly formed of one mass of stone; of
which the lower step is worn very much at its south-west corner, in a
manner to lead us to believe that the great majority of the people who
passed through this entrance came up the street from the south. The
upper step, or stone, is so much worn by the feet of those who passed
over it, that it broke into three pieces under the workmen’s picks. On
one side of it there is a deep hollow, representing nearly the form of a
small human foot, which seems to have been scooped into the stone for
some purpose with which we are not acquainted. These two entrances lead
into one square court, the floor of which, proved by the steps and
inclined plane to have been on a higher level than the street without,
was paved with small bricks laid in herring-bone work, like the great
inclosure to the north of the Old Wall. It is found to have been much
damaged and mended in ancient times, which seems to countenance the
supposition that the wide entrance and the inclined plane by which it was
approached were intended for horses and perhaps for carts or for heavy
barrows. Among the objects found in excavating here was a portion of a
horse-shoe. On each side of this court a row of chambers is found, _m m
m_, four on the north side and four on the south, from ten to twelve feet
square. The westernmost of these chambers, on the north side of the
court, has been cleared out, and was found to be ten feet deep, with a
low transverse wall at the bottom, the object of which is at present
quite inexplicable. A quantity of charcoal was found in this room, as
though it had been a store-room for that article. One of the other
rooms, on each side of the court, seemed to have been a receptacle for
bones, horns, &c.; and as some of these had evidently been sawn and cut,
and others partly turned on a lathe, they suggested the idea of having
belonged to manufacturers of the various objects made of this material
which are found so commonly in the course of the excavations. They may,
therefore, have been the magazines of manufacturers and tradesmen, a
notion which is somewhat confirmed by the circumstance of several weights
of different sizes having been found in this part of the excavations; or
they may have been mere depots for the stores and refuse of a large
mansion or other establishment. These rooms are, perhaps, all deep like
the one already cleared out, but it is remarkable that, as high as the
walls remain, that is, about two feet above the floor of the court, there
is no trace of entrances to them, which must, therefore, have been rather
high in the wall, and they were entered perhaps by a ladder.
The back part of this court consists of a long narrow inclosure, which is
divided into compartments by four transverse walls proceeding from the
western wall about halfway across the inclosure, thus leaving a passage
along the eastern side. These compartments have much the appearance of
small shops or stalls for selling, and seem to confirm the notion that
this building may have been a market-place. The workmen, finding a
doorway in the wall of the back of this inclosure, at _n_ in the plan, a
trench was carried through the ground to the eastward. At about twelve
feet from the opening at _n_, they came upon a wall at _h_, running
parallel to the wall _o o_ of the court, and beyond this they found first
a narrow passage, and then a rise with a pavement of cement which
extended some four or five feet, and then suddenly sank to a floor of
large flag-stones, at a depth of upwards of four feet from the floor of
cement. This flagged floor, the position of which is marked by the
letter _q_ in the plan, was perhaps a reservoir of water; the bottom was
found covered with black earth filled with broken pottery and other
things, such as may easily have been supposed to have been thrown into a
pond. The water appears to have been only between two and three feet
deep, as the floor on the opposite side runs about level with the ledge
or step just mentioned, and is continued eastward until, at _r_, we come
upon the rather massive walls of a building, the nature of which cannot
be determined without further investigation. At a short distance within
this wall, at a depth of about three feet below the cement floor, we find
a floor at _s_, about ten feet wide by thirty long, formed of flat Roman
tiles, twelve inches by eighteen inches square. This floor has been
uncovered, and as there was an indentation in the middle which seemed to
indicate that it was hollow underneath, a hole was made there, but it led
to no discovery. This seems also to have been a tank of water, perhaps a
cold water bath. The cement floor was continued easterly until it was
terminated by a wall, _t_, which ran at right angles to the eastern end
of the Old Wall, and appears to be the eastern termination of the
buildings now in course of exploration. The earth and rubbish from the
excavations have been here thrown into a great mound, from the top of
which the visitor can enjoy a bird’s eye view of the excavations. A few
yards to the north, he will come to the important line of excavations
nearer to the Old Wall. A small chamber, about eight feet square, with a
herring-bone pavement in very good preservation, projects beyond the line
of this eastern wall at _u_ in our plan. To the west of this is a small
hypocaust _v_, the floor of which has been a little lower than that of
the room _u_. In this hypocaust were found the remains of two skeletons,
one of which was that of a young person. The northern wall of the room
_v_ is particularly interesting, because in its whole height of full nine
feet, it presents the remains of the lines of flue-tiles which ran up it,
hardly an inch apart, and which show that this room must have been
intended to be very much heated. It was, perhaps, a _sudatorium_ or
sweating room. The opening from _u_ to _v_ occupies nearly the whole
width of the former room, and was perhaps closed by a wooden door. On
the western side of the hypocaust, at _w_, the wall has a sort of
basement, formed of large stones scooped out in a singular manner, the
object of which is by no means evident. We here come upon a series of
passages, _x_, to the north of which were four rooms, _z z z z_,
extending to the Old Wall. On the face of the Old Wall, we can
distinctly trace the springing not only of the walls of division, the
lower parts of which are found underground, but of the vaulting, from
which it appears that these rooms had what are technically called
barrel-roofs of masonry. They were slightly explored at the beginning of
the excavations, and in one of them was found a quantity of burnt wheat,
as though it had been a store-room.
In the passages alluded to, there is at _y_, a square pit, somewhat like
what might be a cess-pool, of very good and substantial masonry, at the
bottom of which runs north and south a very well formed drain, the bed of
which is formed of large roof-tiles. To the south of this is a
hypocaust, A, which differs from the other hypocausts yet opened in being
partly formed of low parallel walls instead of rows of pillars. On the
wall of the passage leading to this hypocaust from the east was found the
inscription mentioned at page 45. Westward from the hypocaust A, but
without any apparent communication between them, was another hypocaust,
B, which had been constructed in the usual manner, the floor supported by
rows of low columns formed of square thin bricks. It was in this
hypocaust that the three skeletons mentioned before (_p._ 41,) were
found, the man who possessed the money crouching in the north-west
corner, and the two persons supposed to be women, extended along the side
of the northern wall. The opening into this hypocaust was through its
southern wall, from the interior court, so that the fugitives must have
crept along the whole length of the hypocaust to reach their place of
concealment. The part of this interior court, immediately adjacent to
this hypocaust, which has been excavated to some extent, presents several
interesting features. A breach in the eastern boundary wall had been
newly repaired with much inferior masonry at the time when the city of
Uriconium was taken and destroyed; and it is a curious circumstance that
some large pieces of stone lie here on the floor of the court, unfinished
by the masons, as though repairs and alterations in the buildings were
going on at the very moment of the final catastrophe. Adjoining to this
hypocaust, at its north-west corner, is a square room, c, with the
herring-bone pavement, exactly like that at _u_ in character and
dimensions, which had opened into the room above the hypocaust B, much in
the same manner as _u_ opened in the room _v_. Separated from this room
by a wall, but apparently without any communication with it, is an
interesting staircase D, leading down, to the entrance to a larger and
apparently more important series of hypocausts. This staircase descended
from a square room, about the same size as the room C, which had a smooth
pavement of cement. It is composed of three steps each formed of a large
squared stone. A part of the space at the bottom, the north-eastern
corner, appears to have been used by the later Roman inhabitants of this
building as a receptacle for the sweeping of the floors, and when it was
first opened the earth, to the height of about sixteen or eighteen inches
from the floor, was filled with all kinds of objects, such as coins,
hair-pins, fibulæ, needles in bone, nails, various articles in iron,
bronze, and lead, glass, broken pottery, bones of edible animals and
birds, stags’ horns, tusks and hoofs of wild boars, oyster shells, in one
of which lay the shell of a large nut, &c. A large shaft of a column lay
across the steps. The Roman masonry here is very good. To the right
hand, towards the south, a rather large arch, turned in Roman bricks, led
into the hypocaust E, a doorway in the southern wall of which formed the
communication between this hypocaust and the still larger hypocaust F.
