66 Lincolnshire Notes & Queries. 



hangeth down like a broken string, as being somewhat of the 

 shortest.* 



At the time of the Roman invasion Lincolnshire formed 

 part of the territories of the powerful tribe of the Coritani, 

 their district also comprising Rutland, part of Nottinghamshire, 

 the whole of Leicestershire, and some portion of Warwick- 

 shire,f Lindum being their chief city and stronghold, their 

 frontier fortresses at Gainsborough, Aukborough, Yarborough 

 Camp, and Caistor predominating the Trent and Humber, 

 which rivers separated them to the north and north-east from 

 their equally powerful neighbours the Brigantes. When the 

 Romans, probably under Ostorius, about A.D. 70, seized 

 Lincoln, they appreciated its commanding site and strongly 

 fortified it. Subsequently it became a chief fortress one of 

 the nine Coloniae held by veterans of the legions on condition 

 of rendering military service. They appear also to have 

 utilised for defensive purposes the remaining strongholds of the 

 tribe along the northern frontier, connecting them by roads, 

 yia Militares et Vicinales. Of these the most remarkable is 

 the Ermine Street running above Grantham to Ancaster and 

 Lincoln, and then leaving the camp at the Newport Arch, the 

 most perfect Roman gateway existing in the country, it ran in 

 a direct line to the north through Kirton-in-Lindsey to Win- 

 tringham-on-the-Humber, where there was a ferry at Brough 

 on the Yorkshire side, and hence on to York. Through a 

 considerable portion of its course the 'old strete' is still used 

 for purposes of traffic, in others, as over part of Lincoln Heath 

 and near its northern extremity, it is a wide green lane bordered 

 by gorse, whin, and bramble thicket; and in solitudes which 

 once echoed to the tramp of the cohorts and the heavy rumbling 

 of baggage trains, and in more recent days the march of great 

 English armies towards Scotland, we now listen to the warbling 

 of innumerable linnets, or the monotonous song of the yellow- 

 hammer. The eastern face of the fortress ran nearly in line 

 with the transepts of the present Minster, which stands partly 

 within and partly without the camp. From its commanding 

 position, overlooking an immense extent of country, it must 

 have been practically impregnable. Those indeed who have 

 climbed the steep slopes from the lower town to the castle- 

 yard can form some estimate of its strength, when massive 



* Worthies of England, Nicholls' Ed., 1811, Vol. II., p. i. 



f M. H. Bloxam, Lindum civitas Coritanorum. Line. Diocesan Arch. Soc. 34th 

 Report, 1877, p. 41 et seq. 



