ARCHITECTURAL STYLES IX FORDIXGTOX CHURCH. 169 



to Venus or Mercury, or an early church ; whether heathen or 

 Christian it is at this date impossible to tell. There may, 

 however, have been amongst Vespasian's leading men Praetors, 

 Centurions, and other of those early invaders many who had 

 come direct from Rome, who may have heard St. Paul preach 

 and had been converted by his teaching, as we well know he 

 had adherents in the highest Roman society. For instance, in 

 sending salutations in his Epistle to the Philippians, he pointedly 

 refers to " especially those of Caesar's household." 



The greater number of the earliest churches were built of 

 timber. Bede says that " a stone church was a rarity," but I do 

 not think it is at all likely that this building at Fordington would 

 have been erected in wood in this stone-bearing locality ; and, 

 further, a foundation of herringbone masonry would not then 

 have been necessary. 



The evidence of the Purbeck marble slab, with a Roman 

 inscription of the first century, being found in situ seems to link 

 itself with an erection used for the purpose of religious rites and 

 ceremonies from the earliest times. 



If a Christian structure, it may have continued down to and 

 existed at the time of the Diocletian persecution, which com- 

 menced in 303 A.D. and lasted ten years, during which time 

 many Christians were put to death, and the churches were every- 

 where demolished. It is scarcely probable that over a period of 

 ten years this church would have escaped, if it existed, near so 

 prominent a town as Durnovaria. 



Further, it does not seem at all likely that a town in such an 

 advanced state of civilization, as has been revealed by Romano- 

 British finds and discoveries, would have been without its Christian 

 community. They may not have been recognised by the Fmpire 

 or State, or allowed to occupy the walled-in town proper, yet 

 may have been tolerated and allowed to live without the gate or 

 walls, and, therefore, choosing to settle preferably, and may be 

 symbolically, eastward of the old Roman vallum, there to build 

 themselves a church up on the rising ground, and set it upon a 

 hill, so that it could not be hid. 



