ROMANO-BRITISH SUFFOLK It is a curious fact that though eight of the ' forts of the Saxon Shore ' have been identified with all probable correctness, the place of one of them has never been settled with general assent. This is the Portus Adurni. The station has been supposed to have been situated on the Adur, a stream flowing into Shoreham Harbour, in Sussex, the name being given to it from that of the stream ; but this has been shown to be an error, as the little river in question had no certain name till the 17th century, when that name was bestowed upon it.'* Portchester has also been suggested for its site, as a large Roman station of the late class still exists there at the head of Ports- mouth Harbour. There is, however, no river or stream here whose name might be associated with that of the port. From the most westerly of the identified ports of the Saxon Shore, Pevensey (Anderida), round to Brancaster on the Wash, in Norfolk (Branodunum), the sites of the stations have been found and named, yet here at Walton on the most important point in the whole line lies a station as important as Gariannonum, which station it is suggested was Portus Adurni. If we knew the Roman name of the Stour such a suggestion would be settled. In the Notitia Dignitatum Portus Adurni is spoken of as garrisoned by a body oi exploratores ; that is, in modern phrase, mounted scouts. No better troops could be selected for such a fort as that at Walton. There seems not very much doubt that if all the facts connected with the site could be fairly arrayed the name given above would with little hesitation be bestowed upon it and the last gap in the list of the Notitia would be satisfactorily filled. Remains of Civilian Occupation The civil side of our subject does not perhaps offer matter of as much interest as that just treated ; not so much on account of the want of , its impor- tance as on account of the imperfect remains it has to show. Yet Suffolk quite equals other counties in the number of such remains. It is needless to dwell on the minor antiquities, which will be found fully treated in the Topographical Index. The essential object is to note all traces discoverable of the dwelling-places of the inhabitants of the district in question, for from them alone it is possible to guess at the social condition of settlers or of the Romanized Britons occupying the land. From the paucity of stone and the abundant supply of wood from the forests the houses must have been of half- timbered construction, the spaces between the timbers being filled with a plastering of clay upon a ground-work of laths or reeds, the whole built on a footing, some 2 ft. high, of rubble or brick, and roofed with reeds which grew plentifully along the course of the rivers. Such dwellings sufficed, but in those of any size, the comforts or elegancies of life, such as tessellated pave- ments and painted walls and warmed winter rooms, were not entirely lost sight of. The principal settlements which have been found may here be noted, beginning with such sites as are discoverable by building and other material, scattered in the soil, and passing on to actual foundations marking out a definite plan. At Great Welnetham, Gough in his edition of Camden reported the ploughing up of many fragments of pottery early in the i8th centurys " Haverfield, Proc. Soc. Ant'tq. 1893 (Ser. 2), xiv, 112, 116. 291
