BY THE KEY. DK. HOOPPELL. 131 



from fire. From its position it appeared to have belonged to the 

 doorway leading from the forum into the prsetorium. Close by 

 the spot where it was found was the threshold of that building 

 with depressions in it manifestly caused by the wear of tens of 

 thousands of footsteps. 



This latter evidence of busy and long continued traffic is 

 manifest, as already intimated, on every side of the forum. At 

 the eastern end are several enclosures, which mark the site ap- 

 parently of shops; near them the stones are plainly worn by 

 footsteps. So also are the stones in places at the western end. 

 Other stones, which from their size appear to have formed por- 

 tions of large gateways or other important buildings, bear evident 

 marks, as many at Borcovicus do, of having served as whetstones 

 for innumerable spearheads, knives, or other sharp edged instru- 

 ments. Some stone steps, to be mentioned presently, had been 

 turned, when deep indentations had been made in them by traffic, 

 and the new surface had been worn down by the continued stream 

 of human feet as the old had been before. 



In the forum there is a well or pit, built round with stone 

 without mortar, which the explorers excavated to a depth of 

 several feet. "When I saw it, soon after it was opened out, it 

 was quite dry : it is near the enclosures I have conjectured to, 

 have been shops.'^* (Plate YI.) 



The large building, already alluded to as having joined the 

 forum on the north side, extended the whole length of the forum, 

 a distance as already said of seventy-four feet. This is inside 

 measurement. The portion of it in immediate proximity to the 

 forum appears to have been a noble hall, twenty-two feet wide, 

 across the centre of which, from the threshold of the gates open- 

 ing into the forum, ran a broad pavement, fourteen feet in width, 

 to a most remarkable chamber beyond. The rest of the area on 



* The reader will have no tUniculty in recot,nusiiit^- the position, nnil outline, of the vari- 

 ous points of interest above described, in the Detailed Plan (Plato XIII.), and in the photo- 

 lithographed view (Plate VI.) The latter, together with the views which follow, iins been 

 executed from a series of admirable pen-and-ink etchings, made from photographs, by Mr. 

 John storey, of Ncwcastlc-on-Tyno. The General and Detailed Plans, Plates V. ami 

 XIII., have been prepared by S. Oswald and Son, Architects and Surveyors, of Newcastlc- 

 i)n-Tyne, of whoso disinterested and valuable aid to the work of exploration i f these highly 

 iniportant Remains it is impo'siblc to spoak too highly. 



