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XIX. Observations on the Site of Camulodunum, in a Letter from the Rev. Henry Jenkins, B.D., to Nicholas Carlisle, Esq. K.H., F.R.S., Secretary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2012

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Extract

Through my friend, Dr. Rowlands, I transmit to you my observations on the site of Camulodunum. My first intention was to have traced the whole of the 9th Iter, but I have been prevented by my professional duties from attempting so much, and have confined my inquiries to my own neighbourhood. To Messrs. Tayspill and Gilbert I am greatly indebted for their kindness in tracing on the Ordnance Map the various roads and places mentioned in the Paper. The Roman works are marked in red, and the British works in blue. In addition to what relates to my paper, those gentlemen have also traced, from their own observations, the road leading from Colonia to Mersea Island, at least so much as has come under their notice, and this road they have also marked in red, and the site of the Propraetor's house, and the Roman beacon in Mersea Island. I was afraid to add more notes, lest I should make the paper too tedious; at the same time it was necessary to add some for explanation. And if what I have written meets the approbation of the Society, I shall be amply rewarded.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1842

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References

page 243 note a These have been accommodated to a smaller form in Plate XXX.

page 244 note b In all that relates to Britain Tacitus must be considered the best authority. Whether he visited the island himself may perhaps be questioned. That he received an accurate information of many events from his father-in-law, Agricola, there can be little doubt: But that part of his Annals which contained the invasion of Claudius Cæsar is unfortunately lost.

page 245 note c The field adjoining the excavation is called to this day Vent field. Now, Venta is the name given to places where the public or general body of the Britons convened or met in their several states.

page 246 note d Stanway was a royal manor, belonging to King William, and before the Conquest had belonged to Harold. Lexden, therefore, as annexed to Stanway, had continued to be a royal possession under three successive dynasties, viz. British, Saxon, and Norman. The testimony of the hundred, “Hundredus testantur,” so often quoted in Domesday, may also be adduced to vouch for its ancient importance, for from Lexden the hundred takes its name.

page 246 note e The change from Llys-din to Lodunum for the sake of euphony is exactly the same as from Cæsaris-magus to Cæsaromagus.

page 247 note f My own conjecture is, that it joined the Ikeneld Street at Tring. It is well known that the Ikeneld Street traversed Britain from west to east, from Falmouth, in Cornwall, to Yarmouth, in Norfolk. But the various branches which issued from it have never been accurately defined. That branch, however, which connected it with Camulodunum, passed on through Manningtree, i. e. Manni-try, the town of the Manni, to Harwich, where Dover Court still attests by its name the ancient British post.

page 247 note g Vide Cæsar de Bello Gallico, lib. v. cap. 11.

page 247 note h Ann. lib. xiv. cap. 33. Eadem clades Municipio Verulamio fuit; quia barbari, omissis castellis præsidiisq. militarium, quod uberrimum spolianti et defendentibus intutum, læti præda, et aliorum segnes, petebant.

page 248 note i Mr. Gilbert has traced a small circle on the map to shew the spot where the mount formerly stood, and above it has placed the figure 5.

page 248 note k At this point, where the military way meets the turnpike road, Mr. Morant begins his survey and admeasurement of the earthworks at Lexden. (Vide Morant's History of Essex.)

page 249 note l This Beacon is marked in the Ordnance Map ”Moat;” if you draw a straight line from Colchester to the camp in Pitehbury wood, this beacon stands about midway between them, and commands a view of both. From hence also you can clearly see the beacon on the opposite hill adjoining Lexden park.

page 249 note m The name occurs in an old perambulation of the liberty of Colchester. “And from thence to Black-brook, under Chesterwell, which brook runs cross the way at the foot of Horkesley causeway, and which Chesterwell was affirmed to be in the lands in Horkesley, pertaining to St. Peter's.”

