ROMANO-BRITISH LEICESTERSHIRE 



the province. It is considered, as above mentioned, that the Jewry Wall 

 was erected about the time of Constantine (A.D. 306-37), which, it may be 

 assumed, was the date of the erection of the whole of the walls round the 

 town, and this agrees with the evidence as to the date of the circumvallation 

 of other Romano-British towns. The town would most likely have been 

 surrounded by earthen defences from the time of its foundation, but it 

 is curious that, according to the evidence of the architectural details and 

 tesselated pavements, the extension westward (including the important and 

 prosperous suburb towards the River Soar) must have been made before the 

 town was walled. As in a parallel case at Bath, there was no attempt to 

 include the suburb within the protection of the walls. 



For the construction of a plan of Roman Leicester we have very little 

 material. Perhaps the existing High Cross Street and Southgate Street, 

 running north and south from the North Gate to the South Gate, and High 

 Street and St. Nicholas Street, running east and west from the East Gate to 

 the Jewry Wall or West Gate, may approximately follow the lines of the 

 principal Roman streets. Of the other Roman streets there is no evidence, 

 for it is evident that the plan of the mediaeval town did not follow that of 

 the Roman, as was usual when mediaeval towns rose on Roman sites. 11 



It seems clear that the principal buildings of the Roman town stood at 

 the junction of High Cross Street and St. Nicholas Street. Burton, in 1622, 

 called attention to the quantity of Roman remains found there. 12 In 1861 the 

 base and plinth of a column were found close to the north-east corner of 

 St. Nicholas Street (Nos. 8-8< in Museum). 13 In a direct line with the 

 above and close to them there were discovered in 1866 two bases of columns 

 with shafts and plinth, standing erect from 14 ft. to i 5 ft. below the present 

 surface (Nos. 47^ in Museum). The plinth of wrought stone was i ft. 

 thick on a sleeper wall of rubble. The two columns with their bases 

 complete stood loft. lof in. from centre to centre. They were i ft. 11 in. 

 in diameter. The height of one, as found, including base, was 4 ft. 4 in., of 

 the other 6 ft. 2! in. u Mr. G. E. Fox, in his paper on the architectural 

 remains at Leicester, points out that these bases ' follow pretty closely the 

 usual type of Attic base, though these are somewhat clumsy,' and therefore 

 may be taken to belong to one of the earliest buildings in Leicester, dating 

 possibly from the period of Hadrian. 15 He adds that it is not impossible 

 that these remains supported the portico of the basilica, although such a 

 conjecture is mere guess-work. 16 In the same way it may be suggested that 

 the forum, of which the basilica would probably form a part, stood here also. 

 In the Leicester Museum are also fragments of the shaft of a column found at 

 the south-west corner of the Methodist chapel in St. Nicholas Street (Nos. i, 

 la in Museum) ; 17 and bases, plinth, and capitals of columns found between the 

 Methodist chapel and the corner of 'Holy Bones' (Nos. 2a to 3, 9, qa, 10, 

 loa in Museum) 18 belong to a building of probably the same period 

 as the remains previously mentioned. 18 In 1885 two columns found in the 

 street called ' Holy Bones ' were placed in the churchyard of St. Nicholas ; 19 



11 Fox, ' Roman Arch. Fragments in the Leic. Museum,' Arch. Journ. xlvi, 47. 

 11 Descrip. Leic. 146. 13 Leic. Arch. Sac. iii, 334. 



14 Ibid, iii, 334 ; Fox, Arch. Journ. xlvi, 63. 15 Ibid. 58, 59. 



16 Ibid. 60. " " Ord. Surv. xxxi, 10. 



u Leic. Arch. Soc. iii, 334 ; Fox, Arch. Jnurn. xlvi, 63. 19 Assoc. Arch. Sue. xviii, Ix, 24. 



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