ROMAN WORK AT CHEPSTOW 



BY 

 JOHN BELLOWS 



(Read at Chepstow, June 6th, 1898) 



The great number of Roman tiles in the Castle walls 

 evidence the Roman occupation of the site (which has 

 been doubted by some) ; and the finding of Roman coins 

 in Chepstow is further proof of it, as is also the local 

 name, " Port wall," as applied to the town wall. This has 

 nothing to do with " port " in the sense of " harbour," but 

 is a corruption of the Latin parietes, which became in 

 Cornish and south-east Welsh, " poruit," and finally 

 "port," a wall, and a walled town. The head officer 

 of such a town was known till recent times as the 

 Portreeve. The word "port," for wall, still lingers 

 on in four towns— Bristol, Chepstow, Caerwent, and 

 Caerleon— just the corner most affected by the Second 

 Roman Legion. Another curious fact is that while Mon- 

 mouthshire was officially reckoned as belonging to Wales 

 down till the time of Henry VHL, the Castle of Chepstow 

 IS classed in Domesday as belonging to Gloucestershire; 

 and this singular exclusion of it from the rest of Mon- 

 mouthshire is explained by the Roman occupation: it 

 formed the necessary /.Vd- rt'^/^/z/ to the bridge crossing 

 the Wye from the Gloucestershire shore. It was on the 

 great line of Roman road from London to South \\\iles, 

 generally known as the Via Julia ; and as Chepstow was 

 the most important point on this road so far as it linked 

 Gloucester with Caerleon, it was impossible the Romans 



