I have to thank Mr. S. N. Miller, the excavator, for photographs.
(2) At Traprain Law (above, [p. 8]) a small potsherd from a second-century level bore the letters scratched on it
These letters were on the side of the potsherd which had formed the inner surface when the pot was whole; they must therefore have been inscribed after the pot had been smashed, and the size and shape of the bit give cause to think that it may have been broken intentionally for inscription—possibly for use in some game. In any case, it must have been inscribed at Traprain Law, and not brought there already written, and the occurrence of writing of any sort on such a site is noteworthy.
I am indebted to Dr. G. Macdonald for a sight of the piece.
(3) Found about three and a half miles north of the Roman fort Bremenium, High Rochester, near Horsley in north Northumberland, beside the Roman road over the Cheviots (Dere Street), close to the steading of Featherwood, in the autumn of 1914, now in the porch of Horsley Parish Church, a plain altar 51 inches high by 22 inches wide, with six lines of letters 2 inches tall. The inscription is unusually illegible. Only the first and last lines are readable with certainty; elsewhere some letters can be read or guessed, but not so as to yield coherent sense.
 | (only bottom of final E visible) |
 | (ET probable, IVL fairly certain) |
 | (only M quite certain) |
 | (erased on purpose) |
 | |
 |
The altar was dedicated to Victory; nothing else is certain. It is tempting to conjecture in line 2 ET N AVG, et numinibus Augustorum, as on some other altars to Victory, but ET is not certain, though probable, and N AVG is definitely improbable. The fourth line seems to have been intentionally erased. I find no sign of any mention of the Cohors I Vardullorum, which garrisoned Bremenium, though it or its commander might naturally be concerned in putting up such an altar.
We may assume that the altar belongs to Bremenium; possibly it was brought thence when Featherwood was built.