ANCIENT CROSSES. 455 



other pirates. It is the only inscription yet dis- 

 covered which records the erection of a Roman fort 

 under the name Castrum, and records the name of 

 Justinianus or Justinian, which occurs on no other 

 monument found in Britain. There was one Roman 

 officer of that name, which is mentioned in ancient 

 history, under Constantine, whom the legions in 

 Britain raised to the imperial dignity, in A. D. 407 

 or 408. This perhaps may have been the same 

 person who was governor of Maxima Csesariensfs, 

 the province in which this district was included 

 for some time prior to the usurpation of Constan- 

 tine. From this inscription, and other circumstan- 

 ces, there is reason to believe that a Roman road 

 must have passed along the Whitby coast, connect- 

 ing all the maritime stations there. 



ANCIENT CROSSES. 



These were often used for superstitious purposes, 

 and may be considered as referring to a very ancient 

 date. Several of them are seen on the moors, many 

 of which are by the highways ; and in some places 

 they are gone, and only their names left ; which 

 they have bequeathed to the places where they stood. 



These crosses were referrable to a variety of pur- 

 poses : they were intended for significant remem- 

 brances to perpetuate the memory of heroic actions, 

 of murders, of the interment of the pious, and some 

 to determine the extent of property and of right ; 

 and others were erected in honour of august per- 

 sonages, whose spirits had quitted their earthly 

 habitation : they were erected in places where their 

 Bodies had been rested, during the procession to the 

 grave. About a mile from Northampton, there is a 

 handsome cross erected in memory of the body of 

 queen Eleanor, which was rested there : and some 

 marked out the limits of sanctuary, as three near 

 Ripon. Numbers stood in market places, or in 

 situations where markets were held, to awe the tra- 

 ders into honesty ; and great numbers stood in, 

 churchyards, where they were used for superstitious 



