187 
Still, when it is known that a time of great unquiet prevailed 
among the tribes to the north of the wall towards the end of the 
Second Century, and that Maryport had evidently felt the effects of 
reverses, it having been more than once burnt to the ground and 
then rebuilt, it seems probable we shall not be far wrong in fixing 
A.D. 194, or thereabouts, as the approximate date, for, as I take 
it, the altars must have been buried before the burning of the place. 
Two facts seem to point to the probable correctness of this date : 
1st—The altars found in 1870 are in a remarkably good state of 
preservation, especially those by the Beetasians 3 which latter, 
indeed, show so little signs of weathering as to lead us to suppose 
that they had been placed x situ at no great length of time after 
their dedication. 27d—A reference to the coins will show a break 
of some fifty years, viz., between the reigns of Pertinax and Philip, 
ie, about A.D. 191—244; whilst both before and after this 
apparent break, the list of coins appears in an almost unbroken 
order. 