The latter had supported what must have been a handsome room, which was
about fifty feet long, including the semicircular northern end, by
thirty-five feet in breadth. When first opened, this hypocaust was in a
state of preservation in which such buildings are seldom found in this
country. A hundred and twenty columns of bricks were counted, most of
them at their original height of rather more than three feet. At the
north-eastern corner, the columns supported a small portion of the floor
in its original position. It is a mass of cement, eight inches thick,
with the upper surface, which no doubt had formed the floor, perfectly
smooth. During the time that the Excavation Committee were excluded from
the field, all the pillars of this interesting hypocaust were thrown to
the ground, and a great part of the bricks which formed the supporting
columns were broken to pieces—even the piece of the floor and its
supports at the north-east corner were overthrown. A very exact drawing
of the latter, however, had been preserved, which served as a pattern for
restoring it; and it is to the ingenuity and labour of Dr. Henry Johnson
that the public owes the restoration of this hypocaust as far as it was
possible to restore it.
Returning to the steps by which these hypocausts were entered, at D, the
floor from which we descended appears to have an opening of some kind to
the west, which looked down upon a court outside the semicircular end of
the hypocaust F, which from this point presents to the view an imposing
mass of masonry. In the corner just under this opening the remains of a
very young child were found, which we might almost imagine to have been
slaughtered in the room above, and thrown out into the court. This
court, or open space, seems to have been continued to the wall _a a_, and
to have been entered by a doorway in that wall at _g_, which was
approached from the passage to the north by a step formed by a large
squared stone. On the outside of the semicircular end of the hypocaust
F, lay, as if it had fallen or been thrown down, an immense stone,
carefully worked into the shape of the arc of a circle, and no doubt
forming one of a course at some unknown elevation in the wall. On the
outward side of it, a large iron pin was soldered into it with lead,
evidently for the purpose of attaching some weighty object on the outer
side of the building.
Another step and doorway in the wall _a a_ was found at _h_, which must
have been much more frequented than the other, for the stone which formed
the step was worn in an extraordinary degree by the rubbing of footsteps.
It led to an inclosure P, which presents the appearance of having formed
public _latrinæ_; and which is separated by a long narrow inclosure from
the room already described as apparently the shop of a worker in metals.
Such is a brief and general description of the ruins of Uriconium, at
present open to the visitor. The real character of the buildings we have
been describing appeared for a while very doubtful. The first
discoveries led to the belief that it was a great mansion, perhaps the
principal mansion in the Roman city, the residence of the chief municipal
officer; but in this case we might have expected to find some very fine
Mosaic or tessellated pavement, specimens of which had been met with in
other parts of the area of the town. On the contrary, all the floors yet
discovered to the south of the Old Wall, with the exception of those of
herring-bone brickwork, and that of a supposed bath, seemed to have been
of mere smoothed cement. This led us to suppose that we were still
exploring buildings erected for some public purpose. A comparison of the
character of these various buildings leaves no room for doubting that
they belonged to the public baths of Uriconium; and further excavations
to the south and west shewed that they formed an extensive square (_k_,
_k_, _k_, _k_), the northern side of which was formed by the Old Wall and
its continuation westward; and the southern side of which bordered upon
the other street running east and west, the pavement of which, similar to
that of the street at _l_, has been uncovered in its whole extent along
the line, L L. The western and southern sides of the square were formed
by a wide gallery or cloister (_k_, _k_, _k_), no doubt the ambulatory,
which was considered as an important part of the public baths of the
Romans. The ground to the eastward, in which no buildings could be
traced, may have been gardens, which were also usually attached to the
baths of the Romans.
Having once decided that the building we have thus explored, is the
public baths, another equally interesting question arises out of it. The
public baths of the Roman towns in Britain are not unfrequently mentioned
in inscriptions commemorating the repairing or rebuilding of them; but it
is a circumstance of some importance that this building is combined with
the basilica, or town hall. Both seem to have participated in the same
accidents, and to have undergone decay together. Thus an inscription
found at Lanchester in Cumberland (supposed to be the Roman town of
Epiacum) speaks of the baths and basilica (BALNEVM CVM BASILICA); and at
Ribchester, in Lancashire, the baths and basilica (BALINEVM ET BASILICAM)
were rebuilt after having fallen into ruin through age. We are
therefore, I think, justified in concluding that the two great public
buildings, the baths and the basilica, usually joined each other; and I
think we may venture further to assume that the large building to the
north of the Old Wall, the remains of which are now covered up, was the
basilica of Uriconium. The proportions of this building are rather
extraordinary, and cannot be easily explained; but it is probable that in
a provincial town the basilica served a variety of purposes. An
inscription found at Netherby in Cumberland, speaks of a basilica for
practice in riding (BASILICAM EQVESTREM EXERCITATORIAM.)
We may now proceed a little further in identifying the topography of the
ancient town. The line of the buildings we have traced parallel to the
Watling Street Road is at some distance within the hedge of the field;
and I believe that, when the farm buildings were erected on the opposite
side of the road, what appeared to be the front of buildings facing the
opposite direction, were found likewise at some distance within the
field. This, with the road, would make a very wide space; very much
wider than either of the two transverse streets. Moreover, a glance at
the plan will shew that, beyond the transverse street to the south, this
wide space became considerably narrowed; and in fact it seems to have
been reduced to the width of an ordinary street. It is my belief that
this wide space was the forum of Uriconium; and in that case it is rather
remarkable that the basilica held here exactly the same place, in regard
to the forum, as at Pompeii.
We have thus already brought to light a very interesting portion of the
ancient Roman town, and have learnt something more than we knew before of
the character and economy of the Roman towns in Britain. The basilica,
as we have seen, came up to the front of the street, and formed the side
of a transverse street; but this was not the case with the baths, for a
space of some width between them and the forum was occupied by other
buildings, which I have already described.
Other apartments surrounding the metal-worker’s shop are in course of
exploration, and will, I think, make us better acquainted with the
character of the whole of this line of buildings which looked upon the
open space which I have supposed to be the forum. I have already said
that this open space contracts to the south of the transverse street L L,
in what has been no more than the breadth of an ordinary street, which
ran down towards the river. A gutter, very well made, of carefully
squared stones, and remarkably well preserved, runs near the houses on
the eastern side of the street; the only side which at present can be
explored, as it is near the hedge of the Watling Street Road. It runs
very near the walls of the houses, is a foot wide, and about a foot deep,
and from place to place square stones are laid in lozenge-fashion,
apparently intended for stepping stones, but they must have stopped the
current of water down the channel. The buildings at this corner consist
of small rooms, and were probably private houses. The existence of walls
running parallel and transverse to the street L L has been ascertained
along the whole length of its southern side; but they have not yet been
sufficiently explored even to be laid down in the plan.
