Chapter V: Part II: The Dimly Historic Period

The headquarters of the Roman forces in our own part of Britain were at York, where more than one Roman Emperor lived and died, but Lindum, now Lincoln, was an important station. About A.D. 71 Petillius Cerealis was appointed governor of the province by the Emperor Vespasian, he was succeeded by Julius Frontinus, both being able generals. From A.D. 78 to 85 that admirable soldier and administrator, Julius Agricola, over-ran the whole of the north as far as the Grampians, establishing forts in all directions, and doubtless during these and the immediately succeeding years, a network of such stations would be constructed in our own country, connected by those splendid highways which the Romans carried, by the forced labour of the natives, through the length and breadth of their vast empire.

Coins of nearly all the Roman Emperors have been found at Horncastle; one was brought to the present writer in the 1st year of the 20th century, bearing the superscription of the Emperor Severus, who died at York A.D., 211.

NOTE ON ANCIENT COINS FOUND AT HORNCASTLE.

The following list of Roman and other coins found at Horncastle, has been supplied by the Rev. J. A. Penny, Vicar of Wispington, who has them in his own possession.

Consular, denarius, silver. OEs grave, or Roman as, heavy brass. Augustus, quinarius (half denarius). B.C. 27-A.D. 14. Claudius, brass, of three different sizes. A.D. 41-54. Vespasian, denarius, silver. A.D. 69-79. Domitian, brass. A.D. 81-96. Nerva, brass. A.D. 96-98. Trajan, brass, of two sizes. A.D. 98-117. Hadrian, brass. A.D. 117-138. Antoninus Pius, denarius, silver. A.D. 138-161. Faustina I., his wife, brass. Lucius Verus, brass. A.D. 161-169. Marcus Aurelius, brass. A D. 161-180. Faustina II., his wife, brass. Caracalla, denarius, silver. A.D. 211-217. Julia Saemias, mother of Emperor Heliogabalus, denarius, silver. A.D. 218-222. Gordian III., denarius, silver. A.D. 238-244. Philip I., brass. A.D. 244-249. Hostilian, denarius, silver. A.D. 249-251. Gallienus, brass. A.D. 253-268. Salomia, his wife, brass. Victorinus, brass (Emperor in West). A.D. 253-260. (10 varieties). Marius, brass (Emperor in West). A.D. 267. Claudius II. (or Gothicus), brass. A.D. 268-270. Tetricus I., brass (Emperor in Gaul). A.D. 270-273. Tetricus II., brass (Emperor in Gaul). A.D. 270-274. Probus, brass. A.D. 276-282. Diocletian, copper, a new kind of coin named a "follis." A.D. 284-305. Maximian, copper, a "follis." A.D. 286-305. Alectus, brass (Emperor in Britain). A.D. 293-296. Constantius Chlorus, brass. A.D. 305-306. Maxentius, copper, a "follis." A.D. 306-312. Constantine the Great, brass. A.D. 306-337. Crispus, brass. A.D. 326. Magnentius, brass (Emperor in Gaul and Britain). A.D. 350-353. Constantine II., brass (struck in London). A.D. 337-340. Constans, brass. A.D. 337-350. Constantius II., brass. A.D. 337-361. Valens, brass. A.D. 364-378. Gratian, brass. A.D. 375-383. Theodosius I., brass. A.D. 379-395. Arcadius, brass (Emperor in East). A.D. 395-408. Honorius, brass (Emperor in West). A.D. 395-423. Byzantine coin, bronze, date not known exactly but later than Honorius, so showing that the Romans held Horncastle against Saxon invaders.

[Picture: Mammoth Tooth from gravel of River Bain, south of Horncastle.
Weight 2-lbs 6-oz., length 5.25-in., breadth 6.5-in., thickness 2-in.]

A Roman milestone was discovered in the Bail, at Lincoln, in 1891, {5a} inscribed with the name of Marcus Piavonius Victorinus, who commanded in Gaul and Britain, and which must have been set up during his period of office, about A D. 267. The site of this was the point of intersection of the two main streets, which would be the centre of the Roman Forum at Lindum, one of these streets leading to Horncastle; from Horncastle also there branched off, as will be hereafter noted, several main Roman roads.

As Horncastle stands on the banks of the river Bain it has been taken by Stukeley, the antiquarian, and by others following him, {5b} to have been the Roman Banovallum or "Fort on the Bain," mentioned by the Roman geographer of Ravenna; {5c} although, however, most probably correct, this is a mere conjecture. On the road between Horncastle and Lincoln we have the village of Baumber, also called Bamburgh, and this latter form of the name might well mean a "burgh," or fort, on the Bain, the river running just below the village. The two names, however, might well exist at different periods. It may be here mentioned that this form, Bamburg, is found in _Harleian Charter_ 56, c. i, B.M., dated at Wodehalle, December, 1328.

