142 ON ROMAN REMAINS AT SOUTH SHIELDS, 



of which is, I think, that which makes it a weiglit used by fisher- 

 men to sink their nets, accidentally lost by the owner, and after- 

 wards brought with the stones from the shore, to fill the chamber, 

 and make the bedding for the paved causeway which later occu- 

 pants erected on the ruins of the temple wall. 



It is painful to see the explored parts of this interesting and 

 important Station at the present time in a state of the utmost 

 neglect. The forum, the adjacent buildings, the sunken chamber, 

 are in a state of second ruin. Builders' labourers are robbing 

 the edifices of stones; children, and, judging from the size of 

 the stones, even men, are hurling masses of stone into the exca- 

 vated chambers, overturning pedestals, and smashing the great 

 boundary stones of the forum. Everywhere destruction is ram- 

 pant. Happily the remains are too massive, and too firmly bedded, 

 to be obliterated in a day, and, though so much mischief has been 

 done, enough remains to be invaluable if preserved. If none of 

 the Station should be preserved, the disgrace to South Shields 

 will be eternal. Men, in years to come, will not accept the ex- 

 cuses that one hears now on every side, such as that "The 

 Ecclesiastical Commissioners ought to preserve it," '' The public 

 spirited leaders of the Borough ought to come forward," "The 

 Committee ouglit to be more energetic," ''The Town Council 

 should take it up." The only thing remembered will be that 

 the thriving, populous, and ought-to-be-cultured town of South 

 Shields had, within its borders, a citadel of lloman power, a relic 

 and a witness of its own greatness and importance in far-oft' days, 

 a powerful attraction to visitors, a priceless educational boon for 

 its own children, and, through apathy, or devotion to all absorb- 

 ing monetary pui'suits, suifered it to be wiped out, to be swept 

 away, to be stamped out of its midst. That such a consumma- 

 tion will, even at this late period, be allowed to be completed, I 

 cannot bring myself to believe ; but, if it is to be prevented, 

 action, and energetic action, must be taken, without a day's more 

 unneccssarj' delay. 