* * * * *
THE objects of antiquity found in the course of the excavations have been
so often alluded to, that the visitor will no doubt expect at least a
brief and general description of them. I have already described those
which illustrate the building and construction of a house, and we
naturally continue the description by turning to those articles which
belong especially to domestic life. Of this class, the most numerous
division, and that which strikes us first, is the pottery,—of which
certainly the most remarkable to the general observer is the ware
resembling in colour and general appearance bright red sealing wax, known
commonly as Samian ware, a name the propriety of which has been disputed.
The Roman writers speak of an earthenware much used at table, and said to
have received its name from having been originally made at Samos. It is
described as being of a red colour, as being of more value than the
common pottery, and as being proverbial for its brittleness, all which
characteristics belonged to the red ware found in this country, which was
covered with tasteful subjects of all kinds in relief, and was evidently
much valued, as we often find vessels in this ware which had been
carefully mended, and the brittleness of which was such that we seldom
find a specimen unbroken. Such mendings, chiefly by means of metal
rivets, are exhibited in specimens of Samian ware found in the
excavations at Wroxeter, and deposited in the Museum at Shrewsbury, where
there are also several pieces of this pottery, presenting subjects which
are interesting and by no means of common occurrence. It may be further
observed that the Samian ware in this country resembles a Roman ware of
which the potteries have been found at Aretium, the modern Arezzo, in
Tuscany, but this ware was much superior, especially in the degree of
artistic talent displayed in its ornamentation, to that which was in use
in this island, and which no doubt was imported from Gaul, where,
especially on the banks of the Rhine, the potteries in which it was made
have been found.
Extensive potteries have also been found in this island, especially at
Castor, in Northamptonshire, where there was a Roman town named
Durobrivæ, and on the banks of the Medway, at Upchurch, in Kent. The
ware from both these potteries is of a blue or slate colour, produced by
imperfect firing in what is called a _smother-kiln_; that is, the air
being excluded and the heat being insufficient thoroughly to bake the
pottery, it retains so much carbonaceous matter as to give it a black
colour. The pottery of these two establishments is distinguished by the
difference of shapes. The ornamentation of the Upchurch ware is in
general of a very simple character; that of the pottery from Castor is
much more elaborate, and often consists of hunting scenes and other
subjects, laid on in a white substance after the pottery had been baked.
Specimens of both these wares are found at Wroxeter.
The excavations at Wroxeter have brought to light at least two new
classes of Roman pottery, both evidently made in Shropshire. The first
is a white ware, made of what is known as the Broseley clay, and
consisting chiefly of very elegantly formed jugs, with narrow necks;
mortaria, or vessels for rubbing or pounding objects in cookery, the
interior surface of which is covered with grains of hard stone; and
bowls, which are often painted with stripes of red and yellow. The other
Romano-Salopian pottery is a red ware, differing in shade from the red
Roman wares usually found, and also made from one of the clays of the
Severn valley. Among the vessels in this ware are bowls pierced all over
with small holes, so as to have served the purpose of colanders. We find
also some very curious specimens of an imitation of the Samian ware; but
we have as yet no means of ascertaining where it was made.
Many very interesting fragments of glass vessels have also been found in
the excavations at Wroxeter. Two or three other objects intended for
domestic purposes have been met with, such as a small bowl or cup made of
lead, and what appears to have been the handle of some larger vessel,
made of block tin, neither of which metals, used for such purpose, are of
common occurrence among Roman remains in this country. A ladle and
several knives have also been found, and a handle of a knife made of
stone, as well as several whet-stones.
Of personal ornaments the most numerous are the hair-pins, most of which
are made of bone, though there are a few of bronze, and one of wood.
Their use was to hold together the knot into which the Roman women rolled
up their hair behind the head, and through which the pin was thrust.
They are, on an average, about three inches long, with a large head
rudely ornamented; and it will be remarked that the shank is thicker in
the middle, and that it becomes generally thinner near the head, no doubt
to prevent the pin from slipping out of the hair. Some of these pins had
evidently been saturated with an oily substance, which shews that the
ladies in Roman Britain applied oil to their hair. Several fibulæ of the
common Roman forms, have been met with; they are all of bronze, of
superior workmanship to the hair pins, and most of those hitherto found
at Wroxeter are, or have been, enamelled. Their use was to fasten the
mantle and other parts of the clothing. Among the personal ornaments
found already in the excavations are a number of buttons, finger rings,
bracelets, glass beads, and other objects, of which it is not necessary
here to give a particular description. Of two combs, both of bone, one
is remarkably neat in its form and make. Several bone needles may also
be mentioned, and a pair of bronze tweezers for eradicating superfluous
hairs.
Roman coins are found in considerable numbers, but many of them are so
worn and defaced that it is no longer possible to decide to what emperor
they belonged. The earliest met with during the present excavations is
of the emperor Domitian. A great number are small coins of the
Constantine family of emperors. Only two silver coins have yet been
found, the others are of bronze or brass. The peasantry call them
_dinders_, a name which, though it represents the Latin _denarius_, was
no doubt derived from the Anglo-Norman _denier_.
Many objects of a more miscellaneous character have also been found
during the present excavations; or have found their way into the Museum
from former discoveries. Among these are three artists’ pallettes, for
using colour; several weights, some marked with Roman numerals; a
steelyard; several keys; portions of iron chains; styli, for writing on
wax tablets; an iron trident, which may perhaps have been the head of a
staff of office or authority; one or two spear heads; a strigil for
scraping the skin in the sweating baths; a portion of an iron horse-shoe;
and two or three very nice statuettes in bronze. The most curious,
however, of these miscellaneous objects is a medicine stamp, intended to
mark packets or bottles of what, in modern times, would be called patent
medicines. A certain number of these Roman medicine stamps have been
found in Britain and on the Continent, and they are all, like this stamp
found at Wroxeter, for salves or washes for the eyes, diseases of the
eyes having been apparently very common among the inhabitants of the
western provinces of the Roman empire. The Wroxeter stamp, intended for
a collyrium or salve for the eyes called _dialebanum_ or _dialibanum_,
gives us in all probability the name of a physician resident in
Uriconium. The inscription may be read as follows, filling up the
abbreviations:—TIB_erii_ CL_audii_ M_edici_ DIALIBA_num_ AD OMNE VIT_ium_
O_culorum_ EX O_vo_, _i.e._, the dialebanum of Tiberius Claudius the
physician, for all complaints of the eyes, to be used with egg.
A few stones, with Roman inscriptions, chiefly of a sepulchral character,
have been dug up at Wroxeter in the course of accidental excavations.
Three of these were found in 1752, and are preserved in the library of
Shrewsbury School. The first inscription may be read thus:—
C. MANNIVS
C. F. POL . SECV
NDVS . POLLEN
MIL . LEG . XX
ANORV . LII
STIP . XXXI
BEN . LEG . PR
H . S . E.
intimating that it marked the grave of a soldier of the twentieth legion
(which was stationed at Chester, the Roman Deva) named Caius Mannius, of
the Pollian tribe. Another commemorated a soldier of the fourteenth
legion, and has been supposed to belong to a very early period, as that
legion was withdrawn from Britain before A.D. 68. It was the legion
which suffered so much in the war against Boadicea, and this soldier may
perhaps have been engaged in that war, although his having died in
Britain does not necessarily imply that the legion to which he had
belonged was there at the time, or indeed that it had ever been there,
unless we had some other reasons for supposing that it had been there.
