12G 



Roman Embankment at Cricklade. 



The stone vessels, figs. 2, 3, 4, and clay cup fig. 5, are all in the Museum of 

 Antiquaries of Scotland at Edinburgh. Their dimensions were taken and 

 outlines sketched by the writer of the paper, as accurately as he was able 

 during his visit to that Museum in 1867. 



Jiotran drafattkment at Ciitkkk 



By the Rev. William Allan, M.A. 



the year 1776, a Parliamentary Committee was appointed 

 j| to enquire into the election which had taken place at 

 Cricklade the previous year. Many very old people were 

 examined as witnesses, as well as many younger persons. These 

 witnesses referred to an embankment which surrounded Cricklade 

 on all sides, and which was then generally believed to have been 

 constructed by the Romans. John Haynes, who was born in 

 Cricklade in 1712, said, " Inside the borough there is a bank, 

 which is said to have been thrown up during the Roman wars, but 

 I never understood it to be the boundary of the borough ; indeed, 

 it cuts off part of St. Mary's parish, which is deemed to be within 

 the borough. The bank or mound extends to within about thirty- 

 yards of the eastern boundary. The general report has always 

 been that the mound is a Roman encampment." This was cor- 

 roborated by William Giles, born in 1701. Morgan Byrt, speaking 

 of this mound, said " This bank is thought to have been formerly 

 a fortification, it is everywhere plainly to be seen, except where 

 the streets cross it." William Saunders, born in 1702, a witness 

 on the other side, also referred repeatedly to this embankment. 

 The evidence upon this particular point was so clear, that the 

 counsel on both sides acknowledged that according to general 

 tradition, this bank was clearly the remains of a Roman encamp- 

 ment. 



Although, however, this tradition was so distinct in 1786, it 

 appears to have died out during the last hundred years, for although 

 a native of Cricklade, and much interested in its history, I had 

 never heard of such an embankment until I read the above evidence 



