36 _  BOROUGHBRIDGE EXCURSION, AUG. 7, 1876. 
seem to be justified in conjecturing that the ground has been gradually 
cleared by a succession of invading peoples whose customs and 
manners greatly differed from those of the race who preceded them, 
followed by those whose religious beliefs prompted them to eradicate 
heathen superstition by demolishing the monuments which seemed to 
them to favor and encourage it. 
The party then proceeded to Aldborough—the “ British Pompeii” 
—the Iseure of the Brigantes, the Isurium of the Romans. Where 
the church now stands was a Roman crry—not a mere camp, and the 
traces still to be seen, together with the numerous remains dug up 
from time to time, and preserved on the spot for the inspection of 
visitors, combine to render Aidborough the most interesting Roman 
station in the kingdom. In the centre of Aldborough stands a lofty 
antique cross, formed of eight fluted columns, united by a foliated 
capital, dating from the thirteenth or fourteenth century, which 
formerly stood in the market-place at Boroughbridge, and is supposed 
to commemorate the battle in 1322, when De Bohun, Earl of 
Hereford, was killed while defending the bridge over the Ure at 
Boroughbridge, by a spear thrust through a crevice in the planking. 
At Aldborough, the church was first visited, the party being 
received there by the vicar, the Rey. R. W. Marriott, M.A., who 
pointed out the various objects in and about the church with a 
courtesy which was fully appreciated by his visitors. He first pointed 
out a carved figure of Mercury, built into the outside of the vestry 
wall, and which, supposed to be about 1500 years old, certainly dates 
from the time of the Roman settlement in the district. The carving, 
although it has not withstood the ravages of time, is still in a 
tolerable state of preservation. Inside the church were shown two 
ancient communion plates, which are supposed to have been made in 
tbe eighth or ninth century ; an ancient carving in oak of Daniel in the 
lion’s den, and a brazen effigy (bearing the name of Wills d’ Aldeburgh) 
of a knight in plate armour, found in one of the pews in 1827. 
Built into the wall of the church is a brass effigy, dated 1390, to one 
of the Lords of Aldborough, and near it lies a family memorial stone 
of the year 1475—these two dates corresponding with the original 
erection and earliest restoration of the church. The parish register 
dates as far back as the reign of Henry viii. (1538), and amongst 
