154 A HISTORY OF LONGEIDGE. [Chap. 7. 



Upon this has been placed a foot of alluvial clay ; then the oak 

 shingles, and upon them three feet of clay. Several of these shingles 

 are at Cross Street.^ A large quern in a perfect condition and several 

 fragments of similar hand-mills have also been obtained. As usual in 

 the case of old settlements, quantities of fi-agments of potterj' have 

 been met with. It was by means of such that it was discovered that 

 no fewer than seven cities of Troy had existed, one built above the 

 ruins of the other. Likewise, several cities occupied in succession the 

 site of Jerusalem. Some of our Eibchester fi-agments are of that ware 

 called ' Samian,' the secret of making which has been lost. The most 

 skilful potter of the present day, after many trials, confesses with 

 regret his inability to reproduce its peculiar ' glaze.' Many portions 

 of amphorse are among the remains, as is also an enigmatical hollow 

 earthenware screw. The riddle has been solved by comparison with a 

 Eoman vase found at Colchester. This bears the same screw 

 ornamentation. Evidently the object from Eibchester is a portion of a 

 similar vase, though smaller, which has lost its mouth and base. A 

 sole of a shoe, charged with nails, is so modern in appearance that^ 

 though found at a depth of 9ft., it seems ludicrous to assign to it a high 

 antiquity. An iron bit or spike, a brass ring, and a peculiar article of 

 brass and iron, as yet unexplained, are amongst the troicvaille. The 

 few Eoman coins found are unfortunately so much corroded as to be 

 almost Tindecipherablo ; but we may venture to hazard an opinion that 

 one found in the actual earth-work was of the Eoman Emperor Nerva, 

 and struck in the last year of his reign, thst is, a.d. 98. So that if it 

 was lost at the time the vallum was being constructed, the camp 

 cannot have been due to Agricola, as has been supposed ; but would 

 have arisen in the time of Hadrian — the great Emperor, who caused 

 the erection of that vast entrenched camp stretching from the Solway 

 to the Tyne, known as the ' Eoman wall.' It deserves a very different 

 title. It should be stjded a huge fortress : by no means built to keep 

 out a barbarian tribe, bnt to maintain a resistless grasp upon two 

 kindred nations. Nor does any Eoman work in our island give, when 

 properly studied, such an idea of the ' far-reaching greatness ' of that 



'The Museum at Preston. 



