LONDINIUM
“London was built on the first spot going up the river where any considerable tract of dry land touches the stream. It is a tract of good gravel, well supplied with water, not liable to flooding, and not commanded by neighbouring higher ground.”—Lord Avebury, Scenery of England.
From the standing-ground of what is known of London in the Middle Ages, I have endeavoured to reach back towards Londinium Augusta. To set out adequately all the data that we have for reconstructing the Roman city would require a treatise from a specialist. I can only venture here a rapid glance in conclusion at the more salient features of the ancient town. Much in recent years has been written as to a still earlier London than that included within the circuit of Roman walls which held what is now known as the City. It is at once evident that the early city must have had a nucleus and a greater density in one part than in others; and every evidence goes to show that this earliest centre was situated on the east side of the Walbrook at the head of London Bridge. We have the facts of the position of the Bridge itself, and the suitability of the site; the evidence that important buildings were densely packed in this district, while outside of it they were more and more scattered; and also that no graves have been found within this area. Mr. Roach Smith thought that certain remnants of thick walls found near Cannon Street in the south and Cornhill in the north were probably parts of earlier city walls. He says: “Here and there during excavations, walls of great thickness, which may be referred to walls of circumvallation, were intersected. The extraordinary sub-structures which were cut through in Bush Lane and Scott’s Yard indicate a south-east boundary wall with a flanking tower. In Cornhill another thick wall which seemed to point towards the Bank of England was met with.” Then, in a passage already referred to above, he concludes that old London Bridge pointed to the axis of this earlier Londinium, the centre or carfax of which was at the intersection of Gracechurch Street and East-Cheap. He was inclined to place the earlier north wall along the course of Cornhill and Leadenhall Street, the east wall in the direction of Billiter Street and Mark Lane, the south in the line of Thames streets, and the west on the eastern bank of the Walbrook—an irregular square with four gates, corresponding with Bridge Gate, Bishop’s Gate, Ludgate, and Aldgate.[213]
Fig. 35.—Roman Pavement. Drawn in situ by Fairholt, 1854.
Possibly Wren had found some remnant of such an earlier north wall, for he put the northward extent of the city along Cheapside and in line with Cornhill. This earlier north wall seems to have been again found about 1897, in which year Mr. Williamson sent the following passage to the Middlesex and Herts Notes and Queries:—“Very close to St. Peter’s-upon-Cornhill, Roman walls of immense thickness have been discovered, proceeding in a westerly direction from Leadenhall Market under the Woolpack Tavern in Gracechurch Street along St. Peter’s Alley, a few feet on the south side of the churchyard of St. Peter’s, continuing under the banking-house of Messrs. Prescott, Dimsdale, & Co. (50 Cornhill), supposed to continue under the roadway of Cornhill, and appearing again in the foundations of the new building now being erected on the north side of Cornhill (No. 70) for the Union Bank of Australia. For what purpose, is it conjectured, were these walls at Leadenhall and Cornhill built?” By the aid of this valuable observation, I think that the concluding question may be safely answered by the theory of earlier walls.
Mr. Loftie has brought forward a suggestion, or rather stated a conclusion, that there was in the earlier days a walled castrum, like Richborough, at the head of London Bridge, reaching northwards to the “Langbourne.” It is not usual to seat such a post on a steep hill-side, it would be curious to pass all the Bridge traffic through it, and, finally, I have not found a vestige of foundation for its existence—it is a castrum in the air.[214]
It may be held for certain that when Tacitus, writing of the insurrection of A.D. 62, spoke of London as a wealthy and important place, no walls existed, for of the still more important Camalodunum he tells us that it had no defences, and the garrison could only fortify themselves in the temple. “The Roman generals,” he says, “neglecting the useful, embellished the province, but took no care for its defence.”
However, it is reasonable to suppose that the chief centres would have been protected a little later under the very thorough policy of Agricola, if these shortcomings were so noticed when Tacitus wrote; and it is the opinion of Mr. Haverfield, our best authority on things Roman, that the walls of the sister city of Silchester, now so well known to us, go back to this time.
I cannot think that the greater wall of London dates back to the first century, but it has never been proved to be later.
Fig. 36.—Roman Brick inscribed London.
Fig. 37.—Inscription from Roman Brick.
Fragments of sculpture, themselves not very early, have been found in portions of the wall, yet the Camomile Street bastion and other similar places might be additions and repairs; and some late fragments from the south wall found by Roach Smith seem to have come from its foundation (Figs. 24 and 25).