His name was Marcus Petronius, the son of Lucius, of the Menenian tribe,
and the inscription may be read as follows:—
M. PETRONIVS
L. F. MEN
VIC . ANN
XXXVIII
MIL. LEG
XIIII . GEM
MILITAVIT
ANN. XVIII
SIGN . FVIT
H . S . E.
The third of these inscribed monuments was divided into three columns or
tables, commemorating three members of the family of a citizen of
Uriconium, named Deuccus. The inscription on the third column is
entirely erased, but the two others may be read as follows:
D. M D. M
PLACIDA DEVCCV
AN . LV S . AN . XV
CVR . AG CVR . AG
CONI . A RATRE
XXX
Another sepulchral stone, also preserved in the Library of Shrewsbury
School, was found in 1810, and bore an inscription commemorative of
Tiberius Claudius Terentius, a soldier of the cohort of Thracian cavalry,
which may be read as follows:—
TIB . CLAVD . TRE
NTIVS . EQ . COH
THRACVM . AN
ORVM . LVII. STIP
ENDIORVM
H . S.
In the excavations on the site of the cemetery, in the autumn of 1862, a
sepulchral stone was found, which had not improbably been placed over the
door of a sepulchral chamber of masonry. There had been a figure above,
the lower part of the legs and feet of which alone remain. The slab
bears the following inscription, which from the damage the stone has
sustained is very difficult to decipher, but I owe this reading to the
knowledge and acuteness of my friend Mr. Roach Smith. I may add that
some of the letters are extremely doubtful
AMINIVS . T . POL . F . A
NORVMXXXXVSTIPXXII . MIL . LEG.
IIGEM . MILITAVITAQNVNC HIC SII
LEGITE . ET . FELICES . VITA . FLVS . MINV
IVSTAVINIERAQVATIEGIIIE . INTV
TANARA . DITIS . VIVITE . DVMSPI . . .
VITAE . DAT . TEMPVS . HONESTE.
It is clear, at a glance, that the latter part of this inscription
contains three lines in hexameter verse; unfortunately they are the lines
most rubbed and most difficult to make out. Dr. Mc. Caul, president of
the University of Toronto, in Canada, in his recent work on
“Britanno-Romano Inscriptions,” suggests that they may be—
Perlegite et felices vitâ plus minus jutâ;
Omnibus æqua lege iter est ad Tænara Ditis.
Vivite, dum Stygius vitæ dat tempus, honeste.
The two last words of the first line are extremely doubtful, and I
confess that I do not believe in Dr. Mc Caul’s reading, which, of course
is but conjectural. The second does not appear at all to answer to what
remains of the original, with the exception of the last words Tænara
Ditis. But of the last line, Mr. Smith’s reading is much the best, and
indeed appears to me to be the correct one,—
Vivite, dum spatium vitæ dat tempus, honeste.
The part preceding the verses may be read—
Aminius (perhaps Flaminius), T_iti_ Pol_lioni_ F_ilius_, annorum
xxxxv., stip_endiorum_ xxii, mil_es_ leg_ionis_ vii g_e_m_inæ_.
Militavit aq_uilifer_. Nunc hic si_tus est_.
It may be remarked that in many respects this is one of the most curious
Roman inscriptions found in this island, and that it appears to be of
rather an early date.
Another mere fragment of a stone, of the present existence of which I can
learn nothing, is said to have contained the letters:—
LERT
FGAI
...TILES.
Lastly, a monument of stone, which, during the middle ages had been
formed into a holy water stoop, and which is now in the vicarage garden,
presents what has formed part of a Roman inscription—
BONA . REI
PVBLICÆ
NATVS.
It has probably been a dedication to one of the emperors, or an
inscription commemorative of him.
* * * * *
IT has been stated before, that the site of Uriconium is of very great
extent. If the visitor, after having examined the excavations, would
seek an agreeable walk, he may turn off by the smith’s shop already
mentioned, along the northerly continuation of the Watling Street Road,
which soon becomes a deep and pretty country lane, and crosses the Bell
Brook. Soon afterwards, on the rise of a bank, we come to a spot where
the ancient town wall crossed this road, and where there are said to be
traces of one of the gateway entrances to Uriconium. At the latter part
of the year 1862, excavations were made in an adjoining field to trace
the line of the town wall, which was found remaining to a height of three
or four feet; but it was of very rough construction, built merely of
small stone boulders mixed with clay, and had evidently been raised
hurriedly, at a late period of the history of Uriconium, to meet some
sudden emergency. There had evidently been an entrance opening here, but
there were no traces of gateway buildings, which were perhaps only of
timber. Outside the walls, on the bank to the right, was one of the
principal cemeteries, and here the sepulchral inscriptions mentioned
above were found. Successful excavations were made in 1862 on the site
of this cemetery, and many Roman graves were opened which furnished the
Museum in Shrewsbury with another inscribed monument of great interest, a
number of sepulchral urns and vessels of glass, and various other
objects.
If, instead of going northward, the visitor follows the Watling Street
Road towards the south, he will soon reach the village of Wroxeter, and
may examine its church. A new gate to the churchyard has recently been
erected, and Mr. W. H. Oatley, of Wroxeter, who holds the office of
churchwarden, has contributed a shaft of a Roman column, and two Roman
capitals, which, together with another shaft given by the Rev. E.
Egremont, are now placed on each side of this gateway. The two capitals,
which were dragged out of the river Severn, are worthy of particular
attention. They are singularly rich in ornament, and mark that late
period of Roman architecture which became the model of the mediæval
Byzantine and Romanesque. I cannot help wishing that they were safely
deposited in the Museum at Shrewsbury, and I think that the Roman columns
would serve as well for gateway supports without the capitals, which
probably did not belong to them. The church of Wroxeter is a substantial
Norman building, with later alterations, and on the outside of the
southern wall of the chancel are the remains of a very interesting Norman
doorway, which has been built up.
The chancel internally is chiefly remarkable for some fine monuments with
effigies of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries,
interesting especially for their costume. It has at present a low flat
whitewashed ceiling, but there is a fine old timber roof above, and it is
greatly to be regretted that the unsightly ceiling has not been removed,
so that the chancel might again be open to its lofty roof of timber. At
the western end of the church is an early font, _pl._ 7, which has been
formed of a very large Roman capital, taken from some important building
in the city of Uriconium. Such applications of Roman monuments to later
ecclesiastical purposes are by no means uncommon. In the garden of the
vicarage, which adjoins the churchyard, are a few fragments of Roman
architecture and sculpture, which have been carefully preserved by the
present vicar, the Rev. E. Egremont.
Near the churchyard stands the residence of Mr. Oatley, who has also
collected in his garden a few fragments from the ancient city and its
neighbourhood. Among these is a cylindrical stone, which at first sight
might be taken for part of a column, but which appears, from a few
remaining letters of an inscription, to have been more probably a Roman
milliarium or mile-stone. Mr. Oatley has placed a Roman capital on the
top of it, and both are represented in _pl._ 6. Several architectural
fragments are also preserved in the garden of Mr. Stanier. Two of the
most interesting of these, belonging to the shaft of the same column, or
to those of two similar columns are represented in _pl._ 15.
