1899.] on Bomarf Defences of South-East Britain. 43 



the existence of the Komano-Britisk people very hard. The best 

 evidence of this state of things is really given by the manuscript list 

 of officers under the empire which is known as the Notitia diguato- 

 torum. This accompanying reproduction of the map of the Notitia, 

 from Horsley's ' Britannia Romnna,' shows that the defences of the 

 country had been gradually re-organised, and the troops concentrated 

 along the line of the Roman wall and the camps in relation to it, and 

 the remainder along the south-east and south coast. The second 

 legion, for instance, which had been in the north 150 years, was 

 brought down and posted in Richborough. The sixth legion, which 

 had been in England for 200 years, was taken to Rutupia and then 

 removed altogether. The Notitia is an extremely valuable document, 

 because it gives all the details of the staff-command of the South 

 Eastern coast. The composition of the staff is very interesting, and 

 the Count, as he was called, of the Saxon shore, seems to have always 

 held a very prominent position. The last matter of interest and im- 

 portance on this subject is the question of the fate of those fortifica- 

 tions and, concurrently, the explanation why, as in some places, 

 e.g. London, they remain as they are. All the southern part of 

 England was studded over with Roman villas, and these always seem 

 on excavation to have been burnt down and not inhabited afterwards, 

 and woodland allowed to spring up around the ruins, in many cases 

 burying them. The reason for this given by some is, that for 

 a certain time the villas, having been inhabited by large families and 

 resident subordinates, were built for comfort but not for defence, and 

 after their destruction by the piratical and the superstitious Saxons, 

 were believed to be occupied by the ghosts of their former owners. 

 Terrible for this cause, and useless to a people needing fortresses 

 rather than homes, they were left in undisturbed ruin. This does not 

 appear to have been the case with walled towns, for obvious reasons : 

 these camps remained inhabited to a certain extent during the 

 mediaeval period, but not for long, except in the case of Porchester, 

 Richborough, and the large towns like Dover, &c, which have been 

 continuously inhabited since their Roman construction. 



I should like to finish this sketch by showing you two examples 

 illustrative of the period of which it treats : one of the fate of a large 

 walled station such as we have been considering, and of which we 

 have an actual record in a Saxon chronicle still existing ; the other of 

 the destruction of a Roman dwelling house. 



The first example is the storming of Anderida (Pevensey). Here 

 we are told in the Saxon chronicle that the Saxons, who had landed in 

 Portsmouth harbour, and who no doubt had already taken Portus 

 Magnus (Porchester) and Clausentum, marched eastward along the 

 Roman Road until they ultimately came to Anderida, which they 

 besieged for a long time without any success. The Saxons were not 

 skilled in sieges, and it is especially noted that during the attack 

 their lines of circumvallation were continually being assailed by the 

 Britons moving out from the forest and failing upon the rear of the 



