tkansaCtions op section h. 807 



Louses, and some of these present a ground plan which appeal-s to he unique in 

 England, having the rooms arranged round all the four sides of a rectangular 

 courtyard. The walls are strongly built of blocks of limestone, and in some cases 

 the painted plaster upon the walls is found in sittc in good preservation. Some 

 interesting naosaic pavements have been found. 



A large building near the North Gate (so far only partially excavated) may 

 have had some public character, and a little to the east of this gate an amphi- 

 theatre (apparently of late date) has recently been discovered within the city walls. 

 So little of it is preserved that it must be supposed to have been mainly of wood ; 

 the arena wall, which exists almost in its entirety, encloses an oval the diameters 

 of which are about 145 and 125 feet. 



The smaller objects include a roughly sculptured head in sandstone, probably 

 of some deity, while pottery, bronze and iron objects, &c. are found in profusion. 

 Some of the coloured enamel is especially good. 



6. Hibchester : the Roman Fortress Bremettenacum. 

 By John Garstang, B.Litt. 



Hibchester, on the Kibble Valley, has long been known. Roman remains, some 

 of them exceptional in character, have been found there since the beginning of 

 archaeological record. One object in particular, a bronze ornamental helmet, the 

 head probably of a deity, now preserved in the British Museum, is specially note- 

 worthy. The fame of this lioman station has been increased by an old tradition 

 of buried treasure, which seems to have been based actually upoii an event of post- 

 Eoman date, and has been shown recently by a distinguished numismatist to have 

 probable reference to the Cuerdale hoard of Saxon coins. 



Excavations made in 1898-99 have now shown that the station at Ribchester 

 conformed with the general scheme of frontier defences of the Roman Empire. It 

 was one of a series of such fortresses in methodical arrangement which with the 

 wall of Hadrian formed the northern frontier defences of Roman Britain against 

 the hill tribes of the north. It is analogous in plan and constructive details with 

 other forts of the same system and period. It is to be distinguished primarily 

 from the camps of a moving army the disposition of which is well known from 

 literary sources, just as the name castellum is diiferent from the word casti-a. 

 Latin historians were careful of this distinction, and it behoves English archaeo- 

 logists to be equally on their guard. The Roman fort is hardly treated in con- 

 temporary literature, but its character and military organisation are now clearly 

 defined by the results of archaeological research. This fort is to be distinguished 

 secondarily with the class of which it is an example from the later type of Roman 

 fortress, familiar from ruins on the south-eastern coast line, built in the fourth 

 century to oppose the dangers which threatened the Saxon shore. These later 

 strongholds have external buttresses and turrets, are generally larger and with 

 higher walls, and exhibit the prototypes of some of the mediasval details of 

 fortification. 



But the class of fortress to which Ribchester belongs is entirely of the earlier 

 character, severe rectangular shapes with internal buttresses and mural towers, 

 magnificent double-arched gates, a stout wall not very high, with parapet and 

 guard chambers upon its length. In large examples of this class, of which 

 Ribchester is one, the interior was filled with stone-built barrack-rooms and 

 stables, arranged regularly in rows and streets. In the centre was the large 

 ' praetoriiim,' the headquarters of the commander of the division which constituted 

 the garrison. On one side was commonly a large storehouse or granary, and at 

 Ribchester (quite exceptionally) there seems to have been a temple within the 

 walls. Another sub-class of this period is found to be of smaller area — about 

 three acres only — with the outer walls and praetorium only of stone. 



The inception of the idea of a series of frontier fortresses in the north was due 

 to Agricola, but the scheme elaborated to its perfection with Hadrian, and much 

 activity in building is still evidenced from the inscriptions under the Autonines. 



