ROMANO-BRITISH LONDON observed, was everywhere carried into the gravel and not laid on it (diagram. Figs. 13, 22). The projection of the gate from the wall also betokens its late age, as does the employment of oolite for the plinth. The materials used in the wall throughout its line on the east, north, and west sides are ragstone and sandstone from the south-east of England. In the later structures, such as the bastions, this gate and probably that at Ludgate, and the south wall, the materials employed and the method of building are quite different. Most probably an earlier gate stood on the same site, and the remains discovered are those of a rebuilding in later times, rendered necessary by the great rise in the surface. All these considerations lead to the conclusion that the City wall was built at a far earlier period than has generally been conjectured, and an approximation to its date may perhaps be furnished by the coins found in the bed of the Walbrook. Many of these have been found, which all fall into one group ending with Marcus Aurelius and the Faustinae, and may fairly be taken to indicate the period when its bed and vicinity ceased to be occupied after the choking up of the stream. From this it would appear that the wall was built at the latest by the middle of the 2nd century. Streets and Buildings of the later City Of the later phases of Londinium there are numerous scraps of evidence, but nothing of a connected nature. Pavements have been found at varying heights according as the surface became raised, the later remains being super- imposed over those of the earlier City. Thus at Leadenhall, under the East India House,^° a pavement was found at a depth of 10 ft., while at 20 ft. were the remains of an earlier building, consisting of portions of a tessellated floor and of stuccoed walls with fresco painting. In Lombard Street," pavements, &c., have been found as low as 17 ft. and 18 ft., associated with coins of the Fabia family, Nero and Antoninus Pius, while other pavements belonging to the later City have been met with at depths varying from 8 ft. to 1 2 f t. A very fine ornamental pavement of the later period was found at Paternoster Row,** 1 2 ft. from the surface, and about 40 ft. in length, and beneath it a tiled tomb. It has been contended, on the ground of the scarcity of sculptured stone, that Londinium could have possessed no buildings of importance, but this scarcity may to a great extent be attributed to continual quarrying in later times. The large quantity of architectural fragments observed in the bastions and the south wall show very clearly that, at least in the earlier City, there were many buildings of large size and considerable architectural pretensions (Fig. 29). Most of these stones, however, have been removed or destroyed without being properly observed and recorded. Roman material was extensively used in the buildings of the Norman and other periods, and it was stone that was sought for, the walls of houses having often been wholly removed while the pavements were left intact. 89 "^ Arch, xxix, 491 ; Roach Smith, lllus. Rom. Lond. 57. " Arch, viii, 116 ; Roach Smith, op. cit. 57. " Roach Smith, op. cit. 57. " Roach Smith, lll^s. Rom. Lond. 56. 79
