Fig. 37.—Inscription from Roman Brick.
Fragments of sculpture, themselves not very early, have been found in portions of the wall, yet the Camomile Street bastion and other similar places might be additions and repairs; and some late fragments from the south wall found by Roach Smith seem to have come from its foundation (Figs. [24] and [25]).
If it is difficult to offer any convincing argument as to the age of the wall of London, it is possible to get a general idea of the walled city and its neighbourhood with some vividness and accuracy. We have the great tidal river, the background of forest, and the nearer fen-lands, which seem to have almost insulated the site. There is the great white posting-road from Canterbury and Dover, and, more remotely, from Rome, Lyons, Chalons, Auxerre, Troyes, Rheims, Amiens, Boulogne, striking straight from point to point. On its course are villas, like one just discovered in Greenwich Park. The road dips towards the river, and passes over the drained and banked marshes to the Surrey suburb. There is a gate-tower at the end of the Bridge, then comes the long and narrow passage over the strong, swift river to the grey walls of Londinium. Along the river-front are several wharves formed of timbering, to the left is the creek of the little river which ran under the west walls, and, still further west, some water-side villas.[215] Entering the city the street ascends steeply towards the north gate; others, parallel to its course, lead to two other gates in the north wall, and two chief routes traverse the city longitudinally from west gate to east gate, and from west postern to east postern. A bridge[216] over the Walbrook gives good reason why the street lines in the eastern half of the city converge toward this point. The area extending from the north-gate street to the bank of the Walbrook is covered with the principal buildings closely packed together.[217] Beyond this central mass of buildings stand isolated villas in gardens and orchards. In the open belt of ground outside the walls, and along the roads, west, north, and east, are cemeteries, the graves marked with sarcophagi and sculptured headstones, some of imported marble. A theatre somewhat similar to those at Dorchester, Cirencester, and Silchester is situated without the west gate, being excavated in the steep bank of the rivulet between it and the city wall.[218]
Fig. 38.—Roman Tomb, from outside of the East Walls. Restored.
Fig. 39.—Inscription from Roman Tomb.
Within the walls the city is adorned by more than one bronze statue. The sculptured ornaments of the public buildings are somewhat rude and ponderous, but the dwellings are furnished with numerous imported works of art, such as bronze statuettes, bowls of red Samian ware, and very beautiful coloured glass vessels of the millefiore kind. The rooms have their walls painted in bright colours with birds, flowers, and figures, and imitations of porphyry and verde antique, while a few are cased with thin slabs of marble. The pavements are patterned mosaic, and raised above hot air chambers; lead pipes supply water, the windows are glazed, and the roofs without are covered with red pantiles. So far there seem to be authentic data for such a picture. It would be vain to attempt in many instances to assign the fragments found in excavations to particular buildings. Roach Smith, however, was of opinion that a large fragment sculptured with the three seated goddesses, the Deae Matres, found in Hart Street, Crutched Friars, and now in the Guildhall, “stood on the outside of a temple dedicated to these popular divinities.”