BELGRAVE-GATE,
a street of considerable extent, in the broader part of which stands what may justly be deemed one of the most valuable curiosities of the place; it is a milliare, or Roman mile-stone, forming part of a small obelisk. This stone was discovered in 1771, by some workmen, digging to form a rampart for a new turnpike-road from Leicester to Melton, upon the foss road leading to Newark, and at the distance of two miles from Leicester. Antiquarians allow it to be the oldest milliare now extant in Britain; and perhaps the inscription upon it is older than most others that have been found upon altars, or other monuments of Roman antiquity in this island. It is about three feet long, and between
five and six in circumference. The inscription, when the abbreviations are filled up, may be read thus—
Imperator Cæsar,
Divi Trajani Parthici Filius Divus,
Trajanus Hadrianus Augustus,
Potestate IV. Consulatu III. A Ratis II.Hadrian Trajanus Augustus,
Emperor & Cæsar, the son of the most illustrious Trajan Parthicus,
In the 4th year of his reign, and his 3d consulate.
From Ratæ (Leicester) 2 miles.
Such is the inscription on this milliare, which our industrious antiquaries seem faithfully to have extracted from among the ruins of time and the injuries of accident; an object, which exhibits a curious instance of the civilization introduced by the Roman arms into this
island; for the erection of marks to denote the distance from place to place, is an accommodation, at least to the travelling stranger, which unpolished nations never devised; and which the inhabitants of Britain never generally enjoyed from the final departure of the Roman legions, till the last century, when mile-stones were again erected along our principal turnpike roads. The unlearned visitor, it is confessed, will be apt to view, with some degree of disappointment, the object of which we are speaking, and about which much busy conjecture, and learned antiquarian research has been employed; for indeed, its appearance is neither singular nor striking, the engraving being but slight, and the letters rudely formed. But the ingenious observer will esteem it a valuable curiosity; not only because it clears up the long doubted question, whether
the Ratæ of Antoninus’s Itinerary was the present Leicester, but because it is one of those objects which assist the reflecting mind in connecting the past with the present; and, by confirming from sensible evidence the records of history, give greater weight and effect to the lessons she may teach.
The situation in which this stone is at present placed, has often been thought improper; for it is undoubtedly exposed to injuries from the wantonness of play, and is so little conspicuous from its place in the obelisk, that nothing appears necessarily to attract the attention of the stranger. A situation more private, though not wholly so, would be more proper; such a one as the garden of the Infirmary would afford: it would there have all the publicity the curious could wish, and all the security the antiquary could desire.
Our visitor, continuing his walk along this street, which, as he probably will know, is on the great road from the metropolis to the north-west part of the kingdom, arrives at a scene of busy traffic. Here, among numbers of newly-erected dwellings (proofs of the increasing population of the town) is the public and principal wharf on the navigable canal, near which is an iron foundery. This canal was formed, in consequence of a bill passed in 1791, for the purpose of opening a communication with the Loughborough canal, and through that, with the various navigations, united to the Trent. The line of the canal from Leicester to Loughborough is near sixteen miles in extent, and serves to supply Leicester with coal, lime, and the greater part of all the other heavy articles, which the consumption of a
place, containing sixteen thousand inhabitants, requires.
The rates of tonnage, according to the act, from Loughborough to Leicester, are—
| For coals | 1s. 2d. per ton. |
| Iron, timber, &c. | 2s. 6d. |
Quantity of the articles brought by this canal:
| tons | |
| Coal annually consumed in Leicester and its vicinity | 35,000 |
| Ditto forwarded to other canals | 18,000 |
| Merchandize for Leicester | 4,000 |
| Ditto sent down (chiefly wool) | 1,600 |
Thus, whether we consider the saving of corn, &c. consumed by the horses employed in land carriage, the comparative cheapness of the conveyance, or the improved state of our roads, relieved from such heavy weights, it must be acknowledged that this canal adds
more than might have been expected to the convenience of Leicester, and the greater part of its county. Indeed, these water-roads, as navigable canals may be termed, reflect the greatest honour on the ingenuity of man, exemplified in their formation, and prove most strikingly to the thinking mind, how boundless are the advantages of civilized life, and how inviolable the security afforded to property by laws, wisely framed and judiciously enforced.
The view from this spot, across the Abbey Meadow, extending on the opposite side of the canal, with the ruins of the Devonshire mansion, commonly termed the Abbey, from its being the scite of St. Mary de Pratis, will, by most visitors, be considered, at least, as very pleasing; but as we mean to conduct our traveller to that place, we shall, at present, forbear to particularize it.
We shall immediately, along a lane, called Arch-deacon’s Lane, about the middle of which is a Meeting house, with a small burial ground, belonging to the General Baptists, guide our stranger to