Fig. 35.—Roman Pavement. Drawn in situ by Fairholt, 1854.
Possibly Wren had found some remnant of such an earlier north wall, for he put the northward extent of the city along Cheapside and in line with Cornhill. This earlier north wall seems to have been again found about 1897, in which year Mr. Williamson sent the following passage to the Middlesex and Herts Notes and Queries:—“Very close to St. Peter’s-upon-Cornhill, Roman walls of immense thickness have been discovered, proceeding in a westerly direction from Leadenhall Market under the Woolpack Tavern in Gracechurch Street along St. Peter’s Alley, a few feet on the south side of the churchyard of St. Peter’s, continuing under the banking-house of Messrs. Prescott, Dimsdale, & Co. (50 Cornhill), supposed to continue under the roadway of Cornhill, and appearing again in the foundations of the new building now being erected on the north side of Cornhill (No. 70) for the Union Bank of Australia. For what purpose, is it conjectured, were these walls at Leadenhall and Cornhill built?” By the aid of this valuable observation, I think that the concluding question may be safely answered by the theory of earlier walls.
Mr. Loftie has brought forward a suggestion, or rather stated a conclusion, that there was in the earlier days a walled castrum, like Richborough, at the head of London Bridge, reaching northwards to the “Langbourne.” It is not usual to seat such a post on a steep hill-side, it would be curious to pass all the Bridge traffic through it, and, finally, I have not found a vestige of foundation for its existence—it is a castrum in the air.[214]
It may be held for certain that when Tacitus, writing of the insurrection of A.D. 62, spoke of London as a wealthy and important place, no walls existed, for of the still more important Camalodunum he tells us that it had no defences, and the garrison could only fortify themselves in the temple. “The Roman generals,” he says, “neglecting the useful, embellished the province, but took no care for its defence.”
However, it is reasonable to suppose that the chief centres would have been protected a little later under the very thorough policy of Agricola, if these shortcomings were so noticed when Tacitus wrote; and it is the opinion of Mr. Haverfield, our best authority on things Roman, that the walls of the sister city of Silchester, now so well known to us, go back to this time.
I cannot think that the greater wall of London dates back to the first century, but it has never been proved to be later.
Fig. 36.—Roman Brick inscribed London.