In the terrier of St. Peter's, Colchester, occurs the following description of the land: “Lauds called Sprotts and Sprottismarsh, in the parish and fields of Great Horkesleigh.”

page 250 note n Babrig is the name of the hundred in Suffolk to which Wiston belongs, and, although opposed to the learned Camden, I cannot hut suppose this name to he derived from the Bibroci who dwelt here. With greater pleasure, however, do I agree with that father of British antiquaries, in supposing Brettenham in Suffolk, hoth from its position and its distance from Horkesley, to be Combretonium.

page 250 note o In the Ordnance Map it is marked “Pictsbury,” and the camp is also delineated. The area contains six acres. Dr. Stukeley deemed it to be the site of a palace of King Cunobeline, but in this supposition surely he must be mistaken. Whatever was its first destination, whether regal or druidical, it afterwards probably became one of the Præsidia established in the neighbourhood of Camulodunum, and which the Britons, after their slaughter of the Veterans, avoided attacking. There are strong reasons for supposing that this is the camp into which Petilius Cerialis, with the horse of the ninth legion, escaped. A large mound, in the parish of Wormingford, close to the Decoy, and to the banks of the river Stour, was removed about six years ago, that the earth might be spread over the lower part of the field, and many hundreds of urns were then discovered, placed in parallel rows, like streets; this circumstance would lead us to imagine that they were the remains of the infantry of the ninth legion, who were advancing from the Iceni to support their countrymen in their danger, and were cut off by the Britons at the passage of the Stour. Their bodies might have been collected and burnt by the Romans as soon as they had recovered their dominion. And if this supposition is correct, the lofty tumulus close to Mount Bures church, and from which the parish takes its name, was raised by the Britons as a proud trophy of their victory, and also in honour of their companions who had fallen in the battle.

page 252 note p Whoever visits the camp at Haynes Green (having previously read the 34th chapter of the 14th book of the Annals) will be struck with the resemblance it bears to the position taken up by Suetonius before his battle with Boadieea. Such, at least, was the impression made on my friend Mr. Vint and myself when we visited the spot. Two large woods, Pod's Wood and Layer Marney Wood, seem to form the narrow gorge in front of the camp which Tacitus mentions. The persuasion is still further strengthened by the name of the parish Messing, which is Maes, a field of battle, and the Saxon termination Ing, a plain, i. e. the plain of the field of battle. Moreover the large farm, situated midway between the village of Messing and the camp on Haynes Green, is called Hareburgh, i. e. the station of the army; as if the Britons were assembled there on that occasion. A Saxon word might commemorate an event antecedent to the Saxons. In the Ordnance Map the farm-house is marked Harbro Hall.

page 254 note q A remarkable instance of this fact occurred when the turnpike road on the ascent of Lexden Hill was widened about sixteen years ago. Below that part where the Roman road crossed by a bridge, the labourers found nothing in removing the earth, but the whole space above was crowded with remains, and amongst the rest some beautiful gold rings were dug up. The most extraordinary relique, however, was the skeleton of a man with his head downwards, and a patera beside him, which was found in the bank, immediately behind the site of the bridge. From the emblem of his office, and the mortal aversion with which the Britons regarded the priests of Claudius, we may almost imagine this skeleton to have been that of a priest, who in his attempt to escape during the insurrection, had been seized by the Britons and buried alive.

page 254 note r Ann. lib. xiv. cap. 31.

page 255 note s Where the military way crosses on the side of Lexden hill from Mrs. Mills' park to the grounds of Mr. De Home, and precisely at the spot where the skeleton of a man with a patera beside him was found, the most casual observer will perceive that the opposite sides must have been connected by a bridge, under which the old British road (now the turnpike road) passed. This was the great thoroughfare between the Veteran Colonists and the inhabitants of Camulodunum, and separated them in the same manner as Temple Bar divides Fleet-street from the Strand. And on this bridge, as a most public and conspicuous place, probably stood the statue of Victory, which Tacitus mentions.

page 255 note t In Mr. Wright's History of Essex, vol. i. p. 315, is the following passage: “Both on the north and east sides, the castle precincts were secured by a deep ditch and strong ramparts of earth, now within the gardens of the Rev. James Round. The rampart itself is thrown upon a wall, which formerly encompassed either the castle, or the palace of Coel, on whose site it stands: the buttresses and other parts of this old wall, were discovered nearly a century ago.” If for “the palace of Coel,” we read “the Temple of Claudius,” Mr. Wright would have been more accurate, and an investigation of the wall beneath the rampart would at once establish the fact that the building is Roman.