ROMANO-BRITISH NORFOLK 



Hill, in Markshall, 1,200 yards north of the place, and across the river. 

 It is a rude imitation of a ' Third Brass ' of Helena, and good judges 

 have assigned it to the period between the end of Roman rule and the 

 English conquest/ 



It remains to consider the character of the place. I have classed it 

 as a small country tov^n, and other writers have done so before me. But 

 it is proper to add that others again have considered it a great military 

 fortress. Thus, one archsologist quotes the remark of Tacitus that after 

 the defeat of Boudicca the auxiliary troops were planted in fresh posts, 

 and thinks Caister to be one of these. Another ascribes Caister to an 

 early period in the Roman conquest, and suggests that hence the Romans 

 pushed westwards : he traces their progress by the earthworks at Oving- 

 ton, Mileham and Castleacre. I do not think that either of these writers 

 proves his case. The area of Caister, while somewhat small for a 

 legionary fortress, is a very great deal too large for an auxiliary garrison ;^ 

 while its connection with the earthworks at Ovington, Mileham and 

 Castleacre must be held a hazardous theory in face of the fact that hardly 

 any Roman remains, and none of early date, have been noticed at any of 

 the three spots. In truth there is no good reason to call Caister a 

 Roman place of arms. No military remains have ever been found there. 

 Its modern name, though derived through Anglo-Saxon from the Latin 

 castra, does not prove it to have been a fortress, while its Romano-British 

 name indicates rather that it was a small country town, Hke Venta Bel- 

 garum or Venta Silurum, and its area and remains harmonize with such 

 a view. The evidence of coins further suggests that its Roman life 

 commenced during the last twenty or thirty years of the first century, 

 while the round towers of its walls show that it was fortified at the end 

 of the third century or during the fourth, like many other country towns 

 in Britain and northern Gaul. Further than this we cannot go. The 

 site, though open and available for excavations, has never been trenched, 

 and till the spade come to our help, we must remain content with this 

 vague sketch of what is, at least, probable about a striking ruin. 



{b) CAISTER-BY-YARMOUTH 



Another Norfolk site, also called Caister, may perhaps be that of a 

 little settlement or at least a village. Caister-by- Yarmouth stands on 

 rising ground half a mile from the shore, about two miles north from 

 Yarmouth town. It has usually been described as a fortress guarding 

 the arm of the sea which may once perhaps have flowed over the flats 

 between it and Yarmouth. No trace of a fortress has however been dis- 

 covered, nor any sign of walls or fortifications of any sort. The remains 

 actually found are principally as follows: (i) In 1837 some labourers 

 digging clay in a field near the Norwich road, ' a few hundred yards ' to 

 the north-west of Caister church, met with a pit at least 6 feet deep and 



1 Numismatic Chronicle, xx. 43, and Proceedings, Nov. 19, 1857. 



2 The known legionary fortresses seem to average 45-55 acres ; the smaller forts, which were 

 garrisoned by auxiliaries, vary from about 4-9 acres. 



293 