The Watling Street Road leads us direct from the gateway of the
churchyard to the river Severn, which is here crossed at present by a
ford. On the right is a large rugged field overlooking the river, and
occupied by Mr. Oatley, which has been trenched in several directions,
but nothing was discovered except a Roman well, ten feet deep, which is
kept open, and is now partly filled with clear spring water. In an
orchard at the corner of this field, near the road, were found a number
of human skeletons, attended with some remarkable circumstances, for an
account of which I refer the reader to Dr. Johnson’s remarks at the end
of this little volume. On the other side of the Watling Street Road, the
ground rises to a little knoll, which looks down upon the river, and
seems to have formed the southern corner of the inclosure of the city of
Uriconium. The top of this knoll has been carefully explored, and the
walls of a square building, perhaps of a tower, were uncovered. Among
the objects found on this spot were a head sculptured in stone, and a
mould for casting Roman coins, both of which are deposited in the Museum
at Shrewsbury. The impress on the coin-mould is that of a coin of Julia
Domna, the wife of the emperor Severus, (the commencement of the third
century); and it is rather a curious circumstance that a silver coin of
this empress, which fits the impress exactly, has been found in the
excavations near the Old Wall. This method of multiplying the imperial
coinage by casts seems to have been very common in these distant
provinces, and was perhaps exercised by the imperial or municipal
officers. Another coin-mould, also with the impress of Julia Domna, was
found at Wroxeter in 1747, and two, one of Severus himself, and the other
of Plautilla, in 1722.
* * * * *
IN conclusion, I may perhaps be allowed to make a remark on some of the
various points on which the excavations on the site of Uriconium have
already thrown more or less illustrative light during the short period in
which they have as yet been carried on. We see how, by examining their
buildings and comparing the objects that are turned up by the pick and
the spade, we get an insight into the condition of the inhabitants of
Roman Britain, and learn to what degree they enjoyed the luxuries and
comforts of life. We see that they possessed a great majority of the
refinements of modern society—far more than can be traced among the
population of the middle ages. We are taught even the character of their
food by remains of edible animals. The comparison of other objects
enables us to judge to a great degree of the state and extent of
manufactures and commerce. We learn from inscriptions on their
sepulchral monuments and altars the names and occupations of some of the
inhabitants of the ancient town, and the races to which they belonged;
and from this partial information we are enabled by induction to obtain a
general view of the whole. We are thus enabled to form a truer notion of
the manner in which this country had been inhabited and governed during
nearly four centuries; and we have the further hope of eventually
discovering monuments which will throw some light on the more particular
history of this neighbourhood in these remote ages. We learn, finally,
from the condition in which the ruins of Uriconium are now seen, and
especially from the numerous remains of human beings which are found
scattered over its long-deserted floors, the sad fate under which it
finally sank into ruin, and thus we are made vividly acquainted with the
character and events of a period of history which has hitherto been but
dimly seen through the vague traditions of writers who at best knew them
only by hearsay.
Catalogue of Wroxeter Antiquities in the Museum at Shrewsbury.
I.
OBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE HOUSES AND
OTHER BUILDINGS.
1. Roofing flags, of micaceous sandstone, form generally hexagonal, with
a hole for the nail.—_See pl._ IV., _fig._ 1.
2. Tiles of various kinds:—small square tiles, flue-tiles, roof-tiles,
&c. Large oblong square tiles for bonding-courses in the walls, &c.
Square tiles for making the pillars in the hypocausts.
3. Specimens of the concrete which covered the hypocaust, to the depth
of eight inches or more, forming the floor of the apartment.
4. Eight different specimens of the tessellated, or mosaic, pavement,
taken up as it was found, and framed.
5. Drawings of the same, made by Mr. George Maw, of Broseley, and
presented by that gentleman to the Museum.
6. Sculpture in sandstone; a head of late Roman art, which appears to
have formed part of the architectural ornamentation of a building.
7. Bases, capitals, and shafts of columns.
8. Stucco, covering the walls, coloured, plain, and with some formal
patterns. One specimen, bearing the letters A. R. C. A., having formed
part of an inscription on the wall. Tessellated ornamentation of the
surface of a wall, dark and light tesseræ, so as to form an irregular
pattern.
9. _Umbilicus_, or hinge for a door.
10. Iron bolts, [Picture: T shaped image] shaped iron stancheons, and
nails, for fixing roof and flue-tiles upon the walls.
11. Many tiles bearing the impression of the foot of domestic or wild
animals,—some of the dog; other, of the sheep, pig, horse, and ox.
II.
OBJECTS FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES.
1. POTTERY:—
_a_. Samian ware.
_b_. Upchurch pottery.
_c_. Durobrivian pottery.
_d_. Romano-Salopian ware, made of clay obtained from Broseley.
_e_. Pieces of red earthenware, probably made in Shropshire.
2. GLASS:—
_a_. Fragments of flat or window glass.
_b_. Portions of bottles, &c., generally coloured, some opalescent.
_c_. Fragments of a cup, ornamented with spots of deep purple glass.
_d_. One green glass bottle, 6½ inches high, with narrow neck, found in
the cemetery, quite entire.
_e_. A green glass jar, with wide mouth, about 5 inches high and 6
inches wide, also found in the cemetery. It was full of soil, everywhere
penetrated by roots of plants.
_f_. Two metallic mirrors or _specula_, one in fragments, the other
entire. They are of white metal, a compound of tin and copper, with a
large proportion of the former.—(Cemetery.)
_g_. Three very pretty lamps. One bears the figure of Hercules, another
that of a dolphin, a third that of a boy kneeling.—(Cemetery.)
_h_. A silver fibulæ.
3. Bronze statuette of Venus and Mercury.
4. A _strigil_, (fragment.)
5. Part of an iron horse-shoe. Iron bit of a bridle. Iron spur.
6. Two masks, one made of terra cotta, the other of pottery.
7. Anomalous earthenware vessel.
III.
IMPLEMENTS AND UTENSILS.
1. Weights: one in lead, 20¼oz.; another in stone, 11½oz.
Weight in lead, marked ii., weighs 2¼oz.; another also in lead, weighs
2½oz.
2. Ladle; and neck of some vessel made of block tin.
3. Several keys, of different forms. Iron padlock.
4. Large shackles, chains, &c., of iron.
5. Knives, spear-heads, and portions of other weapons. Two axe-heads.
Bone handle of a sword, _very curious_.
6. Several whet-stones. Stone handle to a knife. Touchstone.
7. Iron trident.
8. Rings of iron, bronze, and lead.
9. _Styli_ of bronze and iron; bronze tweezers; bronze and iron spoons;
steelyard.
10. Small cup of lead; ditto of thin copper.
11. Large plates of lead, purpose unknown.
12. Cock made of lead, a child’s toy.
13. Fragment of a lamp in red pottery.
14. Three painters’ pallettes.
15. A curious iron box—(ointment box?)
16. Iron trowel.
17. Bronze lancet (?)
IV.
PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.
1. Hair pins, in great variety; more than 30 specimens have been found
made usually of bone; with some of bronze, but these are much more
slender. _Pl._ 11.
2. Bodkins or needles made of bone.
3. Fibulæ, and buckles in great variety.
4. Bracelets or armlets, and brooch.
5. Bronze studs or buttons, some flat, and others very convex.
6. Finger rings:—_a_. silver; _b_. yellow bronze; _c_. bronze, with iron
wire; _d_. bronze, with open work on one side; _e_. fragment of one of
wood; _f_. iron signet ring: device engraved upon a blue stone, a fawn
coming out of a nautilus shell.
