ROMANO-BRITISH LONDON Another road for which there is a certain amount of evidence ran close to that already described as the original Watling Street south of the Thames : this may be another case of divergence on account of marshy ground on the direct route originally chosen. The latter seems to pass close to the river across the mouth of the Ravensbourne (Deptford Creek) ; and though convenient for the transport of goods brought by boat to Greenwich, may have proved difficult to maintain across the low ground of Deptford. It is therefore possible that Watling Street, after surmounting Shooters Hill, bore to the south-west to Blackheath (where numerous Roman remains have been found), and thence made straight for the river-passage at Westminster. Remains of a road have been found north of Newington Church. ^^' Various finds near St. Thomas' Watering,^™ in the grounds of the Fish- mongers' Almshouses,^^^ and opposite Bethlehem Hospital,^" all occur on this line, but there is no actual mention of burials such as mark the more direct route a little to the north. Defective observation is no doubt responsible for this, and future discoveries may fix the route with more precision. The dearth of archaeological data for Southwark renders the task of defining the inhabited area peculiarly difficult, but the few burials recorded with precision may be used to supplement the evidence of buildings. Mention has already been made of interments near the Bricklayers' Arms, Deveril Street, and in St. George's Fields, on the presumed course of the road from Deptford to Westminster ; but others near St. George's Church and Trinity Church, at Barclay and Perkins' brewery, in Union Street and The Grove, combined with mixed burials in King Street (now Newcomen Street) near Snow's Fields,'"^ and in the High Street (Plan A, 66) between York Street (Bedale Street) and the old Town Hall (at the south end of Counter Street) ,"" all seem to lie on widening circles outside the small Roman settle- ment on the Surrey bank, near the supposed ford and later bridge. It should be noticed that the unburnt burial at Trinity Church is the furthest of this group from the centre, and other interments of this kind may yet be found border- ing the Ermine Street which was constructed about the time of the change in burial customs. It is stated that most of the burials were along Snow's Fields and Union Street, a line running east-and-west about a quarter of a mile from the river; and it may be added that the area thus indicated for the Roman settlement practically coincides with one of the manors of South- wark.^"' One obvious conclusion from the finds in and around London is that in Roman times lead was abundant, and it is clear from the inscriptions on pigs of that metal that the mines were under imperial control within five or six '°' Allen, Hist, of Land, i, 36 : finds of 1824 included a coin. '" Later, St. Thomas' Bridge, where the Canterbury pilgrims watered their horses. The tradition is preserved in the present St. Thomas' Street, north of Albany Road. See for this site Thos. Codrington, Roman Roads in Britain (ed. 2), 388, where the evidence for this route is also detailed. '" Formerly near the ' Elephant and Castle ' : handled cup of first century in British Museum. '" Allen, Hist, of Lond. i, 36 : finds of 18 10. ^"^ Joum. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxxi, 320 ; xxxix, 91 (found in 1819) ; these sites are noticed above, p. 24. """ Gent. Mag. 1833, i, 401, pi. ii ; R. Lindsay {Etymology of Southwark (1839), 5-6) adds burials in Blackman Street (Borough High Street, south of St. George's Church) discovered during sewer works 1818-19. "^^ Arch. XXV, 621 ; Gent. Mag. 1825, ii, 633. 39
