174 



to have been the case at the other Gates. Some years ago the 

 City Surveyor came upon the foundations of the piers of the 

 South Gate, at a depth of eight feet below the present street. 



The area of the Gate-Castles corresponds with that of the 

 MUe-Castles on Hadrian's wall ; for they average about 

 60 X 60 = 3000 feet. This sjjace was therefore evidently a 

 standard one to enable a given number of men to mount guard. 



The bending to the left, which has just been mentioned, is 

 noticeable here also. On the north side of the city the position of 

 the roadway from Cirencester would not admit of this. It turns 

 rather sharptly to the right. But as this was the Roman road 

 to London, the risk of attack would be less at the North Gate 

 than at either of the others. Along the sides of the London 

 Road the Romans buried their dead ; and on some ground at 

 Wotton belonging to J. D. T. Niblett, there were found, not 

 long ago, one hundred and ten cinerary urns ; one of which is 

 in the Arkell Collection in our Museum. It was at Wotton, 

 too, near the junction of the London and Cheltenham Roads, 

 that the gravestone of the horse-soldier, Rtjpfs Sita, was found, 

 about the beginning of this century. 



But to return to the wall. Crossing at the South Gate, on the 

 right of the site of the City Prison (itself a relic of the fortified 

 period) we strike into Commercial Road, just where it makes a 

 bend. The wall runs from this point (on the right hand side) 

 straight down to the corner of the County Prison. This edifice 

 stands on the site of Gloucester Castle, outside the wall. 



A large number of the Roman hewn stones must have been 

 removed from the wall to build the Castle ; for they were taken 

 from the demolished Castle to construct the western outer wall 

 of the Prison, next the Severn. They are cased with brick on 

 the outside ; but in the Prison yard they are fully in view. 



Passing the Prison, along the Barbican, we come to some 

 cottages on the left, standing in the ditch ; the descent from the 

 wall itself being five or six feet down steps. Where the Barbi- 

 can opens into Bearland there is a beer-shop standing partly 

 on, and partly oS, the wall. When I took Coi-poral Godwin, of 

 the Ordnance Survey, into the cellar of this house, to plot the 