7. Combs made of bone, one much ornamented. _Pl._ 10, _figs._ 5, 6.
8. Beads of glass of various sizes, some large to suspend round the
neck, others to string together upon a thread.
9. Bronze bracelet of twisted work.
COINS.
1. Coins found in the present excavations at Wroxeter.
2. Coins found at Wroxeter, at different times, and given to the Museum.
3. The coins found with a skeleton in the hypocaust.
4. Coining-mould of baked clay. Julia Domna.
CINERARY URNS.
1. Large red earthenware urn, containing human hones (burnt), inclosed
in an outer urn of lead, which was brought from Wroxeter many years ago.
2. Another Cinerary urn of black pottery, containing burnt human bones,
found in a field adjoining the cemetery, and outside the town walls.
Purchased by the secretary.
3. A large Cinerary urn, found in the recent excavations, ten inches
high, and thirty in circumference, almost entire, containing bones, but
not human.—_See pl._ 13, _fig._ 2.
4. Cinerary urns in red and black pottery of various sizes, from 4 to 12
inches high. Some contained burnt human bones and unguent
bottles.—(Cemetery.) Many small flask-shaped bottles were found, some
broken, some entire, some which had evidently been exposed to heat. Oily
matter was detected in one; hence they have been termed unguent
bottles.—(Cemetery.)
V.
MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS.
MEDICINE STAMP, found at Wroxeter in 1808, by Mr. Upton; purchased from
his family in 1859, by the late Beriah Botfield, Esq., M.P., who
presented it to the Museum.
1. Oyster shells in great number; shells of some nut found in an oyster
shell.
2. Remains of small animals and birds.
3. Nondescript articles in iron, shapeless masses of lead, innumerable
fragments of pottery, bone, &c.
4. Fragments of horn and bone which have been cut with a saw or other
tool.
5. Fragments of bone, which have been turned in a lathe.
6. Inscribed sepulchral stone with Latin inscription, partly legible.
There has been a statue on the top.—(Cemetery.)
7. A skiff-shaped vessel in bronze, with round handle, and a lid which
closed with a catch.
8. Several legs of the fighting cock, with very large natural spurs.
9. Roundels, formed chiefly from the bottoms of earthenware vessels,
perhaps used in some game; others made with a hole in the centre.
10. Skulls of the dog; one, that of a dog of the mastiff kind, of an
unknown species. Bones of horse, ox, roe, and red deer, (_Cervus
elaphus_); also fragments of the horn of a species allied to the elk of
Ireland, (_Strongylocerus spelæus_.) Very numerous remains of the wild
boar, including bones of the hoof, jaw, and tusks.
Among other bones of the ox are some of a very large kind, now unknown in
this country.
Also, the crania of the _Bos longifrons_, more than one bearing evident
marks of the fatal blow of the axe on the forehead.
11. Specimens of _mended_ pottery:—1. Samian ware. 2. Upchurch. 3.
Romano-British pottery.
12. Slabs of stone for grinding or mixing colours, painters’ pallettes.
13. Specimen of Hepatic iron ore. Ditto of Barytes or heavy spar.
14. Iron tire of a wheel, 3ft. 3ins. in diameter, 1½ inch in breadth.
Two iron hoops, supposed to have belonged to the nave of the same wheel.
15. Two hoops of another nave, with the wood remaining between them.
Human Remains.
1. PARTS of three human skeletons found in the hypocaust B. Two of the
skulls are almost entire, and one is broken into fragments. The latter
is remarkable for its great thickness. One of the two former from its
form, is most probably the head of a female, and the bones of the pelvis
of one skeleton are also characteristic of the female sex. One jaw-bone
must have belonged to a very old person, as not only the teeth but even
the sockets are gone. One hundred and thirty-two coins were found in the
hypocaust with these skeletons. See page 41.
2. Five human heads, and other parts of human skeletons, were first dug
up in the orchard, near the river. Of these, _four_ were singularly
deformed,—the one eye being in advance of the other and the face oblique.
Ten other skulls have since been found in the same place, and have been
arranged in the Museum. Of the ten above-mentioned _three_ are deformed
like the others, four are so broken and defective that their form cannot
be ascertained, three are not deformed. One of the latter is a very
large skull, well formed, but with very strong projecting cheek (_malar_)
bones, and a projecting occiput.
3. The principal bones of a skeleton (female?) belonging to one of the
skulls, stretched on a board (as well as could be done _on the spot_)
just as it lay in the ground.
The circumstances under which these skeletons were found are full of
interest. The greater part of them (at least twenty have been found, but
not all in a state to be taken up) were evidently put into the ground
with a certain degree of attention, that is, _buried_. They were not
thrown heedlessly into a pit, but carefully deposited at full length, and
generally near together, the legs and arms for the most part extended,
or, as in the case above described, one arm lying across the body. In
general, nothing particular has been found near them, but only the usual
contents of the soil, such as stones, roots, and fragments of pottery.
In one instance an iron ring, in another, some nails were met with, and
in a third a single coin of Claudius Gothicus. But all these might have
occurred accidentally in the neighbourhood of the bodies, in an old Roman
site, and not have been buried with them. No vestiges of wood derived
from coffins, or of apparel, were discovered. There were no traces of
weapons or articles of domestic use, which were generally buried by the
Romans with their friends, and the place where these remains were found
is within the walls, and could not, therefore, be a Roman cemetery.
4. In more than one instance, bones of very young children have been
found; but in one instance, alluded to at page 68, almost an entire
skeleton of a child was found, which has been preserved, and is in the
Museum. This was found outside the semicircular end of the great
hypocaust, where there must have been a small court. From the smallness
of the bones of the skeleton, and from the circumstance of the teeth
being still contained within the jaw-bone, it may be inferred that this
was a very young infant—perhaps still in arms.
5. A thigh bone has been found, which, having been fractured, has become
united during life.
The most interesting circumstance connected with the human remains found
at Wroxeter, is the large relative proportion of deformed skulls. Of the
nineteen crania found in the orchard and since deposited in the Museum,
eleven are more or less crooked. It has been supposed, and indeed the
opinion is still entertained by some antiquarians, that this deformity
was _congenital_ and not _posthumous_, that is to say, that the persons
to whom these skulls belonged lived and died with deformed heads. And
this was my own view before I had learned that bones are capable of being
bent by pressure in the ground. There can be little doubt that the
deformity has been produced by posthumous pressure, aided by moisture and
the solvent action of certain acids that always exist in vegetable mould.
{99a} Other instances of a like effect have been described by Dr.
Sherman, {99b} and, in America, by the Rev. D. Wilson. {99c}
H. J.
APPENDIX.
