Memorials of Old Dorset

by Unknown

The Roman occupation was indeed an admirable combination of military and civil rule; and the memorials fall naturally into two distinct classes, corresponding with two distinct periods. There is, first, the period of conquest, embracing the years during which the Roman Legions drove back the native levies, and captured their strongholds; not in one summer campaign we may well believe, but year after year, with irresistible force, until the subjugated tribes laid down their arms and yielded the hostages demanded by the conquerors. Then followed the period of peace, of civilisation, and of colonising; of improving the roads, and marking out of farms; the days of trade and commerce, and of building houses, temples, and places for public amusement.

Now both aspects of the occupation are to be seen as clearly at this day as if they were described in the pages of a book; and yet what is the fact? Scarcely a sentence can be found of written history which deals with it. General Pitt-Rivers, who, living in Dorset, devoted many years of his life to antiquarian research, asserts that having read with attention all the writings that were accessible upon that obscure period of history, some by scholars of great ability, nothing definite can be found to relate to the Roman Conquest. It is, however, generally assumed that it fell to the lot of Vespasian, in command of the world-famous “Legio Secunda,” to commence, if not to complete, the subjugation of the Durotriges, the people who are believed to have inhabited the southern portion of the county. The only reference to Vespasian’s campaign by contemporary historians is made by Suetonius. He says that Vespasian crossed to Britain, fought with the enemy some thirty times, and reduced to submission two most warlike tribes and twenty fortified camps, and the island (Isle of Wight) adjacent to the coast. In this statement, which is all too brief to satisfy our curiosity, may lie the main facts of the passing of Dorset into Roman power. The work begun by Vespasian may, indeed, have been completed by others—by Paulinus Suetonius, the Governor of Britain about the year 60, and by Agricola; and where so much is left to conjecture, it is at least worth while to give once more the theory propounded by the well-known antiquary, the late Mr. Charles Warne, F.S.A. In a paper read before the Society of Antiquaries in June, 1867, he suggests that as the south-eastern parts of Britain had been previously visited by Roman armies, Vespasian directed his course further to the west, and either made the Isle of Wight the base of his operations or anchored his ships in the harbours of Swanage or Poole. Close by is the commencement of the long range of hills, The Ridgeway, which, with few interruptions, follows the coast line, and still shews by the number of the burial-mounds the district inhabited by the British.

Mr. Warne proceeds to enumerate the various camps along this route, all at convenient distances from one another, some of which shew by their construction that they were Roman camps, and others British camps, captured by the conquering legions, as narrated by Suetonius. If Vespasian had pursued this plan of campaign, it would have had the additional advantage of enabling him to keep in touch with his transports. As one hill fortress after another was captured in the march westward along the Ridgeway heights, so the fleet might have changed its anchorage from Swanage Bay to Lulworth, from Lulworth to the shelter of Weymouth and Portland, and finally to the neighbourhood of Charmouth or Lyme Regis.

There is this also to be said in favour of Mr. Warne’s conjecture. An attacking force must find out and capture the strongholds of the defenders, which would naturally be made more strongly, and therefore last longer than the camps of the invaders. And this is what we see in the suggested line of the Roman advance. First, on the east, Flowers, or Florus Bury Camp, and Bindun, then Mai-dun (Maiden Castle), after that Eggardun, and finally, at the western limit of the county, Conig’s Castle and Pylsdun. All these are (as far as can be seen now) British camps of refuge; all of them must have been captured before the Roman generals could feel secure in their own isolated position on a foreign shore. That they were one and all occupied by the conquerors is also most probable, and would account for the discovery of Roman relics within their areas. No Roman camps can be seen at all approaching in strength or size these magnificent hill fortresses. It is, of course, well known that the armies of Rome never halted for a night without forming an entrenchment of sufficient size to include not only the fighting men, but the baggage train, and though traces of these still remain on the hills of Dorset, the majority have long ago disappeared.

Perhaps the most interesting example of the military occupation of the two races is to be seen at Hod Hill, near Blandford, where a well-defined Roman Camp is constructed within the area of a previously occupied British fortress, and here have been found spear heads, arrow heads, spurs and portions of harness, rings and fibulæ, and fragments of pottery, all indicating the Roman occupation; iron was found more generally than bronze, and the coins are those of the earlier emperors, including Claudius, in whose reign Vespasian made his conquests. Badbury, four miles north-west of Wimborne, Woodbury, near Bere Regis, and Hambledon, five miles north of Blandford, may be referred to as memorials of the time of the Roman occupation, though not of Roman construction.

Poundbury Camp, with its Saxon appellation, deserves special mention, for, being situated on the outskirts of Dorchester, it has been studied more frequently perhaps than any other earthwork in the county. It has the form of an irregular square, with a single vallum, except on the more exposed west side, where it is doubled, and traces have been discovered of other ramparts now obliterated. On the north the camp overhangs the river and valley, once probably a lake or morass, and here the defences are slight. The area within the vallum is about 330 yards from east to west, and 180 yards from north to south. Some authorities affirm that it was raised by the Danes about A.D. 1002, when they attacked Dorchester. Stukeley regards it as one of Vespasian’s camps when engaged in his conquest of the Durotriges, while other antiquarians claim for it a British origin, prior to the Roman invasion. Mr. Warne, whose opinions are always worthy of most careful consideration, “holds it to be a safer speculation to regard it as a Roman earthwork,” and, no doubt, in form and general outline and size it is very similar to other Roman camps, and altogether different to the magnificent British fortress Maiden Castle, not two miles away. Many Roman relics have been found, including coins ranging from the times of Claudius to Constantine, and a tumulus is still to be seen within the vallum, which alone would be an argument against its Celtic origin.

Poundbury is insignificant indeed when compared with Mai-dun, and it is impossible by mere description to convey an adequate impression of this great earth fortress, singled out by many as the finest work of its kind. It certainly surpasses all others in the land of the Durotriges, and probably nowhere in the world can entrenchments be seen of such stupendous strength. This camp, which is said to occupy 120 acres, is in form an irregular oval, embracing the whole of the hill on which it stands; its length is nearly 800 yards, and width 275 yards. On the north, facing the plain, there are three lines of ramparts, with intervening ditches, the slopes being exceedingly steep, and measuring over 60 feet from apex to base. On the south the number of ramparts is increased, but they are not so grand, and, indeed, as Mr. Warne remarks, they appear to have been left in an unfinished condition. At the east and west ends are the two principal entrances, and here the ingenuity of the designer is manifested in a surprising manner. At one end five or six ramparts, at the other as many as seven or eight are built, so as to cover or overlap one another; vallum and fossa, arranged with consummate skill, to complete the intricacies of entrance, and to compel an enemy to undertake a task of the utmost difficulty and danger.

In later times this camp was, no doubt, occupied by Roman troops as summer quarters, its healthy position rendering it very suitable for the purpose. Perhaps, still later, it became the residence of some Roman magnate, who selected that fine eminence for his country villa; at any rate, there should be no difficulty in accounting for the discovery of Roman coins and implements, or even of villas, on the sites of the camps and castles of the British. Many a hard fought battle must have raged around their earthen walls.

Ever and anon, with host to host,

Shocks, and the splintering spear, the hard mail hewn,