ROMANO-BRITISH DERBYSHIRE 



an ' ala ' mounted. One fort might, therefore, house no more than 

 500 infantry ; another might have to accommodate 1,000 men with all 

 their horses and stablemen. The shapes of the forts also vary, though less 

 widely. They are almost invariably rectangles. But some are square, 

 or nearly so ; others are definitely oblong. It is possible, though it is 

 not certain, that the square shape was preferred in the earlier Empire, 

 and the oblong in the second and third centuries. But local questions, 

 as of space, must at all times have had great weight. 



The ramparts of the forts were banks of earth or of regularly laid 

 sods, or walls of stone. In this point different periods had apparently 

 different preferences. In the first century earth or sods were much 

 employed, and sometimes a skin or facing of stone was added to ensure 

 strength and a steeper slope to the rampart. During the second century 

 the advantages of stone became gradually recognized. By the opening of 

 the third century stone was universally used, and older earthen forts were 

 rebuilt to suit the modern fashion. In front of the ramparts were deep 

 V-shaped ditches, often two in number, and usually separated from the 

 ramparts by level intervening bermes. As a whole, these defences 

 admitted of considerable elaboration, and provinces probably differed 

 somewhat in the treatment of them. In North Britain, for example, we 

 meet with numerous ditches, massive ramparts, and substantial ravelins. 

 Such occur hardly anywhere else in the Roman Empire, and we may be 

 tempted to think that even in Roman days the Highland charge was 

 uniquely fierce and irre- 

 sistible. 



The entrance to the 

 interior of the forts was 

 by four or very rarely 

 by six gates, disposed 

 symmetrically, one in 

 each side. From each 

 of the four gates a street 

 ran straight towards the 

 centre of the fort, and 

 other smaller lanes and 

 passages divided the vari- 

 ous buildings of the in- 

 terior. These streets and 

 lanes were all parallel to 

 one or other side of the 

 ramparts, and the in- 

 ternal arrangements of 

 the fort preserved the 

 same rectangular cha- 

 racter as its outline. At 

 the centre stood the 

 chief buildings, the head- 



ORAIN 



ENTRANCE 



FIG. 5. HEADQUARTERS BUILDING AT GELLYGAER. 



(The part shaded was roofed.) 

 197 



