Common Hall-street.—Up the centre, a row of foundations formed of concrete (broken marble stones in hard mortar), about nine feet apart, all in a line, and about ten feet deep, presenting the appearance of having supported columns. A large square block of stone, four feet two inches square, and sixteen inches deep, without lewis holes, on a bed of concrete. A portion of a column of very debased classical form, about two feet in diameter; at the top is a hole, four inches and a half square, and the same deep, and a similar hole at the bottom; the square part seems never to have been smoothly dressed; the workmen said it was fast to the grouted concrete, at the depth of ten feet; mouldings, broken tiles, and pottery, coins of Pius, Tetricus, &c.; a quantity of animals’ bones, a stag’s skull, with the horns sawn off, and a wild boar’s tusk. In the adjoining street, a moulded block of cornice, eight inches thick, on the under side of which is a rude inscription; imbedded in a thick wall, at the same place, a pig of lead; a capital of a pillar. The tiles are of various forms, some overlapping one another, some with a kind of pattern or letters, others with marks of animals’ feet. One perfect, twenty-one inches by thirteen, of singular form. Also, what appears to have been a portion of a gable end.
In December, 1850, whilst fresh drains were being made, an old Roman vase was found in a yard belonging to Mr. Parkinson, plumber, in Northgate-street, between the Abbey-square and the Abbey Green. The labourer who was employed in the drain in that neighbourhood unhappily shattered this vase in pieces. The fragments, however, were collected together with great care, and re-united by Mr. Parkinson, in whose possession it now remains. There were found with it some portions of annular brass money, much corroded.
Near to the Feathers Hotel, in Bridge-street, in a cellar now occupied as an earthenware shop, are the remains of the Roman hypocaust and sweating bath, the use of which appears to have been very general amongst the Romans, and regarded by them as one of their chief luxuries. From the details which have been handed down to us by ancient historians, respecting these curious erections, we learn that they were not only constructed so as to secure the comfort and convenience of the bathers to the fullest extent, but were often built in the most magnificent style of architecture. The one in Bridge-street, which circumstances have happily spared, is in a tolerably perfect state. It is fifteen feet long, and eight wide, and six feet seven inches deep. There is an adjoining chamber, or præfurnium, of the same dimensions. The Hypocaust is supported by twenty-eight square pillars, two feet eight inches high, and one foot square at the top and bottom. Over these pillars are placed bricks, eighteen inches square, and three inches thick, which support others two feet square, perforated with small holes, about six inches asunder, for the purpose of conveying the heat upwards. Immediately above this uppermost layer of bricks is a terrace floor, composed of several layers of lime, pounded bricks, &c., in different proportions and degrees of fineness. The room above is the Sudatorium, or Sweating Room, which received the hot air from the Hypocaust below. Around the walls were benches, rising one above another, on which the bathers sat, until they burst out into a free perspiration; after which they were scraped with a bronze instrument called a Strigil—thin and flexible, like a hoop—by which all impurities were removed from the skin; they were then shampooed, rubbed down with towels (Lintea), and their bodies anointed with oil, by an attendant called Aliptes, after which they returned to the Tepidarium, where they attired themselves, and cooled gradually before returning to the open air.
In 1779, another Hypocaust, and the remains of several adjoining rooms of a Roman house, were discovered in digging the foundations of houses near the Watergate. The pillars of this Hypocaust, the altar dedicated to Fortuna Redux, Esculapius et Salus, and a few other antiquities, were found at the same time, and were removed to Oulton Park.
But small portions of the original Roman wall of Chester now exist, although undoubted vestiges of that ancient work are easily discernible. The present wall, no doubt, stands on the original foundation. The Roman pavement has been often discovered at the depth of a few feet below the modern road, in the principal streets, which, in all probability, run in the same direction as those of the Roman City. During the last few years, many remarkable antiquities have been discovered in making excavations for new buildings; and among such remains, a fine Roman altar, bearing a Greek inscription, has excited great interest and speculation.
CHAPTER III.
A WALK ROUND THE WALLS OF CHESTER.
The Chester walls are the only perfect specimen of this order of ancient fortification now to be met with in England. There is nothing, perhaps, which impresses a stranger more forcibly, or sooner attracts his interest and curiosity, than these embattled memorials of the olden time.
In King’s ‘Vale Royal’ it is stated that they were first built by Marius, King of the Britons, A.D. 73. Leland and Selden, both authors of credit, attribute to the Romans the foundation of Chester. According to Geoffry of Monmouth, Higden, Bradshaw the Monk, and Stowe, it is of an origin more ancient than Rome itself, and was only re-edified by the legionaries; but, in support of their assertions, the aforesaid writers, all of whom delight in the marvellous, give no other authority save vague tradition. On the other hand, the Walls of Chester, at this hour, bear witness to the truth of Leland and Selden’s account of their origin.
They are built of soft freestone, and command extensive and beautiful prospects. The view from the Northgate, with the Welsh Hills in the distance, is universally admired. The Walls are a mile and three-quarters and one hundred and twenty-one yards in circumference, and are kept in repair by the Corporation.