Tacitus, the Roman historian, {5e} tells us that the Romans "wore out the bodies and hands of the Britons in opening out the forests, and paving or fortifying the roads," and we can well imagine that those skilled generals would see the advantageous position for a stronghold in the angle formed by the junction of the two rivers, and would employ the subjugated Britons of the locality in constructing, it may be, at first only a rude fort, protected on two sides by the streams and in the rear by a "vallum," or embankment, and that on the site thus secured and already a native stronghold, they would, at a later period, erect the "castrum," of which massive fragments still remain, testifying to its great strength.

These remains, indeed, in almost their whole course can be traced through present-day gardens and back premises, shewing the four sides of an irregular parallelogram. Their dimensions, roughly speaking, are on the north and south sides about 600-ft., by about 350-ft. at the eastern, and 300-ft. at the western end, their thickness being about 16-ft. The material employed was the Spilsby sandstone, obtainable within five miles, cemented by course grouting poured into the interstices between the massive blocks. These walls inclose a portion of the High Street as far eastward as the site of the present Corn Exchange, westward they include the present manor house and form the boundary of the churchyard in that direction. On the north they run at the back of the houses on that side of the Market Place, and on the south they extend from St. Mary's Square, past the Grammar School, and through sundry yards, parallel with the branch of the canal, which is the old Waring river. The masonry of these walls, as now seen, is very rude. It is supposed that, originally as built by the Romans, they had an external coating of neat structure, but this has entirely disappeared, it is still, however, to be seen in the wells, which are next to be described.

In a cellar, south of the High Street, at a baker's shop, and close to the eastern wall of the castle, is a Roman well; there is another close to the north-east angle of the castle walls, in what is called Dog-kennel Yard, and a third just within the western wall, near the present National Schools. Thus, although the two rivers were without the castle walls, the Roman garrison was well supplied with water.

The Roman roads branching from the town were (1st) the "Ramper," {6a} as it is still called, running north-west, and connecting it with the Roman station Lindum; from this, at Baumber, {6b} distant about 4 miles, a branch running northwards led to the Roman Castrum, now Caistor; (2nd) north-eastwards _via_ West Ashby, being the highway to Louth, the Roman Luda; (3rd) eastwards, by High Toynton, Greetham, &c, to Waynflete, the Roman Vain-ona; (4th) southward, by Dalderby, Haltham, &c., to Leeds Gate, Chapel Hill, and there crossing the river Witham to Sleaford and Ancaster, the Roman Causennae, situated on the great Roman Ermin Street. This also was continued to another Roman Castrum, now Castor, near Peterborough; (5th) south-west, by Thornton, &c., to Tattershall, locally supposed to have been the Roman Durobrivae, and where traces of a Roman camp still remain.

Besides these Roman _viae_ and Roman coins, quite an abundance of Roman pottery has from time to time been unearthed, and fragments are continually being found in gardens in the town. A collection of these, probably cinerary urns, was preserved until quite recently in the library of the Mechanics' Institute, where the writer has frequently seen them, {7a} they varied in height from 8 inches to 18 inches. Unfortunately, for lack of funds, that institution was broken up about 1890, the books were stowed away in a room at the workhouse, a valuable collection, and the urns were sold by the late Mr. Joseph Willson, who acted as sole trustee. Other Roman relics have been fragments of mortars of white clay, found on the site of the present union, one bearing the word "fecit," though the maker's name was lost. Portions also of Samian ware have been found, one stamped with a leopard and stag, another bearing part of the potter's name, ILIANI; with fragments of hand-mills, fibulae, &c. {7b} The present writer has two jars, or bottles, of buff coloured ware, of which about a dozen were dug up when the foundations of the workhouse were being laid in 1838, they are probably Samian, a friend having exactly similar vessels which she brought from Cyprus. The writer has in his possession the head of a porphyritic mallet which was found in a garden in the south of the town a few years ago, it is probably Roman; the handle, which would be of wood, had entirely disappeared; it is much "pitted" through damp and age, is 6.5 inches long and weighs 3-lb. 9-oz.

[Picture: Hammer Head, found near the Wong, length 6.625-in., width
3.875-in. weight 3.5-lb.; of porphyry from the Cheviot region, Neolithic
period. The stone was probably part of a large boulder]