If it is difficult to offer any convincing argument as to the age of the wall of London, it is possible to get a general idea of the walled city and its neighbourhood with some vividness and accuracy. We have the great tidal river, the background of forest, and the nearer fen-lands, which seem to have almost insulated the site. There is the great white posting-road from Canterbury and Dover, and, more remotely, from Rome, Lyons, Chalons, Auxerre, Troyes, Rheims, Amiens, Boulogne, striking straight from point to point. On its course are villas, like one just discovered in Greenwich Park. The road dips towards the river, and passes over the drained and banked marshes to the Surrey suburb. There is a gate-tower at the end of the Bridge, then comes the long and narrow passage over the strong, swift river to the grey walls of Londinium. Along the river-front are several wharves formed of timbering, to the left is the creek of the little river which ran under the west walls, and, still further west, some water-side villas.[215] Entering the city the street ascends steeply towards the north gate; others, parallel to its course, lead to two other gates in the north wall, and two chief routes traverse the city longitudinally from west gate to east gate, and from west postern to east postern. A bridge[216] over the Walbrook gives good reason why the street lines in the eastern half of the city converge toward this point. The area extending from the north-gate street to the bank of the Walbrook is covered with the principal buildings closely packed together.[217] Beyond this central mass of buildings stand isolated villas in gardens and orchards. In the open belt of ground outside the walls, and along the roads, west, north, and east, are cemeteries, the graves marked with sarcophagi and sculptured headstones, some of imported marble. A theatre somewhat similar to those at Dorchester, Cirencester, and Silchester is situated without the west gate, being excavated in the steep bank of the rivulet between it and the city wall.[218]
Fig. 38.—Roman Tomb, from outside of the East Walls. Restored.
Fig. 39.—Inscription from Roman Tomb.
Within the walls the city is adorned by more than one bronze statue. The sculptured ornaments of the public buildings are somewhat rude and ponderous, but the dwellings are furnished with numerous imported works of art, such as bronze statuettes, bowls of red Samian ware, and very beautiful coloured glass vessels of the millefiore kind. The rooms have their walls painted in bright colours with birds, flowers, and figures, and imitations of porphyry and verde antique, while a few are cased with thin slabs of marble. The pavements are patterned mosaic, and raised above hot air chambers; lead pipes supply water, the windows are glazed, and the roofs without are covered with red pantiles. So far there seem to be authentic data for such a picture. It would be vain to attempt in many instances to assign the fragments found in excavations to particular buildings. Roach Smith, however, was of opinion that a large fragment sculptured with the three seated goddesses, the Deae Matres, found in Hart Street, Crutched Friars, and now in the Guildhall, “stood on the outside of a temple dedicated to these popular divinities.”
Fig. 40.—End of a Roman Tomb found in London.
Fig. 41.—Leaden Cist.
Fig. 42.—Plate of figured Glass for Decoration.
Fig. 43.—Roman Inscription.
The illustration of a tomb is made up from fragments in the British Museum found in the east wall (Figs. 38 and 39).
A large stone, about two feet high, found fifty years ago below Clement’s Lane, Lombard Street, bearing “a few letters of the sounding words PROVINCIA BRITANNIAE,” was thought by the same authority to have stood above a civil basilica. This most important inscription was lodged at the Guildhall, but has disappeared. I have Roach Smith’s original sketch of it, and a letter asking Fairholt to go and draw it more carefully. But in his Roman London he complains that it could not be found. Fortunately, there is a second careful drawing of the stone in the Archer Collection at the British Museum, and from this my figure is made.[219]Following the model of Silchester, it is quite probable that a Christian church stood in a main street on such a site as the present St. Peter’s upon Cornhill. The Forum, as has been said, probably lay north of London Stone, which may have been the golden milestone of London. Wren thought that the PrÆtorium occupied the ground between the two west gates; but the Tower site seems even more probable.
Bagford refers to the discovery of some Roman water-pipes in Creed Lane after the fire, which were “carried round a bath that was built in a round form with niches at an equal distance for seats.”
It has been noticed that the masonry of the walls of the Roman houses seems to have finished not far above ground as if in preparation for timbering; other indications of this have been found, and a rough scratching of a house on a tile shows timber construction. This has recently been confirmed by the discovery at Silchester of houses which had timbered framing covered with clay daubing over wattle work, the outside surface being ornamented with zigzag patterns like mediÆval pargeting, all of brick-red colour.Before the Roman forces were drawn back to the heart of the empire, London seems to have grown into the position of British Metropolis. Its position in regard to the arterial roads when the itinerary was compiled, shows how it tended to take precedence over the more military centres. Moreover, while the mint marks of one or two British cities appear on coins earlier than the mark of London, in Constantinian days London is the only British city where money seems to have been coined.[220] In the last days of the occupation the city had acquired the name of Augusta. We cannot doubt that the Roman soldiers drawn away to protect their lines of communication marched Romeward with the intention of returning again to the city by the Thames when the barbarian Germans and Goths had been thrust back into their woods and plains; yet the day of Rome was done, and their retreat was itself an incident in the advance of a new age.
