Roman Britain in 1914 | Page 9

(xv) Wroxeter (Viroconium). The systematic excavation of Wroxeter
begun in 1912 by Mr. J. P. Bushe-Fox on behalf of the London Society
of Antiquaries and the Shropshire Archaeological Society, was carried
by him through its third season in 1914. The area examined lay
immediately north of the temple uncovered in 1913. The main structure
in it was a large dwelling-house 115 feet long, with extensions up to
200 feet, which possessed at least two courtyards, a small detached
bath-house, various mosaic and cement floors, hypocausts, and so forth.
It had been often altered, and its excavation and explanation were
excessively difficult. Mr. Bushe-Fox thinks that it may have begun as
three shops giving on to the north and south Street which bounds its
eastern end. Certainly it became, in course of time, a large
corridor-house with a south aspect and an eastern wing fronting the
street, and as such it underwent several changes in detail. Beyond its
western end lay a still more puzzling structure. An enceinte formed by
two parallel walls, about 13 feet apart, enclosed a rectangular space of
about 150 feet wide; the western end of it, and therefore its length,
could not be ascertained; the two corners uncovered at the east end
were rounded; an entrance seems to have passed through the north-east
corner. It has been called a small fort, an amphitheatre, a stadium, and
several other things. But a fort should be larger and would indeed be
somewhat hard to account for at this spot; while a stadium should have
a rounded end and, if it was of orthodox length, would have extended
outside the town into or almost into the Severn. Interest attaches to a
water-channel along the main (north and south) street. This was found

to have at intervals slits in each side which were plainly meant for
sluice-gates to be let down; Mr. Bushe-Fox thinks that the channel was
a water-supply, and not an outfall, and that by the sluice-gates the water
was dammed up so as, when needed, to flow along certain smaller
channels into the private houses which stood beside the road. If so, the
discovery has much interest; the arrangement is peculiar, but no other
explanation seems forthcoming.
Small finds were many and good. Mr. Bushe-Fox gathered 571 coins
ranging from three British and one or two Roman Republican issues, to
three early coins of the Emperor Arcadius, over 200 Samian potters'
stamps, and much Samian datable to the period about A.D. 75-130,
with a few rare pieces of the pre-Flavian age. There was a noticeable
scarcity of both Samian and coins of the post-Hadrianic, Antonine
period; it was also observed that recognizable 'stratified deposits' did
not occur after the age of Hadrian. Among individual objects attention
is due to a small seal-box, with wax for the seal actually remaining in
it.
It appears that it will probably not be possible to continue this
excavation, even on a limited scale, next summer. Mr. Bushe-Fox's
report for 1913 is noticed below, p. 52.
(xvi) Lincoln. At Lincoln an inscribed fragment found in 1906 has now
come to light. It bears only three letters, IND, being the last letters of
the inscription; these plainly preserve a part of the name of the town,
Lindum. See below, p. 34.
(xvii) Gloucester. Here, in March 1914, a mosaic floor, 16 feet square,
with a complex geometrical pattern in red, white, and blue, has been
found 9 feet below the present surface, at 22 Northgate Street. Some
painted wall-plaster from the walls of the room to which it belonged
were found with it.
(xviii) Discoveries in London have been limited to two groups of
rubbish-pits in the City, (a) At the General Post Office the pits opened
in 1913 (see my Report, p. 22) were further carefully explored in 1914
by Mr. F. Lambert, Mr. Thos. Wilson, and Dr. Norman; the Post Office

gave full facilities. Over 100 'potholes' were detected, of which about
forty yielded more or less datable rubbish, mainly potsherds. Four
contained objects of about A.D. 50-80, though not in great
quantity--four bits of decorated Samian and eight Samian stamps--and
fourteen contained objects of about A.D. 70-100; the rest seemed to
belong to the second century, with some few later items intermixed.
One would infer that a little rubbish was deposited here before the
Flavian period, but that after about A.D. 70 or 80 the site was freely
used as a rubbish-ground for three generations or more. Two objects
may be noted, a gold ring bearing the owner's initials Q. D. D. and a bit
of inscribed wood from the lining of a well or pit (p. 35). (b) At the top
of King William Street, between Sherborne Lane and Abchurch Lane,
not so far from the Mansion House, five large pits