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Lindeyllan-ceaster. When the Normans took possession of Britain, they gave new names, new laws, and new arrangements, to all the cities and baronies; and this place was denominated, according to some writers, Nichol; but Mr. Gough doubts it, and says, "May one suggest a suspicion, that Nichol is owing to some misreading of Incol, or Lincol, or to the imperfect pronunciation of the Normans, as the French have disguised many proper names in later times."

Whatever may have been the character of this station, previous to its possession by the Romans, we cannot commence any thing like true history before that event; and even then we discover but little to excite interest, or gratify curiosity. As a mili tary station, occupied by a colony of Romans, it must have been a place of some extent and consequence. This is manifested, by the vestiges that remain, and by the various discoveries that have been made at different periods. The form of the fortified station was that of a parallelogram, divided into four equal parts, by two streets, which crossed it at right angles. At the extremities of these were four fortified gates, nearly facing the cardinal points. The whole was encompassed by an embattled wall, which, on three sides, was flanked by a deep ditch, but on the southern side the steepness of the hill rendered a foss unnecessary! The area thus inclosed was about 1300 feet in length, by 1200 feet in breadth, and is estimated to have contained thirty-eight The walls have been levelled to the ground, and the gates, except that to the north, have been for many years demofished. The latter, called Newport-Gate, is described by Dr. Stukeley, as "the noblest remnant of this sort in Britain, as far as I know," and he expresses much surprise, that it had not "been taken notice of" before his time. The great, or central gateway, has a semicircular arch, of sixteen feet in diameter, which is formed with twenty-six large stones, apparently without mortar. The height is twenty-two feet and a half, of which eleven are buried beneath the ground. On each side of the arch are seven courses of horizontal stones, called springers, some of

acres.

which are from six to seven feet in length. On each side of the great arch are two small lateral door ways, or posterns, both of which are now closed up. The diameter of each was seven feet and a half, by fifteen feet in height. In the great arch there appears to have been no key stone. A mass of the old Roman wall is still to be seen eastward of this gate; and to the west is another large mass, called the Mint-wall, which ran parallel with the town wall, and is described by Dr. Stukeley, as consisting of "a layer of squared stones, with three layers of brick, each one foot high, then three of stone for the same height, then three of brick, and twelve of stone, and then brick and stone to the top.". It was about sixteen feet high, and forty feet long, and had scaffold-holes, and marks of arches. Mr. Gough thinks this was part of a Roman granary. Southward of the station above described, were other Roman works, which extended from the brow to the bottom of the hill. As the colony increased, this was necessary; and the southern side of the hill would be found more pleasant and temperate in winter than the summit. Besides, the river in the bottom would attract the inhabitants, when they felt themselves protected by a commanding and powerful garrison*. It appears that a fortified wall, with towers at the corners, continued from the top to the bottom of the hill,

where

* The following are the ROMAN ROADS branching off from, and STATIONS connected with, Lindum-colonia. The Ermine Street, sometimes called High Street and Old Street, left the station on the north, and continued, nearly in a straight line, to the river Humber, on the southern bank of which were Roman settlements, or villas, at Ad-Abum, Winteringham, and Horkstow. About five miles north of Lincoln, another road, or military way, branched off from the former, at nearly right angles, and passed westerly, by Scampton, Stow, and Marton, where it forded the Trent, and near which was Segelocum. On the east of Lindum, the road called the Foss-Way, branched off towards the sea coast. The same road entered the city, on the southern side, and in a south-westerly direction communicated with Crocolana, probably at or near Bruff, in Nottinghamshire. The Ermine Street joined the last road near the southern border of the station, and communicated with the station of Causennis, supposed to be at Ancaster.

