422 CHAP. FOUR ROMAN ROADS. terston, and the Severn, near the Wrekin in Shropshire, and extending as far as Anglesea in Wales. II. Ikeneld-street, leading from Southampton, over the river Isis at Newbridge, thence by Campden and Litchfield, then passes the Derwent near Derby, so to Bolsover castle, and ends at Tinmouth. III. One called Fosse-way, (because in some places it was never perfected, but lies as a large ditch), leads from Cornwall through Devonshire, by Tetbury near Stow in the Wolds, and on the side of Coventry to Leicester, Newark, and so to Lincoln. IV. Erminage-street, stretches from St. David's in West Wales to Southampton*. There were numerous other provincial roads: from York, in particular, there was a road to Whitby, another to Stockton, one to Flamborough, near Bridlington Bay, one to Petuaria, (by South Cave), a Roman station; one to Aldborough, (the capital of the Brigantes), to Bernard-castle, and other places+. nounced by the Britons Gwetalin.-Camden, Vol. I. p. xlvii. Many Roman milestones have been found near these roads. * Rees's Cyclop. "Way." + Map by Bowen, Geographer to the King. CHAPTER XIV. Remains of Elephants and Wild Beasts, found in England, Scotland, and Ireland. IN Grays-inn Lane, London, a tusk of an elephant, at the depth of CHAP. twelve feet, in gravel. - Note. This place was not a mile from Londinium. Cæsar's intrenchments are still visible at the bottom of this lane, and the place is called Battle Bridge. (Stukeley, Itin. Cur. Vol. II. p. 5). Cæsar, we have seen, had at least one large elephant when he crossed the Thames. XIV. "In 1689, in a gravel pit, not far from the sign of Sir John Oldcastle, Mr. Conyers, a great antiquary, discovered the carcass of an elephant. I saw part of it dug out, and what remained he bought of the workmen. This he was of opinion had not lain there ever since the flood, but since the Romans; for in the time of Claudius, as mentioned by the learned Selden in Drayton's Polyolbion, near this place a battle was fought between the Britons and Romans; for in the same pit he found the head of a British spear made of flint.” Selections from the Gent's. Mag. Vol. I. p. 429. 424 CHAP. TEMPLE OF DIANA.-ST. PAUL'S CHURCH. "Dr. Woodward, (in his letter to Sir Christopher Wren), acquaints us, that he had in his collection tusks of boars, horns of oxen and of stags, as also the representation of deer, and even of Diana herself, upon the sacrificing vessels dug up near St. Paul's church, and likewise a small image of that goddess, found at no great distance. From ancient writers, it appears that not only stags, but oxen, were sacrificed to Diana. An ancient MS. in the Cotton library, informs us, that in the time of Melitus, the first bishop of London, Ethelbert, king of Kent, built a church to the honour of St. Paul, on the site where before stood a temple of Diana: and there were also certain ceremonies performed at this church on the day of St. Paul's conversion, by the multitude, which evidently alluded to the worship of Diana: and manors were held by the service of offering a doe, or buck and doe, at the high altar of the church, on the above-mentioned day. A ceremony of this kind was continued to the time of queen Elizabeth." Jortin's Life of Erasmus, Rees's Encyc. " Diana." At Romford, twelve miles east from London, a cart-load of elephants' and rhinoceros's bones were dug up in a field. Note. This was the Roman military station of Durolitum, and is on the Roman highway. Dr. Stukeley. "At Ilford, (seven miles east of London), a very large skeleton of a KEW.-HARWICH.-WALTON. mammoth, or elephant, was found fourteen feet deep in tenacious clay; and many other tusks and bones." Morning Herald, May 7th, 1824. At Kew, seven miles west of London, bones of the elephant and stag, and a great number of the hippopotamus. Note.-It may be observed that these remains are found, like others, at the usual distance from cities. Romford was a military post. The Emperor Geta resided in London the three years the Emperors Severus and Caracalla were living at York. Severus was particularly curious in procuring foreign animals. (See Chap. XI.) Wild beasts were no doubt exhibited for private gain in greater numbers by the Romans than in modern times; but the public games must have been exhibited in Britain for three centuries. 425 CHAP. XIV. At Mersey island, Essex, about five miles from Colchester, an entire skeleton of an elephant was found. Selections, Gent.'s Mag. Vol. II. p. 462. At Harwich, a very beautiful fossil turtle, embedded in a solid block of cement stone. Another large stone of about five hundred weight, when broken, was found to contain nearly the whole of a human skeleton. See Common Sense Newspaper, No. 60. At Walton, five miles south of Harwich, bones of the elephant, stag, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, and Irish fossil elk* have been found. Parkinson, Vol. III. p. 366. Ralph of Coggleshall relates, that giants' teeth were found at the Ness, near Harwich, three hundred and fifty years ago; so large, that * Remarks on the Irish elk will be seen in Ch. XVIII. 426 BURTON.-BRIGHTON. SHOREHAM. CHAP. they would make two hundred teeth of the present species of men." Camden, Vol. II. p. 46. Note.-Harwich is the port leading to the Roman colony of Camelodunum, (distant twelve miles), where Claudius encamped with three legions; and which place became a Roman city of the first importance. "Cunobeline, the British king, who resided here, had visited the court of Augustus at Rome: thirty-nine of his different coins of gold, silver, &c. have been found. Some of the British coins have elephants on them." See Pennant's Wales, Vol. I. p. 69; and the plate of coins in Ch. XIII. Claudius remained but sixteen days in Britain; and it is not probable that there were exhibitions during that short period. He was, however, so fond of the combats of beasts in the amphitheatres, that he would pass whole days at those amusements. See Suetonius, Ch. XXXIV. We find among these remains at Harwich the African hippopotamus, the Irish elk, and it is possible that the elephant or rhinoceros may have been of Asiatic origin. At Burton, Sussex, in the park, (1740), at the depth of nine feet, two large and two small tusks, a thigh bone, knee-pan, and grinder, were found. Selections, Gent.'s Mag. II. 460. In the tunnel under Kemp-town, Brighton, bones of the horse and elephant. A rib, supposed to be of an elephant, was found on the bank of Shoreham harbour. Phil. Mag. December, 1824. |