196 On the Roman Conquest qj Southern Britain, 



of St. Nicholas and built the bridge at Harnham, and a chapel 

 upon it dedicated to St. John the Baptist, where two chaplains from 

 the hospital were to attend every day. (Cassan's Lives, i., p. 177, 

 Murray's Wilts, p. 87, Wilts Arch. Mag., vol. xxv., p. 121.) 



Besides these three roads in the Itineraries and others crossing 1 

 them there are several others passing through parts of the county 

 which can be safely enumerated. These are 



(1) From Silchester to Old Sarum, direct through or past And over, 

 traces o£ which are distinctly visible to any traveller by rail between 

 the stations of Grately and Porton. There is a fine pavement, now 

 again buried, at Thruxton in Hants, which I only mention because 

 the inscription upon it, qvintus natalivs natalinvs et bodeni over 

 a head o£ Bacchus, is the one Roman inscription with which our 

 county is credited by Professor Hiibner (C. I. L., vii. 3), and that 

 erroneously. So poor are we in treasures of this kind. 



(2) From Old Sarum to Witham, and then to Wells, or, as Sir 

 R. Hoare thinks, to the Bristol Channel, at the mouth of the river 

 Axe, traces of which can still be made out between Groveley Wood 

 and Great Ridge Wood, and by Kingston Deverill. (See " Ancient 

 Wilts," ii., p. 34 and plates.) 



(3) From Old Sarum to Bath, first across the downs to Stapleford, 

 and then along the W T ily valley. A station on this road must have 

 been at Boreham, near Warminster; and at Pitmead near it remains 

 of two villas have been found. (" Anc. Wilts," ii., p. 108, Murray's 

 Wilts, p. 149.) 



(4) The so-called Foss Way, from Cirencester to Bath, passes 

 through the north-west angle of the county. The remains at White 

 Walls, near Easton Grey, are supposed to be those of the city of 

 Mutuantonis, noticed by the geographer Ravenna (Murray's 

 "Wilts," p. 13), but I know not on what authority. I suppose 

 from the spurious Richard of Cirencester. The Roman villa, one 

 mile west of Castle Combe, and the same distance north-west of 

 North Wraxall, discovered in 1859 by Mr. Poulett Scrope, is also a 

 point upon this road. So also, I presume, are the remains at 

 Colerne, near Box, including a pavement representing part of a 

 chariot race. {Wills Arch. Mag., iii., 14, &c.) 



