284 CASTERS AND CHESTERS. 



Eoman name has ultimately prevailed, and in the other 

 case the modern English one. 



The second best example of a Caster, perhaps, is 

 Lancaster. In all probability this is the station which 

 appears in the Notitia Imperil as Longovico, an oblique 

 case which it might be hazardous to put in the nomina- 

 tive, seeing that it seems rather to mean the town on the 

 Lune or Loan than the Long Village. Here, as in many 

 other cases, the formative element, vicus, is exchanged 

 for Ceaster, and we get something like Lon-ceaster or 

 finally Lancaster. Other remarkable Casters are Bran- 

 caster in Norfolk, once Branadunum (where the British 

 termination dun has been similarly dropped) ; Ancaster 

 in Lincolnshire, whose Eoman name is not certainly 

 known ; and Caistor, near Norwich, once Venta 

 Icenorum, a case which may best be considered under 

 the head of Winchester. On the other hand, Tadcaster 

 gives us an instance where the Eoman prefix has 

 apparently been entirely altered, for it appears in the 

 Antonine Itinerary (according to the best identification) 

 as Calcaria, so that we might reasonably expect it to be 

 modernised as Calcaster. Even here, however, we might 

 well suspect an earlier alternative title, of which we shall 

 get plenty when we come to examine the Chesters ; and 

 in fact, in Baeda, it still bears its old name in a slightly 

 disguised form as Kaelca ceaster. 



First among the softer forms, let us examine the 

 interesting group to which Chester itself belongs. Its 

 Eoman name was, beyond doubt, Diva, the 'station on 

 the Dee as Doncaster is the station on the Don, and 

 Lancaster the station on the Lune. Its proper modern 



