Page:VCH London 1.djvu/179

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ROMANO-BRITISH LONDON Newgate Street (Plan C, 202 ; 49, 50). — In constructing a sewer about 1836 the line of the Roman Wall is said to have been crossed about the site of the gate ; fragments of Gaulish pottery- were found, one with a figure of Neptune, and Roman coins [Gent. Mag. (1836), i, 135]. In 1874 foundations of the Wall were found at the extreme west of the street on the north side, with an arched passage running parallel, and other walls, perhaps forming part of the gate and communications between the bastions ; Roman pottery was also found. The Roman origin of this wall has now been firmly established [yourn. Brit Arch. Assoc, xxxi, 76 (with illustration), 210; xxxii, 385 ff. ; Arch. Journ. xxxii, 327, 477 ; Land, and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans, v, 403 ff.]. During the demolition of the prison in 1903, about sixty-eight feet of the Wall was disclosed, with a plinth, supposed to have formed part of a guard-room, at the south-east angle of the gate. The wall ran north and south, about sixty yards south of the street, and 16 ft. below its level. In a ditch below, at a depth of about thirty feet, remains of Gaulish pottery were found (one piece with potter's name, albvc), also Romano- British and other plain wares, and coins of Nero, Vespasian, and Hadrian [P. Norman, 'Roman Remains at Newgate,' 1904, in Arch, lix, 125 ff., with illustrations]. On the Wall, see also Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans, i, 195; Hartridge, Coil. Newspaper Cuttings, Old Land, i, 279, and p. 65 above. Fragments of tiles were found in 1877 which had been used for internal decoration of wall surfaces, about l^ ft. by i^ ft. by i^in., with rough clay stubs for attachment and scored with wavy lines. They were found on the north side of the street, near the arched passage mentioned above, and exhibited remains of similar mortar ; they were probably also mediaeval [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxxiv, 109]. In 1879 a jar 'of the speckled or frosted kind' and other pottery showing traces of fire were reported [ibid, xxxv, 215]. In the British Museum are a fragment of Lezoux pottery, a mortarium with stamp of marinvs [Ulus. Rom. Lond. 89 ; Corp. Inscr. Latin, vii (1334), 32; cf. also Old Bailey], and a glass jar full of bones (Fig. 2, above), found in 185 l. The mortarium was found in 1855, together with a coarse pavement (Plan C, 202), tiles, and burnt wood [Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans, i, 195]. In the Guildhall, Gaulish bowls with stamps of Rutenian potters (oF severi, vitalism), also one with 'slip ' decoration [Cat. 473, 477]- See also Christ's Hospital, Old Bailey. Nicholas Lane (Plan C, 78). — A 'sepulchral urn 'of dark-coloured clay, containing burnt clay and animal matter (?) was found in 1847 about sixteen feet below the surface, near some remains of Roman walls, in which joists seemed to have been inserted [yourn. Brit. Arch. Assoc, ii, 341 ; Coll. Antiq. i, 146, pi. 49]. In 1850 an inscription was found on a stone measuring 2 ft. 4 in. by 3 ft. by 6 ft. : NVMC PROV Num[ini) C{aesaris et) prov{inciae) Brita{nniae) ? BRITA Hubner gives its date as the end of the first century. Roach Smith supposes that this inscription ' commemorated some important event and occupied a conspicuous position in some public building. ' It was,' he says, ' brought up from a great depth by the men employed in cutting a sewer.' It was placed in the Guildhall, but subsequently dis- appeared [Illus. Rom. Lond. 29, No. 11 ; Gent. Mag. (1850), 1 14; Coll. Antiq. iii, 257; Roach Smith, Retrospections, ii, 198 ; Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans, i, 32 ; Corp. Inscr. Latin, vii, 22]. In the Guildhall, two bronze bowls and another object [Cat. 27, 28, 64], also a fragment of Romano-British painted ware. In Bethnal Green Museum, bowl of form 27 stamped crivf. See also King William Street. Noble Street. — Two fragments of Gaulish ware in British Museum, one with stamp of Medetus, For an altar possibly from this site, see below, p. 135 ; for the wall here, see p. 63 and Plan C, 41. Northumberland Alley, Crutched Friars (Plan C, 8). — Fragment of tessellated pavement found in 1787 and presented to the Society of Antiquaries [Way's Cat. (1847), '^ ; Arch. xxxix, 491 ; Allen, Hist, of Lond. i, 29 ; Soc. Antiq. MS. Min. xxii, 281]. Fragment of Rutenian pottery in British Museum (E. B. Price). Old Bailey (Plan C, 50-56). — In cutting through the wall in 1857, °" ^^^ north side of the prison, a fragment of a mortarium was found with potter's stamp [Lond. and Midd. Arch. ° r r MARINVS '- Soc. Trans, i, 195; Gent. Mag. (1857), ii, 449; Corp. Inscr. Latin, vii, 1334, 32]; a similar one found in Newgate Street. ' Abundance of Roman bond tiles and building 117