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especially to the west, which we can see from this very room, the walls, or rather 
the lower parts of them, are actually in existence. The Romans generally 
fashioned their stones into rather short squares, and in many cases they built with 
these stones three or four tiers, and then placed upon them a layer or sometimes 
more of flat tiles or bricks, repeating this alternation until the walls had a very 
peculiar “‘liny ” appearance. Nothing of the kind, however, is to be seen in the 
walls of this place. One part of them, nearly opposite to the Priory, is still faced 
with the square stones mentioned above ; but from the fact that some years ago I 
found on the outward face of one of them Roman mortar with pounded brick it 
seemed to me that this work was not Roman but of medieval age, rebuilt, in fact, 
with Roman stones; but when Mr. Albert Way, a most distinguished antiquary, 
whose loss we have recently had to deplore, came here and examined the walls 
in question, he considered them to be Roman work ; and, as in duty bound, I gave 
up my opinion to the judgment of so distinguished an antiquary ; still it is a curious 
fact which is worth recording. And this leads me to remark on the Roman custom 
of mixing pounded brick with their mortar. There can, I believe, be no doubt 
that the best mortar is made in this manner. Whether the angularity of the brick 
fragments hold the mortar better together, or whether there is any advantage from 
the quicker absorption of the moisture by the dry pounded brick, I cannot say ; 
but it is a fact that the best Roman mortar was always made in this way ; and yet, 
if the truth must be told, very little of the mortar found here was thus made. 
The whole of that in the large villa, formerly in the grounds now belonging to Mr. 
Woollett, was without pounded brick; and the same may be said of that of the 
town walls, with the exception of two of the corners. If we have time enough 
to spare you shall be shown one corner of the ancient walls, where the undoubted 
remains of Roman masonry, still in situ, may be seen, and the stones are united 
with mortar mixed with brick ; but if you walk 20 or 30 yards on either side the 
brick ceases ! and you find it nowhere else in the walls except at the opposite 
corner. This corner, however, is in the turnpike road, near the upper turnpike, 
and you have walked over it without being aware of it ; but after a very wet day, 
when the ground has been well washed, you may see the present pavement (which 
in fact is a portion of the old Roman wall) made of stones joined with mortar of 
pounded brick and lime, 
Let us now mention a very few of the more interesting objects which we 
have just seen and we will begin with the inscriptions. Almost every one of these, 
if this were an antiquarian society, would give scope for a long dissertation. I am 
not, however, going to weary you, but will merely mention two or three, and tell 
you why I have thus selected them. The first is one of the finest Roman inscrip- 
tions in Britain, the chisel marks in the letters are still clearly visible. It records 
the rebuilding of the barracks of the seventh cohort by the lieutenant of the 
Emperors Valerian and Gallienus. The chief point of interest in this inscription 
is that it gives us a new Latin word “‘centurias ” for barracks.* Turn the inscrip- 
*Subsequently the Rev. James Davies, of Moor Court, Kington, mentioned that the word 
was to be found in Cicero de Leg. Agr. II. 13, but that the commentators were evidently 
puzzled with it. 
