ROMANO-BRITISH LONDON at the same time the City Wall was broken up, concerning which Dr. Woodward says :
- From the Foundation, which lay eight Foot below the present surface, quite up to the
Top, which was in all, near ten Foot, 'twas compiled alternately of Layers of broad flat Bricks ; and of Ragstone. The Bricks lay in double Ranges : and, each Brick being but one Inch -^j^ in Thickness, the whole Layer, with the Mortar interpos'd, exceeded not three Inches. . . To this Height the Workmanship was after the Roman manner : and these were the Remains of the antient Wall, suppos'd to be built by Constantine the Great ' [loc. cit.]. In 1876, Nos. 28 to 32 being removed, 36 ft. of the wall and the base of a small bastion were uncovered (Plan C, S3) ; this is thought to be the same part that was observed by Dr. Woodward. Evidence points to the structure being of late date. In the lower course of the bastion were found architectural fragments : a fluted pilaster, moulded cornices, and the figure of a lion overcoming another animal (Figs. 17, 37). Most of them were of Northamptonshire Oolite, and one block with a flower carved on it is of dark Kentish greensand. These frag- ments are now in the Guildhall Museum, together with a statue of a Roman warrior 4 ft. 3^ in. high, and a stone head [^Cat, 106, Nos. 9-12]. With them were two fragments of an inscrip- tion, the only letters visible on the stone being fv and iia [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc. M xxxii, 490, 503 ; Arch, yourn. xxxiv, 131 ; Arch, lii, 613 ; Price, Bastion of London Wall, p. 24 fF., pis. 1-4; Ephem. Epigr. iv, 195, No. 663, vii, 277, Nos. 823, 824; see above, p. 56 ff.]. The sculptures appear to be from sepulchral monuments set up in the neighbourhood, probably about 150 years before the building of the bastion. That of the warrior (Fig. 41) is described as being probably a portrait. He wears a cloak and tunic with ornamented girdle, and holds tablets in his left hand, implying that he was a signifer and kept the accounts of his cohort. The head is that of an elderly man, from a statue of large proportions, with closely-curled air, and is said to resemble some of the portrait sculptures of the Antonine period. Cannon Street (including Basing Lane and Little St. Thomas Apostle). — Strype says : ' In Canning Street nigh Bush Lane was found pretty deep in the Earth, a large pavement of Roman mosaic work. Dr. Hook gave a piece of it to the Repository in Gresham College ' [Stow, Survey (ed. Strype), ii, App. v, 23].'" See Plan C, 141. During drainage work in 1845, along the line of this thoroughfare in the western part, formerly known as Basing Lane (Plan C, 163), 'portions of immense walls with occasional layers of bond-tiles and in some cases (as at Great Trinity Lane) exhibiting the remains of fresco paintings, afforded frequent evidence of the massive and important character of the edifices which anciently occupied this site' [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, i, 254]. In the eastern part, at the crossing of Queen Street (Plan C, 161), fragments of a tessellated pave- ment were found in 1850 [Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. i), ii, 93]. At the same time were found at the west end of the street (Plan C, 192) a bronze lamp with handle in the form of a crescent,'^ and fragments of pottery, including a Gaulish bowl with stamp marsvs and a mortarium inscribed moricamvs, also coins of Claudius Gothicus and Tetricus [Ibid, ii, 174 ; 'journ. Arch. Assoc, vii, 176, 436 ; viii, 56, pi. 13, fig. 5]- Another pavement, of plain re.d tesserae, was reported in 1852, found with pottery, &c., on the site of Basing Lane (Plan C, 163) [Arch. Journ. ix, 297]. From the same site was said to have come a stone (now in the Guildhall Museum) with the following inscription : — D . M ^['^) M[anihus) ONESIMO . vix . AN . XIII Onesima vix{it) an{nos) xiii DOMITIVS . ELAINVS . PATER Domitius Elainus pater FILIO . B . M filio h[ene) tn[erito).^^ It was, however, subsequently claimed as 'probably not genuine Anglo-Roman, but imported from the Columbaria of Italy.' There is certainly no authentic record of its discovery on this site, and it is said to have been long in a dealer's possession [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, ix, 91, 199 ; '" This appears to be the same pavement as that found in Scots Yard and described under Bush Lane <S^^p. 93). " The description (by E. B. Price) is somewhat vague, but apparently applies to what w.i3 then Basing Lane. " A similar one found in Princes Street [cf. Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, vlii, pi. I 3, fig- 6, and see p. 119]- " 'To the Departed Spirits. To Onesimus. He lived 13 years. Domitius Elainus the father to his most deserving son.' 95