where it turned at right angles by the side of the river. These fortifications underwent several alterations and additions, during the various civil wars to which the place was subjected. Hence it is very difficult, if not wholly impossible, to define what is really of Roman origin, or of Saxon or Norman workmanship. It is equally perplexing to ascertain the time of establishing the first colony here, forming the station, building the walls, or extending the city. The Rev. Mr. Sympson, one of the vicars choral, has offered some conjectures on those subjects; and as they serve to illustrate a few points respecting the Roman city, I shall avail myself of some passages from his writings. In taking down the Roman wall, several coins have been found, belonging to the following Emperors-Fl. Vespasian, Nero, Carausius, Julian, &c. "From considering them, and the situation in which they were found, I conjecture that this wall was either built by Carausius, or built or repaired after the time of Julian. When Carausius assumed the purple, and bade defiance to the authority and power of Maximian Hercules, who was so exceedingly enraged against him, that he had endeavoured to assassinate him, we may reasonably suppose, that so vigilant and consummate a general would fortify himself in the securest manner; and this colony being of the greatest importance to him, from its situation near to the banks of that part of the Witham which continued the communication between the Carsdyke and another artificial canal called the Fossdyke to the Trent, for the convenience of carrying corn, and other commodities, from the Iceni, &c. for the use of the northern prætentures; it is not improbable, that he built the walls and gates of the old city. This was about the latter end of the third century." From the various coins of Carausius found here, at different times, Mr. Sympson supposes, that Emperor resided here for some time. Among these was one of Dioclesian, with the reverse "PAX AVGGG," which was struck in honour of the peace made by Carausius and Dioclesian, and Maximian. A votive tablet, with, the following inscription, has been found among the ruins of the wall :

M. LA

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M. LA ETII

F MAX CT
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Mr. Sympson reads it as follows; "Marcus Laelius AETII Filius MAXIMO, CT (et) Maximo Iovi, and I suppose it dedicated to the Emperor Maximus."

In 1739, a discovery was made of three stone coffins at the south-west corner of the close, near the chequer gate. Beneath these was a tessellated pavement, and under that a roman hypocaust. "On the floor of strong cement, composed of lime, ashes, and brick-dust, commonly called terrace mortar, stood four rows of pillars, two feet high, made of brick, eleven in a row, in all forty-four, besides two half pillars. The round pillars being composed of ten courses of semicular bricks, laid by pairs, the joint of every course crossing that of the former at right angles, with so much mortar betwixt the two semicircles, rather form an oval, making the pillars look at first sight as if they were wreathed; the square pillars are composed of thirteen courses of bricks, eight inches square, thinner than those of the red ones. The floor of the sudatory resting on these pillars, is composed of large bricks, twenty-one by twenty-three inches, which lie over the square bricks on the pillars, the four corners of each reaching to the centres of the adjoining pillars. On this course of brick is a covering of cement, six inches thick, inlaid with a pavement, composed of white tesselæ. The walls of this room were plaistered, and the plaister painted red, blue, and other colours, but no figures discernible in either painting or pavement. This pavement, which is on a level with the testudo of the hypocaust, is about thirteen feet below the present surface of the ground: so deep is old Lindum buried in its ruins *."

In 1782 another similar discovery was made near the King's

Arms. This appears to have been also a Sudatory. On a floor, composed of two courses of bricks, and two layers of ter

* Camden's Britannia, by Gough, Vol. II. p. 257.

race

race mortar, stood a number of arches four feet high, their crown eight inches and a half thick, supported by pillars of bricks sixteen inches by twelve, which, as well as the arches, were covered over with two coats of mortar; and supported a floor composed of terrace and bricks, irregularly intermixed.-The intervals between the pillars were two feet three inches, two feet five inches, and two feet seven inches: several of the pillars were gone. To the north, beyond two rows of these pillars, whose floors rise one inch and a half from north to south, were passages, at the end of which the arches began again; but the discovery was pursued no further that way: for the external wall, which is six feet thick, of brick and stone intermixed, extends northward beyond the width of one arch; but how much further cannot be traced, the arches being broken in and filled with rubbish. Where the second set of arches commences was found a hole, that goes sloping up into the outer wall, béginning at the crown of the arches, and seems to have communicated with some part above. By the joints in the work it is conjectured, that the place with pillars, and the one with passages had been built at different times. On the south was an entrance, whose floor falls five inches, and is continued beyond the jamb. The surface of the floor is thirteen feet six inches beneath the pavement of the street, and seventeen feet five inches below the garden in which it is situated. Numbers of fragments of urns, pateræ, and other earthen vessels, but none very ornamental, were found amongst the rubbish; also earthen bottles terminating in a point, without any orifice. The external wails were built of stone intermixed with brick. The ruins of this hypocaust still exist, and are accessible at all times to the curious traveller.

In a communication made to the Society of Antiquaries, by John Pownall, Esq. published in the Tenth Volume of the Archeologia, is a description of an ancient place of Sepulture, discovered in an open field, half a mile due east of the east-gate of the ancient Lindum. Mr. P. says, there was found in 1790, in digging about three or four feet below the surface, a very curious

sepulchral

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