Page:VCH Suffolk 1.djvu/372

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A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK the station, still standing in 1740, and the site generally, are described by J. Kirby [Suffjii Traveller (ed. 2), 89-91]. Camden mentions Walton Castle, but not as a Roman station. Gough in his 'Additions' to his edition of Camden speaks of 'a castle (at Walton), the foundations 187 yds. long and 9 ft. thick . . . plenty of Roman coins and other anti- quities found there' [Camden, Brit. (ed. Gough), ii, 85]. The mention of the length of wall remaining is probably taken from Kirby. In Grose's account accompanying his text a view apparently taken in 1 766 is given showing the remains of the wall lying upon the beach [Grose, Antiq. of Engl, and (Fales ; Suppl. ii]. Besides the view of the ruined wall in Grose's account others may be mentioned. There is a small sketch in Indian ink entitled ' Remains of Felixstow Castle 1780,' the drawing being by Isaac Johnson, in vol. ii of SufF. Illus. (Fitch Coll.). Another drawing in pen and ink, washed, was in the collection of the late Mr. Eyre of Ipswich. It pur- ports to be a copy from a print in the possession of Mr. Oxburgh of HartclifF in Kent, the print itself having been executed from a drawing made in 1700 by Thomas Bates of Ipswich. A second copy of this print is in the collection of Miss Nina Layard of Ipswich. Neither print nor original drawing is now traceable. These copies show the ruins of a circular bastion on the edge of the cliff, evidently that of the one at the south-west angle of the station, with a small portion of the south wall running seawards, and overhanging the precipice. Masses of the same wall lie upon the beach. Mr. Eyre also had a tracing from a pen-and-ink outline drawing washed with colour, of much earlier date than the last mentioned. Upon the original drawing there appears to have been this inscription in writing of the 17th century : 'E Pros (?) Walton Caste!,' and it was signed in one corner 'John Sheppard 1623.' The sea front of the station is represented entire, the edge of the cliff being in the foreground. A circular bastion is seen at each angle, and a wide break about the centre of the front marks a gateway. Beneath the view is a rough plan indicating that the walls of the station formed a parallelogram with a bastion at each angle. The drawing from which this tracing was made is not now to be found, and judging from the tracing it had the character of a sketch of the 1 8th rather than of the 17th century, although the writing on it seemed to be of the latter period. Unless something more could be ascertained respecting the original drawing from which the tracing in question was made, its value as an authority for the condition of the remains early in the 17th century must be considered doubtful. Many objects of the Roman period have been found about the site. Beginning with coins, it may be mentioned that Davy [Suff. Coll. B.M. MSS. 19087, fol. 53-60] described a collection made at Felixstowe in the years 1742-3-4, in full detail. The coins range from Pompey the Great (ob. 48 B.C.) of whom there was one example, to Honorius (a.d. 395-423), and their total number amounted to 420. This collection was the property of the Rev. W. Brown of Saxmundham, and at the sale of his goods in 1827 it passed into the possession of the Rev. W. Layton of Ipswich. Coins were found at a later date, of Victorinus (a.d. 265-8), Tetricus (a.d. 268-73), Urbs Roma, Valens (2) (a.d. 364-78), and Gratian (a.d. 375-83) yourn. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xiv, 271] ; also a gem of oval form, possibly a cornelian, engraved with a figure wearing a. petasus^ and with a panther skin hanging from one arm. In the right hand it held a poppy head and wheat ear, and in the left a pedum [ibid. 339]. A find is recorded in 1749 of very small Roman coins and some pieces of metal, as if melted in the fire, near Bawdsey Haven [MS. Min. Soc. Antiq. v, 241]. During the process of digging for coprolites in the field known as the Park near Felixstowe Church, many objects of the Roman period were turned up. Such as were noted were as follows : — ;-Vase of so-called Samian ware, with hunting scenes and ornament of oak leaves and acorns (purchased by the South Kensington Museum), flue tiles, amphorae^ lagenae, a small glass phial, bronze pms, tweezers, a speculum, several fibulae and gold rings, silver rings, some set with stones, a gold chain of twisted wire, and a bronze bracelet, a bronze disk enamelled (a zxxqaAzx fibula ?), a bronze enamelled tag ox fibula, and other objects in the same metal ; coins of gold, silver, and bronze, of Severus (a.d. 222-35), Gordian III (a.d. 238-44), Gallienus (a.d. 253-68), Victorinus (a.d. 265-8), Constantine (a.d. 306-37), and Arcadius (..D. 383-408). There was a great quantity also of mussel, periwinkle, and cockle shells, and of snail shells. Many sepulchral urns were dug up containing bones and ashes, closed in some instances with a cover, in others only with a stone {Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. 2), xi, 12, 14: 'Communication from Mr. E. St. F. Moore of Woodhridgc ']. In 1843 Prof. George Henslow and his father found ' a sort of kitchen midden in the London clay cliff near Felixstowe.' Rough pottery, bones, cores of deer horns, a skull, rusty nails, and a so-called Samian vase, were among the objects discovered in it [Antiq. xlii, 283 (1906)]. The Roman objects of bronze in the collection of Lord Londesborough from this site are a bust of Mercury and several keys [Antiq. Etching Club Publ. iii, pi. 25]. In the Ipswich Museum there are three flue tiles, perfect, one of large size with reeded ornamentation ; vessels of ordinary ware, some probably cinerary urns ; a large thumb-pot of unusual size, and a harp- 306