A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



have been found in any one county has to deal with a division of land 

 which for his purpose is wholly accidental and arbitrary. Norfolk, 

 surrounded as it is on two sides by the sea and on a third side by the 

 marshes of Fenland, may seem to be so isolated geographically, so well 

 equipped with natural boundaries, that it might be expected to form an 

 exception to this rule. Yet the boundaries of Norfolk coincide neither 

 with the boundaries of the Celtic tribe who once dwelt in its area, the 

 Iceni, nor with any known divisions of the Romans. The phrase 

 Roman Norfolk is convenient, but strictly speaking it is a contradiction 

 in terms. Norfolk, to the Roman student, is a meaningless area without 

 unity : he can describe it, but he cannot write a history of it. 



With these facts in view, we propose in the following paragraphs to 

 diverge somewhat from the plan which most county historians have 

 followed in dealing with the Roman antiquities found in particular 

 counties. They have generally narrated the chief events recorded by 

 ancient writers as having occurred in Britain, and have pointed out 

 which of these events may be supposed to have occurred within the 

 county boundaries. They have tried to write a history : they have in 

 reality done no more than produce a narrative of disconnected events, 

 whilst leaving a wrong impression that somehow their county had in 

 Roman times some sort of local individuality. We propose to begin, 

 not with the ancient writers, but with the ancient remains, which, in- 

 deed, are now more fully known and better appreciated than they were 

 fifty or a hundred years ago. We shall try, first, to sketch the general 

 character of the Roman province of Britain, its military, social and 

 economic features : we shall next point out in detail how far the Roman 

 antiquities of Norfolk illustrate this sketch ; that is, how far the district 

 now called Norfolk, was an average bit of Roman Britain. 



The Roman occupation commenced in a.d. 43. At first its pro- 

 gress was rapid. Within three or four years the Romans overran all the 

 south and midlands as far as Exeter, Shrewsbury, and Lincoln : part was 

 annexed, part left to ' protected ' native princes, among whom were the 

 princes of the Iceni in Norfolk and Suffolk. Then came a pause : some 

 thirty years were spent in reducing the hill tribes of Wales and York- 

 shire, and during this period the ' protected ' principalities were gradually 

 absorbed. The Iceni, for instance, were definitely incorporated into the 

 province after the failure of the great rising led by their Queen Boudicca 

 (Boadicea) in a.d. 61. About a.d. 80 the advance into Scotland was 

 attempted : about 1 24 Hadrian built his Wall from Newcastle to Carlisle, 

 and thereafter the Roman frontier was sometimes to the north, never to 

 the south of this line. The ' province ' thus gained fell practically, 

 though not officially, into two marked divisions, which coincide roughly 

 with the lowlands occupied in the first years of the conquest and the 

 hills which were tamed later. The former were the districts of settled 

 civil life. The troops appear to have been very soon withdrawn from 

 them, and, with a few definite exceptions, there was probably not a fort 

 or fortress or military post throughout this part of our island. On the 



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