A discovery of further interesting Roman relics of another kind was made in 1896. The owner of a garden near Queen Street, in the south-eastern part of the town, was digging up an apple tree when he came across a fine bed of gravel. Continuing the digging, in order to find the thickness of this deposit, his spade struck against a hard substance, which proved to be a lead coffin. After this had been examined by others invited to inspect it, without any satisfactory result, the present writer was requested to conduct further investigation. The coffin was found to be 5-ft. 2-in. in length, containing the skeleton, rather shorter, of a female. A few days later a second coffin was found, lying parallel to the first, 5-ft. 7-in. in length, the bones of the skeleton within being larger and evidently those of a male. Subsequently fragments of decayed wood and long iron nails and clamps were found, showing that the leaden coffins had originally been enclosed in wooden cases. Both these coffins lay east and west. A description was sent to a well-known antiquarian, the late Mr. John Bellows of Gloucester, and he stated that if the lead had an admixture of tin they were Roman, if no tin, post-Roman. The lead was afterwards analysed by Professor Church, of Kew, and by the analytical chemist of Messrs. Kynoch & Co., of Birmingham, with the result that there was found to be a percentage of 1.65 of tin to 97.08 of lead and 1.3 of oxygen, "the metal slightly oxidised." It was thus proved that the coffins were those of Romans, their "orientation" implying that they were Christian. It should be added that three similar coffins were found in the year 1872, when the foundations were being laid of the New Jerusalem Chapel in Croft Street, within some 100 yards of the two already described; and further, as confirmatory of their being Roman, a lead coffin was also found in the churchyard of Baumber, on the restoration of the church there in 1892, this being close to the Roman road (already mentioned) between the old Roman stations Banovallum and Lindum. Lead coffins have also been found in the Roman cemeteries at Colchester, York, and at other places. {8}

As another interesting case of Roman relics found in Horncastle, I give the following:--In 1894 I exhibited, at a meeting of our Archaeological Society, some small clay pipes which had recently been dug up along with a copper coin of the Emperor Constantine, just within the western wall of the old castle, near the present Manor House. They were evidently very old and of peculiar make, being short in stem with small bowl set at an obtuse angle. They were said at the time to be Roman, but since tobacco was not introduced till the reign of Elizabeth that idea was rejected. In the year 1904, however, a large quantity of fragments of similar clay pipes were found in the ruins of the Roman fort of Aliso, near Halteren on the river Lippe, in Western Germany, some of rude structure, some decorated with figures and Roman characters. They were lying at a depth of 9 feet below the surface, and had evidently lain undisturbed since the time of the Roman occupation. From the marks upon them it was manifest that they had been used, and it is now known from the statements of the Roman historian Pliny, and the Greek Herodotus, that the use of narcotic fumes was not unknown to the Romans, as well as to other ancient nations; the material used was hemp seed and cypress grass. In the Berlin Ethnological Museum, also, vessels of clay are preserved, which are supposed to have been used for a like purpose. This discovery, then, at Horncastle is very interesting as adding to our Roman remains, and we may picture to ourselves the Roman sentinel taking his beat on the old castle walls and solacing himself, after the manner of his countrymen, with his pipe. (An account of this later discovery is given in a German scientific review for August, 1904, quoted _Standard_, August 12, 1904).

Of what may be called the close of this early historic period in connection with Horncastle there is little more to be said. The Roman forces withdrew from Britain about A.D. 408. The Britons harried by their northern neighbours, the Picts and Scots, applied for assistance to the Saxons, who, coming at first as friends, but led to stay by the attractions of the country, gradually over-ran the land and themselves in turn over-mastered the Britons, driving them into Wales and Cornwall. The only matter of interest in connection with Horncastle, in this struggle between Saxon and Briton, is that about the end of the 5th century the Saxon King Horsa, with his brother Hengist, who had greatly improved the fort at Horncastle, were defeated in a fight at Tetford by the Britons under their leader Raengeires, and the British King caused the walls to be nearly demolished and the place rendered defenceless. (Leland's _Collectanea_, vol i, pt. ii, p. 509).

[Picture: North-east corner of the Castle Wall, in Dog-kennel Yard]

The Saxons in their turn, towards the close of the 8th century, were harassed by marauding incursions of the Danes, {9} which continued, though temporarily checked by Kings Egbert and Alfred, through many years, both nations eventually settling side by side, until both alike in the 11th century became subject to their Norman conquerors. The traces of these peoples are still apparent in Horncastle and its soke, since of its 13 parish names, three, High Toynton, Low Toynton and Roughton have the Saxon suffix "ton"; three, Mareham-on-the-Hill, Mareham-le-Fen and Haltham terminate in the Saxon "ham," and six, Thimbleby, West Ashby, Wood Enderby, Moorby, Wilksby and Coningsby have the Danish suffix "by." The name of the town itself is Saxon, Horn-castle, or more anciently Hyrne-ceastre, _i.e._ the castle in the corner, {10} or angle, formed by the junction of the two rivers; that junction was, within comparatively modern times, not where it is now, but some 200 yards eastward, on the other side of the field called "The Holms," where there is still a muddy ditch.

So far our account of the town has been based mainly upon etymological evidence, derived from river and place names, with a few scanty and scattered records. As we arrive at the Norman period we shall have to deal with more direct documentary testimony, which may well form another chapter.