172 



in the south wall of Caerwent, where the facing-stones are 

 stripped off. In the part on my own premises there is no herring- 

 bone. Of this, however, presently. The mason who removed 

 these stones told me that the Roman mortar had sharp river 

 sand in it, which must have been brought from a distance. 

 They certainly paid extreme attention to their sand, as we see 

 from ViTKUviTJS. 



The lewis-hole of a large block in the lower courses was turned 

 dowmvards. I do not lay much stress on this ; as it may 

 have occurred from the stone accidentally tipping over in the 

 act of landing it. If not accidental, it is a proof that the 

 herring-bone masonry is later than that in my own premises. 



Leaving N'eininger's, the wall runs under the back of the 

 Co-operative Stores, where I am told, they removed a solid 

 mass of hewn stones like the base of a flanking tower, 8 or 10 fb, 

 square. It was here that the " third brass" coin of Constantine 

 was found. These flanking towers, as at Caerwent, were additions 

 made to the wall in the Constantine period. They were probably 

 thus solid to form a platform for the halistce used in hurling 

 stones at an attacking force. These balistoi were made to throw 

 weights varying fx'om 4 to 250 lbs. 



The raised path known as Constitution Walk is on the top 

 of the wall, which next passes into the grounds of Brunswick 

 House, keeping parallel with Brunswick Eoad as far as to the 

 end of Parliament Street, or " Green Dragon Lane." Just 

 before reaching this point there is an excellent specimen of it 

 in a stable behind Bond's greenhouse. Brunswick Road itself 

 runs along the line of the fosse. What the exact width of this 

 fosse was I have not yet succeeded in establishing. That of 

 Uriconium measures about 95 English, and is therefore nearly 

 100 Roman, feet. Keeping in mind that the Romans were very 

 much given to even measures of tens and hundreds, I have no 

 doubt that 100 ft. was a sort of standard width for a city ditch ; 

 and that the one at Gloucester will be found to have measured 

 as much, at any rate on this East side. 



The corners (or "coxce") of the walls were rounded off. This 

 is the cause of the curve at the junction of King Street with 



