18 
fosse and mound, and probably by a brick wall as well arched 
over the four gates, and with roads leading from the gates to north- 
east and south. Many of the principal buildings, with the greater 
part of the town, would be outside the camp itself, extending, 
though not in close order, all over the top of the hill on which the 
modern town is built, and to the north-east over the fields at the 
end of Camp Road. 
The well in the centre of the camp is still visible, other remains 
have been unearthed of various buildings which may have been a 
temple, and a basilica, i.e. a hall of justice, or a bath (and of course 
you are aware that there is no other spot of Britain where so large 
a number of altars has been discovered). Besides the great camp, 
another “castellum” crowned the little hill which guards the 
entrance to the river, now known as Castle Hill, or Motehill ; 
whilst another protected the ford which crossed the Ellen at 
Netherhall. The station is supposed to have been founded by 
Agricola about A.D. 80; and there are reasons for believing it to 
have been for some time at least the head quarters of the admiral 
in command of the Roman fleet.* Probably many of the officers 
of the fleet and of the legions would have their families living in 
stately villas overlooking the magnificent estuary. The station 
must have been the chief post of defence on the coast; and no 
one who has stood on Camp Hill and surveyed from it the broad 
reaches of the Solway and the long stretch of Scotch coast from 
Annan to Burrow Head, can doubt the purpose or the importance 
of the site. . 
Such a description of our town in the fourth century may seem 
* Mr. J. B. Bailey, of Maryport, has shown that there are strong reasons to 
believe that the station at Maryport was founded by Agricola himself in one of 
the campaigns described by Tacitus. The historian says, ‘‘loca castris ipse 
capere, estuaria ac silvas ipse praetentare” (Agricola xx.); and again :— 
‘« Annotabant periti non alium ducem opportunitates locorum sapientius legisse. 
Nullum ab Agricola positum castellum aut vi hostium expugnatum aut pactione 
ac fuga desertum”’ (xxi.) Four altars have been found at Maryport dedicated 
by M. Mcenius Agrippa, who is known to have been commander of the Roman 
fleet in British waters during the time of Hadrian. The name of the camp is 
still doubtful, but Mr. Bailey has advanced good reasons for supposing it to 
have been the Glanoventa of the Itinerary of Antonine. 
