Here, in the sacellum, the deferred pay of the soldiers was deposited until it became due to them on their discharge. Here also were kept the army pay-sheets, an actual example of which has been found in the sands of Egypt.
At Cilurnum a strong room has been constructed, evidently in a later and more disturbed period. It is entered by steps leading down from the sacellum, and lies under the office-room next to the sacellum on the east, blocking that room in such a way as to prove it could be no part of the original plan. Early in the nineteenth century the heavy oak door of the strong room, studded with nails, was still in place, but it perished when exposed to the air. A slab of stone has been thrown (probably by invaders) across the flight of steps, so that in descending them one has to stoop very low.
The arched roof of the strong room is formed by a series of large stones "stepping over" each other; and its back wall is also "stepped over," so as to make it incline towards the roof.
On my last visit I saw a blackbird's nest neatly tucked in between the stones of this roof. It contained three young ones, with their mouths perpetually open—creatures of one idea, for the time. There had been five eggs, but tourists had taken two away, as mementoes of Cilurnum.
The colonnade of the Principia at Cilurnum consisted of neat piers made of specially small stones, instead of the circular columns that are found elsewhere. The paving is beautiful; but there are indications that it covers an earlier floor. The chamfered bases of the piers go below the level of the present paving-stones, which may some day be removed, and the original floor-level reached and dated. It would be interesting to see in what state of preservation that floor would be found.
In this outer court there is a round well, still half full of water; the stones are all the original Roman work except the top row. There are "set-backs" at intervals down the sides of the well, to form footholds when it was necessary to descend it. Its workmanship is beautiful.
Another necessary and constant feature in the inner arrangement of a Roman fort was the pair of granaries, often set close together, side by side. These granaries were the strongest of the inner buildings. Their walls were thick and heavily buttressed, and their floors supported either on dwarf walls, or on pillars, to provide for the circulation of air underneath them and so prevent damp.
The remains of the granaries at Cilurnum have unfortunately been removed; they stood to the south-west of the Principia.
A very important find in a guard-chamber at Cilurnum was what is known as the "Chesters Diploma," a bronze tablet, conferring the privileges of Roman citizenship on certain soldiers who had earned it by faithful service. It is now in the British Museum. Dr. Bruce gives a full description of it in his Handbook to the Roman Wall.
The barracks are another essential feature of a Roman fort.