Page:VCH London 1.djvu/164

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A HISTORY OF LONDON in dark blue and white glass, from the handle of a vessel [now in Brit. Mus. ; Illus. Rom. Land. pi. 31, fig. 5, p. 121], and a piece of Castor ware with dogs and hares, found about 1840 [Arch, xxix, 153] ; specimens of fresco-painting (one with a fluted column), lamps, bells, locks, keys, and Gaulish pottery, found in 1847 on the site of the King's Arms Inn (Plan C, 47) [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, ii, 340]. In 1863 the India House was pulled down and many discoveries were made. At first only fragments of pottery and some tesserae were found. But below the portico a room was found paved with red tesserae, with walls of Kentish rubble and chalk bonded with tiles, plastered and coloured in fresco. This was thought to have been a small room adjoining the larger one in which was the pavement of 1803 ; but it is stated to be at a much greater depth (19 ft. 6 in.), and must, therefore, be of earlier date. At the depth of the other pavement (9 ft. 6 in.), but to the north under the street (Plan C, 44), another mosaic pavement was found in 1864, and is now in the British Museum, to which, with other antiquities from the site, it was presented by Sir W. Tite in that year [Arch, xxxix, pi. 21, p. 500 ; Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. 2), ii, 316, 360; "Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xix, 63, 307; Arch. Journ. xx, 177 ; Morgan, Rom. Brit. Mosaic Pavements, 192, 193 ; Illus. Lond. News, 12 March, 1864, 267, Some of the tiles with pp.br. lon (p. 90) are said to have been found here [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxxix, 389]. Two portions of pavements are reported in 1882 from the site of Rochester Buildings, opposite that of the India House (Plan C, 46), at 1 1 ft. below street level [Arch. Journ. xl, 1 07]. In 1 883 'armlets, styli, and a rectangular case for wax tablets' from the ' India Office ' site were reported, but the date of discovery is not given, nor is it stated whether this site or Whitehall is meant [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxxix, 83]. In 1884 an iron implement described as 'a heavy /^/«ot, for projection from a ballista .... used and subjected to fire' was found [Ibid, xl, 1 17]. Much Gaulish pottery from this site in the British Museum, chiefly from Sir W. Tite (1864) but also from Roach Smith, &c. ; one complete bowl of form 37 with figures; also a piece of enamelled 'lead-glaze ' ware, a jar of Castor ware and fragments of painted red ware. The potters' stamps are mostly Rutenian, of the first century : Calvus, Crestus, Modestus, Mommo, Primus, Quintus, Rufinus, Virilis, Vitalis ; others are Cobnertus, Littera, and Martialis (the last named German) ; also a pair of bronze compasses. In the Guildhall Museum is a fine ist-century Gaulish bowl of form 18 with stamp melvs feci [Cat. 587], and other miscellaneous objects. In Mr. Ransom's collection at Hitchin, New Forest and other Romano- British pottery. A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1825 (ii, 633) states that on the Roman level 'a Roman road was discovered' (Plan C, 45). No further details are given, but if the road ran north and south (and the finds reported above imply that buildings occupied the present road-way), it would be exactly in the line of the north-to-south road from Bishopsgate to Billingsgate (see p. 37). Roach Smith speaks of this street as 'abounding in the debris of buildings' [Arch, xxix, 153 ; see Plan C, 43].

Lime Street (Plan C, 24).—A hoard of about 500 denarii found in 1882, described by Sir John Evans as mostly struck in billon and looking like brass; they were in an urn of coarse black ware, near other Roman remains, and include most of the Emperors from Commodus to Trajan Decius, some of the coins e.g. Albinus, Balbinus, Diadumenianus, Macrinus, and Pupienus being very rare in Britain. The hoard included coins of Philip struck in 248 but none later than Decius, so must have been deposited between 249 and 251 [Num. Chron. (Ser. 3), ii, 57, iii, 278].

Gaulish pottery in British Museum with stamps of first century (Rutenian) potters : Aper, Crestio, Macrinus, Passienus, Pontius, Primus, Sextus ; all found in 1838. In the Guildhall : a flue-tile, bronze scales, some glass [Cat. 31, 158-62], and two pieces of Gaulish pottery, one of form 18 with stamp of a German potter reginvs f [Cat. 494, 583]. In Mr. Ran- som's collection at Hitchin a fine jar of red glazed ware with ' cut-glass ' patterns (Lezoux, second century). Liverpool Street. — Gaulish pottery and coins, including one of Aurelian, found in 1843 [Gent. Mag. (1843), i, 520 ; Rom. Brit. Rem. i, 199]. A Roman shoe reported in 1873 [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxix, 71]. In the Guildhall Museum a terra-cotta figure of Ceres and three heads [Cat. 29, 42, 43, 47], also a cinerary urn with cover, of grey ware, and sundry plain pottery ; in the British Museum a fragment of Gaulish pottery with stamp cracisa. A large find of cinerary urns made in excavating for the new Great Eastern Railway station in 1874, one of which was inclosed in a coffin, and nearly all contained bones, which in some cases appear to have been wrapped in grass or some other fibrous vegetable matter ; much pottery also found [Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. 2), vi, 170 ; see above, p. 9]. io8