102 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 



this county was confined to a few arterial roads and villas, 

 and some remains brought to light at Gloucester and 

 Cirencester. Thanks to the researches of the last twenty 

 or thirty years, and the vast amount of Roman relics 

 brought to lisfht, we can now in imagination see the 

 march of Vespasian and his followers over the Cottes- 

 wolds, the capture and occupation of Cirencester, the 

 construction — mainly by adaptation of existing defences 

 — of a series of camps along the Cotteswold escarpment, 

 the settlement all over the plateau, and then the building 

 of a camp (which afterwards became a colony) at Glou- 

 cester as part of the forward movement against the Silures 

 on the Western side of the Severn. Evidence has come 

 to light, too, which shows the dates and other details of 

 much of the Roman work. We know that it was in the 

 first centurv that the Roman engineers constructed the 

 splendid fortress of Gloucester, and made the road which, 

 straight as an arrow flies, connects the city with the 

 Roman posting station at Hirdlip. We know that, 

 advancing from Gloucester, thev made a road, known as 

 the Via Julia, through Dean Forest to beyond Chepstow, 

 where tall, strong, green-covered walls still mark the site 

 of the Roman camp at Caerwent. We know that, still 

 advancing, the Roman road was carried to near Newport, 

 and that at Caerleon a camp was constructed which was 

 an exact replica of Gloucester. We know that the 

 engineers and soldiers who did all this work belonged to 

 the Second Augustan legion. We know that the villas at 

 Chedworth, Witcombe, and Wycombe (Andoversford) 

 were Government farms for the breeding of horses for 

 the Government service, and the details given by Roman 

 historians as to the civil and military administration 

 enable us to draw a fairly complete and accurate picture 

 of what Gloucestershire was during the first four centuries 

 of the Christian era. 



