Being destitute of express records, and unable to penetrate the clouds which ignorance and inattention have fabled over our Anglo-Roman antiquities, it is from the tenor of general history alone that we are enabled to fix a time for the building of this fortress: without such a consultation our utmost researches would fail us, and we should have only the miserable alternative of either guessing at the period or passing it by unnoticed.
That portion of Anglo-Roman history which more immediately respects Garianonum is short and limited; it commences with the reign of Claudius, and it extends no further.
This emperor, who assumed the purple at fifty years old, had neither the spirit, courage, nor perseverance of his great predecessor; yet, ambitious of following the steps of Julius, he formed the design of completing what Cæsar had begun, and of reducing Britain to a Roman province. In pursuance of this plan, he arrived here about the year of Christ, 45, having previously sent Aulus Plautius with troops sufficient to effect his intention. After the emperor had continued here six months he returned to Rome, and triumphed for conquests never obtained and for victories never won. [18]
After the emperor’s departure, Plautius remained here near four years, and carried on the Britannic war with spirit and success.
Next in command was the proprætor, Publius Ostorius Scapula, an experienced officer, in whom conduct and courage were equally united. To him the Romans were indebted for the subjection of the Iceni, to him they were obliged for the retention of their conquests, and to him we owe the foundation of Garianonum.
No part of the policy of this General claims our attention so much as the erecting this fortress: it was the most effectual method of curbing the high spirit of liberty inherent in the native Britons, of dissolving their alliances, breaking their power, and dividing their resources; and without these mural encampments, neither conquest nor security could have attended the Roman banner in Britain. From this period, therefore, we date the rise of Garianonum, built by the command and by the soldiers of Ostorius, and garrisoned by a cohort of veteran troops lately returned victorious from a battle with the Iceni.
Round our now well-cultivated fields, then cold, bleak, and woody, the Romans diverted themselves with the pleasures of the chase; and cross our now green and fertile meadows, they navigated their vessels and caught their fish.
Upon a rising hill, near the confluence of the rivers Yare and Waveney, and overlooking a large extent of Marshes which once formed the estuary it commanded, stands Burgh Castle, the ancient Garianonum of the Romans. In the construction of this camp the Romans pursued their usual method of security in building, and practised their favourite military architecture. It formed an irregular parallelogram, the parallel sides of which were equally right lines, and equally long, but the corners were rounded. Those camps, which were one-third longer than they were broad, were esteemed the most beautiful, but here the proportion is as two to one.
The principal wall of this station, in which is placed the Porta Prætoria, is that to the east, 14 feet high, 214 yards long, and 9 feet broad; the north and southern walls are just the same height and breadth, and just half the length; the western side has no remains of any wall, nor can we determine, with certainty, whether it ever had any; the sea might possibly be considered as a sufficient barrier on that side, and the steepness of the hill, as a collateral security.
Four massive round towers defend the eastern wall; the northern has one; and another, now thrown down, stood opposite on the southern. These towers were added after building the walls, and served not only to ornament and strengthen them, but as turres exploratorii, each having on the top a round hole two feet deep, and as many in diameter, evidently designed both for the erection of standards and signals, and for the admission of light temporary watch-towers, under the care and for the use of the spectators. The south-west corner of the station forms the pretorium, raised by the earth taken out of a vallum which surrounds and secures it, and which is sunk eight feet lower than the common surface of the area.