ON November the 11th, 1858, at the General Meeting of the Shropshire and
North Wales Natural History and Antiquarian Society, held at the Museum,
Shrewsbury, the President, Beriah Botfield, Esq., M.P., proposed that
excavations should be commenced at Wroxeter. He had written to the Duke
of Cleveland, and obtained his Grace’s consent to do so. He also made
the very liberal offer to give fifty guineas towards the expenses,
provided that fifty other gentlemen could be found willing to subscribe
one guinea each. A Committee was formed, consisting of the following
noblemen and gentlemen to carry on the work:—
The Right Hon. the Earl of Powis, Powis Castle
Beriah Botfield, Esq., M.P., F.R.S., Decker Hill
R. A. Slaney, Esq., M.P., Walford Manor
Rev. B. H. Kennedy, D.D., Shrewsbury
Rev. E. Egremont, Wroxeter
Rev. R. W. Eyton, Ruyton, Shiffnal
Rev. H. M. Scarth, Bathwick
Samuel Ashdown, Esq., Uppington
W. H. Bayley, Esq., Shrewsbury
William F. F. Foulkes, Esq., Stanley Place, Chester
Henry Johnson, Esq., M.D., Hon. Sec., Shrewsbury
George Stanton, Esq., Shrewsbury
Albert Way, Esq., Worham Manor
Samuel Wood, Esq., Shrewsbury
Thomas Wright, Esq., F.S.A., Brompton
A Metropolitan Committee has since been thought desirable, and held its
first meeting August 3rd. It consists of the following distinguished
noblemen and gentlemen:—
The Right Hon. Earl Stanhope, President of the Royal Society of
Antiquaries
The Right Hon. Viscount Hill, Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire
The Right Hon. Lord Braybrooke
The Right Hon. Lord Talbot de Malahide
The Right Hon. Lord Lindsay
The Right Hon. Lord Newport, M.P.
The Right Hon. the Lord Chief Baron
Beriah Botfield, Esq., M.P.
The Hon. Rowland C. Hill, M.P.
R. Monckton Milnes, Esq., M.P.
C. Octavius S. Morgan, Esq., M.P.
H. Danby Seymour, Esq., M.P.
W. Tite, Esq., M.P.
C. C. Babington, Esq., F.R.S., St. John’s Coll., Cambridge
The Rev. E. L. Barnwell, General Secretary of the Cambrian
Archæological Association
Sir John P. Boileau, Bart., F.R.S., V.P.S.A.
The Rev. Dr. Bosworth, F.R.S., F.S.A., Professor of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford
The Rev. Dr. J. Collingwood Bruce, F.S.A., Hon. Sec. of the Society of
Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Talbot Bury, Esq., F.R.I.B.A., A.I.C.E.
Benjamin Bond Cabbell, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A.
Robert Chambers, Esq., Edinburgh
Sir James Clarke, Bart., F.R.S.
James Dearden, Esq., F.S.A.
C. Wentworth Dilke, Esq.
J. Hepworth Dixon, Esq., F.S.A.
Joseph Durham, Esq., F.S.A.
The Rev. E. Egremont, Vicar of Wroxeter
F. W. Fairholt, Esq., F.S.A.
Augustus Guest, Esq., L.L.D., F.S.A.
S. Carter Hall, Esq., F.S.A.
J. O. Halliwell, Esq., F.S.A., F.R.S.
The Rev. C. H. Hartshorne
Fredk. Hindmarsh, Esq., F.R.G.S., F.G.S., Hon. Sec.
The Rev. T. Hugo, F.S.A.
Dr. Henry Johnson, Hon. Sec. of the Excavation Committee, Shrewsbury
Joseph Mayer, Esq., F.S.A., Liverpool
Sir Roderick I. Murchison, F.R.S., &c.
Frederick Ouvry, Esq., F.S.A.
The Rev. H. M. Scarth
Charles Roach Smith, Esq., F.S.A.
Vice-Admiral W. H. Smyth, F.R.S., F.S.A.
W. S. W. Vaux, Esq., F.S.A., President of the Numismatic Society
Albert Way, Esq., F.S.A.
Thomas Wright, Esq., F.S.A., Treasurer.
* * * * *
* * * * *
J. O. SANDFORD, PRINTER, SHREWSBURY.
* * * * *
PLATES.
Plate 1: The north side of the Old Wall at Wroxeter
[Picture: Plate 1. The north side of the Old Wall at Wroxeter]
Plate 2: Wroxeter Church, Shropshire (Vignette)
[Picture: Plate 2: Wroxeter Church, Shropshire (Vignette)]
Plate 3: First Roman Hypocaust Discovered at Uriconium 1859
[Picture: First Roman Hypocaust Discovered at Uriconium]
Plate 4: Roman Tile-Roof, Roman Flag-Roof, Section of Roman Hypocaust,
&c.
[Picture: Figures 1, 2, 3, 4: Roman Tile Roof; Figures 5 and 6: Roman
Flag Roof; Figure 7: Section of Roman Hypocaust]
Plate 5: Plan of Walls, discovered by the Excavations at Wroxeter, Salop,
from February 3rd to September, 1863.
[Picture: Plan of Walls, discovered by the Excavations at Wroxeter,
Salop, from February 3rd to September, 1863]
Plate 6: Column in the garden of W. H. Oatley Esq., Wroxeter
[Picture: Column in the garden of W. H. Oatley Esq., Wroxeter]
Plate 7: Ancient Stone Font in Wroxeter Church
[Picture: Plate 7: Ancient Stone Font in Wroxeter Church]
Plate 8: Capitals found at Uriconium
[Picture: Plate 8: Capitals found at Uriconium]
Plate 9: Samian, Upchurch, and Romano-Salopian Pottery
[Picture: Plate 9: Samian, Upchurch, and Romano-Salopian Pottery]
Plate 10: Rings and Combs
[Picture: Rings and Combs (actual size)]
Plate 11: Hair Pins &c.
[Picture: Hair Pins &c. (actual size)]
Plate 12: Skulls from Wroxeter
[Picture: Skulls from Wroxeter]
Plate 13: Roman Remains from Wroxeter
[Picture: Plate 13: Roman Remains from Wroxeter, in the possession of
Samuel Wood, Esq., and Mask,. in the Museum, Shrewsbury]
Plate 14: Upchurch Pottery, Adz, Spear Head, and Romano-Salopian (Red)
Ware
[Picture: Plate 14: Upchurch Pottery, Adz, Spear Head, and
Romano-Salopian (Red) Ware]
Plate 15: Carved stone fragments from Uriconium, in the Garden of Edward
Stanier, Esq., Wroxeter
[Picture: Carved stone fragments from Uriconium, in the Garden of Edward
Stanier, Esq., Wroxeter]
Plate 16: Sepulchral Stone
[Picture: Sepulchral Stone from in the Cemetery, Wroxeter]
* * * * *
ADVERTISEMENTS. {102}
J. O. SANDFORD.
* * * * *
CARTE DE VISITE ALBUMS.
* * * * *
PRESENTATION BOOKS.
* * * * *
STATIONARY.
* * * * *
North and South Wales Guides.
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TOURISTS CASES.
* * * * *
SHREWSBURY AND WROXETER
STEREOSCOPIC SLIDES.
* * * * *
25 High-Street, Shrewsbury.
* * * * *
J. O. SANDFORD.
* * * * *
DRAWING MATERIALS,
COMPRISING
WINSOR & NEWTON’S, & ROWNEY’S
COLOURS,
IN CAKES, TUBES, AND PANS.
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Whatman’s Drawing Papers.
SKETCH BLOCKS & BOOKS,
OF VARIOUS SIZES.
PENCILS & BRUSHES.
CRAYON PAPERS.
* * * * *
25, High-Street, Shrewsbury.
* * * * *
WATERPROOF TWEED CLOAKS.
