ROMANO-BRITISH SUFFOLK 



It is a curious fact that though eight of the ' forts of the Saxon Shore ' 

 have been identified with all probable correctness, the place of one of them 

 has never been settled with general assent. This is the Portus Adurni. The 

 station has been supposed to have been situated on the Adur, a stream flowing 

 into Shoreham Harbour, in Sussex, the name being given to it from that of 

 the stream ; but this has been shown to be an error, as the little river in 

 question had no certain name till the 17th century, when that name was 

 bestowed upon it.'* Portchester has also been suggested for its site, as a 

 large Roman station of the late class still exists there at the head of Ports- 

 mouth Harbour. There is, however, no river or stream here whose name 

 might be associated with that of the port. From the most westerly of the 

 identified ports of the Saxon Shore, Pevensey (Anderida), round to Brancaster 

 on the Wash, in Norfolk (Branodunum), the sites of the stations have been 

 found and named, yet here at Walton on the most important point in the 

 whole line lies a station as important as Gariannonum, which station it is 

 suggested was Portus Adurni. If we knew the Roman name of the Stour 

 such a suggestion would be settled. 



In the Notitia Dignitatum Portus Adurni is spoken of as garrisoned by a 

 body oi exploratores ; that is, in modern phrase, mounted scouts. No better 

 troops could be selected for such a fort as that at Walton. There seems not 

 very much doubt that if all the facts connected with the site could be fairly 

 arrayed the name given above would with little hesitation be bestowed upon it 

 and the last gap in the list of the Notitia would be satisfactorily filled. 



Remains of Civilian Occupation 



The civil side of our subject does not perhaps offer matter of as much 

 interest as that just treated ; not so much on account of the want of , its impor- 

 tance as on account of the imperfect remains it has to show. Yet Suffolk 

 quite equals other counties in the number of such remains. It is needless to 

 dwell on the minor antiquities, which will be found fully treated in the 

 Topographical Index. The essential object is to note all traces discoverable 

 of the dwelling-places of the inhabitants of the district in question, for from 

 them alone it is possible to guess at the social condition of settlers or of the 

 Romanized Britons occupying the land. From the paucity of stone and the 

 abundant supply of wood from the forests the houses must have been of half- 

 timbered construction, the spaces between the timbers being filled with a 

 plastering of clay upon a ground-work of laths or reeds, the whole built on a 

 footing, some 2 ft. high, of rubble or brick, and roofed with reeds which grew 

 plentifully along the course of the rivers. Such dwellings sufficed, but in 

 those of any size, the comforts or elegancies of life, such as tessellated pave- 

 ments and painted walls and warmed winter rooms, were not entirely lost sight 

 of. The principal settlements which have been found may here be noted, 

 beginning with such sites as are discoverable by building and other material, 

 scattered in the soil, and passing on to actual foundations marking out a 

 definite plan. At Great Welnetham, Gough in his edition of Camden reported 

 the ploughing up of many fragments of pottery early in the i8th centurys 



" Haverfield, Proc. Soc. Ant'tq. 1893 (Ser. 2), xiv, 112, 116. 

 291 



