120 ROMAN WAREHAM AND THE CLAUDIAN INVASION. 



known as Gore Heath. But the name of a farm adjoining the 

 east wall of Wareham gives us a clue, through one of these mis- 

 translations, to the name by which the Britons called the Town 

 Wall i.e., w-wall, or Main Wall, for " Wall" itself is but the 

 Latin Vallum, which became in Welsh " Gwal." It dropped the 

 G in composition, and the Saxons took it without further alteration, 

 handing down to ourselves. But a secondary meaning sprang from 

 Main that is Best as the foremost or main of any given class 

 of things, and the Saxons who took over Wareham must have taken 

 this rendering of Gor instead of the right one, for that they 

 called the Town Wall the Best Wall is made evident from the 

 name of Best Wall Farm. 



An examination of .Ordnance Map will show several names near 

 the town which are usual along lines of Roman road. As this essay 

 is not intended to be an exhaustive one, it may suffice here to 

 instance "Cold Harbour" on the road to Bere. Cold Harbours 

 were the stations for changing horses along the lines of highway, 

 as distinguished from inns in the full sense. The name will be 

 found again and again in Roman districts, and especially in the 

 approaches to London.* 



There are two points of difference between Roman Gloucester 

 and Wareham : First, that the walls of the former are of massive 

 masonry, while Wareham walls are of earth. Second, that 

 while the area enclosed is about two millions of square feet in 



* The name of the town itself has, I think, been erroneously connected 

 with Weir, a Dam in the river. The sound is not Weir, however, but 

 Ware, and the British word Gwair Hay, precisely describes the character 

 of the meadows in which the place is situated : the characters which must 

 have had considerable weight with the Roman General in selecting the 

 spots, when his army contained a very large force of cavalry, needing the 

 summer pasture these meadows afforded. Similar meadows on the west 

 of Gloucester, flooded by the Severn, have given the name to the village 

 of Maisemore (Maes-mawr Great Ham or Meadow). This word has 

 chanced not to get translated at all, so that the fields are locally known 

 now as Maisemore's Ham : which is a duplication. I suspect that in the 

 case of Ware- Ham one portion only of the word has got translated, and 

 the other has been retained. I do not, however, assert this ; but offer 

 it as a suggestion. 