* * * * *
J. E. & W. PHILLIPS,
TAILORS,
AND
HABIT MAKERS,
37, HIGH STREET, SHREWSBURY,
ARE THE ORIGINAL MAKERS OF THE
WATERPROOF TWEED CLOAKS
FOR LADIES,
Which they continue to supply of the same quality
which obtained for them their European reputation.
* * * * *
GENTLEMEN’S OVER COATS
OF THE SAME MATERIAL.
* * * * *
Patterns of Material, and directions for Measurement
sent (post free) on application.
* * * * *
LION HOTEL,
SHREWSBURY.
THE Nobility, Gentry, and Public of Shrewsbury and its Vicinity, are
respectfully informed that this old-established and well-known Hotel, has
undergone considerable renovation and change in every department, and
that nothing will be spared to make it the most complete and comfortable
Hotel in the county. An entirely new tariff of charges has been arranged
(including servants’ fees) on the most reasonable charges.
_N.B.—The Lion Omnibus runs in connection with all the Trains to_
_and from the Railway Station_.
POST HORSES ALWAYS IN READINESS.
Weddings, funerals, &c. as usual.
ALL ORDERS FOR POST HORSES,
FLYS, &c.
TO BE ADDRESSED TO
AUGUSTUS LUCAS, PROPRIETOR.
* * * * *
_Just published_, _price_ 1_s._ 6_d._ _cloth_; 1_s._ _paper_,
AN HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATED
Handbook
FOR
THE TOWN OF SHREWSBURY:
BEING
A GENERAL GUIDE TO ITS CHURCHES, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, WALKS,
AND OTHER REMARKABLE OBJECTS; TO WHICH IS ADDED,
EXCURSIONS IN THE VICINITY,
BY
HENRY PIDGEON, ESQ.,
_Treasurer of the Corporation of Shrewsbury_, _Author of_ “_Memorials of_
_Shrewsbury_,” _&c._ _&c._
SHREWSBURY: J. O. SANDFORD, HIGH STREET.
* * * * *
LONDON JEWELLERY
ESTABLISHMENT,
38, HIGH-STREET, SHREWSBURY.
* * * * *
J. KENT,
(SUCCESSOR TO J. T. NIGHTINGALE,)
PROPRIETOR.
* * * * *
KENT’S LONDON AND GENEVA WATCHES,
ENGLISH AND FOREIGN
CLOCKS AND TIMEPIECES,
Manufactured to order, expressly for his own sale, by the most celebrated
makers, are warranted to keep accurate time, _and every attention given
to them for the first two years free of charge_, unless broken or injured
by accident.
WEDDING AND GUARD RINGS,
Of 12, 15, 18, & 22 Carat Gold, _Hall-marked_.
GUARD AND ALBERT CHAINS
of the newest London design, and guaranteed as to quality and
workmanship.
HAIR JEWELLERY,
In Brooches, Bracelets, Shawl-pins, Earrings, Lockets, Necklets, Guard or
Albert Chains, Rings, Studs, Sleeve-links, Scarf-pins, Charms, &c., of
the most novel and artistic designs, made to order, _from the hair
supplied by the parties_, on the shortest possible notice.
In order to meet the requirement of his increasing connection, J. K.
respectfully announces that, having _now on the premises_ experienced
first-class London Workmen, he can execute
_Repairs in Jewellery_, _Watches_, _Clocks_, _Spectacles_,
_Plated Goods_, _Cutlery_, _&c._
IN A FEW HOURS.
J. KENT,
LATE J. T. NIGHTINGALE,
MOURNING JEWELLER, OPTICIAN, &c.
38, HIGH STREET, SHREWSBURY.
* * * * *
Shrewsbury & Wroxeter Illustrated.
_A Series of Views for the Stereoscope_, _by_ F. BEDFORD. 1s. _each_.
1. SHREWSBURY, Ireland’s Mansion.
2. SHREWSBURY, the Market House.
3. SHREWSBURY, the Market Square.
4. SHREWSBURY, Statue of Clive, in the Market Place.
5. SHREWSBURY, Elizabethan Houses, in the Market Place.
6. SHREWSBURY, the Cross Keys Tavern, High Street.
7. SHREWSBURY, Old House, Princess Street, Market Place.
8. SHREWSBURY, Shearman’s Hall, and Old Post Office Inn.
9. SHREWSBURY, Old Houses, in the Wyle Cop.
10. SHREWSBURY, Old Timber Houses, in the Abbey Foregate.
11. SHREWSBURY, Gate Way to Council House, St. Nicholas’ Chapel.
12. SHREWSBURY, in the Court Yard to the Council House.
13. SHREWSBURY, the Royal Grammar School.
14. SHREWSBURY, the Castle, Garden Front.
15. SHREWSBURY, the Castle, from the Entrance Gateway.
16. SHREWSBURY, the last remaining Tower of the Old Walls.
17. SHREWSBURY, English Bridge.
18. SHREWSBURY, St. Giles’s Church.
19. SHREWSBURY, Old Church of St. Giles.
20. SHREWSBURY, the Abbey, from the South East.
21. SHREWSBURY, the Abbey, West Front.
22. SHREWSBURY, Old St. Chad’s Church.
23. SHREWSBURY, St. Mary’s Church, view from South West.
24. SHREWSBURY, St. Mary’s Church, South Porch.
25. SHREWSBURY, St. Mary’s Church, from the Infirmary.
26. SHREWSBURY, St. Julian’s Church, and Spire of St. Alkmond.
27. SHREWSBURY, St. Chad’s Church.
28. SHREWSBURY, the Portal to the Shoemaker’s Arbour, Kingsland.
29. SHREWSBURY, Lord Hill’s Column.
30. SHREWSBURY, the Stone Pulpit.
31. SHREWSBURY, St. Mary’s Watergate.
32. SHREWSBURY, the Ferry and House of Industry.
33. SHREWSBURY, Avenue in the Quarry.
34. SHREWSBURY, the Dingle in the Quarry.
35. SHREWSBURY, the Whitehall.
36. WROXETER, remains of Floor in the Baths.
37. WROXETER, supposed Enameller’s Shop.
38. WROXETER, Public Baths, looking West.
39. WROXETER, the Old Wall, and Hypocaust.
40. WROXETER, Public Baths, from the S.W.
41. WROXETER, the principal Hypocaust.
42. WROXETER, Public Baths, looking East.
43. WROXETER, the Excavations, seen from W.N.W.
_Published by CATHERALL & PRICHARD_, _Eastgate-row_,
_Chester_, _and sold by all dealers in slides_.
* * * * *
VINCENT CRUMP,
BY SPECIAL APPOINTMENT
Bride, Citron, [Picture: Royal coat Simmels in
and of Arms] the
Desert Cakes. Season.
CONFECTIONER
To Her Majesty the Queen,
WYLE COP AND PRIDE HILL,
SHREWSBURY.
* * * * *
ROYAL SHREWSBURY CAKES.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES.
{99a} See Abstract of Proceedings of Royal Society, June, 1862.
{99b} Crania Britannia.
{99c} Pre-Historic Man, vol. ii. p. 306, &c. &c.
{102} In this transcription the advertisements have been moved to the
end of the book. In the original the first two (J. O. Sandford) come
before the frontispiece. The rest then follow after the Appendix and
come before the Plates with the exception of the last two (Shrewsbury and
Wroxeter Illustrated; Vincent Crump) which came after the plates.—DP.
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