The prehistoric monuments existing in and round London are two in number: they are the river embankment and the Hampstead barrow. The date of the embankment cannot be guessed: there is nothing at all to mark the time of its construction. For trade purposes an embankment must have been made as soon as trade in London began to develop. We shall see presently what happened on the north bank. But it was not enough to improve the river at London Port: it was necessary to reclaim the marsh-land all along the river north and south. The wall so built has often been repaired, but it is substantially the same as that originally constructed. Few know or consider the greatness of the work or the extent of ground it has converted from marsh-land into pasture. Those who wish to see it may walk along it from Barking to Tilbury, or from Tilbury to Southend.
The Hampstead barrow has been called Queen Boadicea’s grave. There is, however, nothing to lead to the belief that the British Queen lies buried here. In November 1894 the barrow was opened and carefully examined. Nothing was found in it—no weapons, no cups, no ornaments, no bones, no human dust; nothing but “pockets” of charcoal. There may have been interments in the barrow; the bodies may have been entirely destroyed so as to leave no trace behind: such things have been known; but they are not customary. Prof. Hales has suggested that the barrow is a simple boundary hillock, a position which he has defended with much learning. However, the question cannot be determined.
There is one name still surviving in London which may possibly belong to the London of pre-Roman times. The Welsh name for London is Caer Ludd—the City of Ludder Lud. Now Lludd among the Welsh was the same as Lir, an ocean-god (Charles Elton, Origins of English History). Can we see in the name Ludgate the survival of the name of a Celtic god to whom perhaps a temple stood on the hillock overlooking the Thames in the south and the Fleet in the west?
[BOOK II]
ROMAN LONDON
[CHAPTER I]
THE COMING OF THE ROMANS
In August of the year 55 B.C., Cæsar landed on the coast of Britain with eighty ships, and two legions, the 7th and the 10th. He stayed in the country three weeks, and during that short period he fought two battles. In the summer of the following year he landed again with an army of thirty or forty thousand men and eight hundred ships. The Britons retreated before his advance, and fought him first at the passage of the Stour, when they were defeated, and next at a fortified ford across the Thames, perhaps the place indicated by tradition, now called “Cowey Stakes,” near Walton on Thames, where they were again defeated. He then marched upon the stronghold of Cassivellaunus, the British general, took it by storm, accepted the submission of the tribes and departed, leaving the island nominally submissive to the Roman power. He tells us that the manners and customs of the people of Kent closely resembled those of the Gauls, but that in the more northern parts the people were much ruder. He also tells us that the trade with Gaul was carried on by way of Kent.
I have shown the reasons for believing that there was an extensive trade with Gaul; that it passed through Kent by the road afterwards called Watling Street and over Thorney Island; that Thorney was a populous and prosperous place; and that London when the Romans came was already a port with a considerable amount of trade.
Nearly a hundred years passed away before the islanders were again disturbed by their Roman conquerors. The prudence of Augustus would not allow any increase to the garrisoned frontier of the vast Empire. During this century great changes took place in the island. Many of the Gauls, escaping from their conquered country, had crossed the Channel and settled in Britannia: the Atrebates on the country north and south of the upper Thames; the Parisii in Yorkshire; the Belgæ between the Solent and the Bristol Channel. The islanders knew the use of money; they adopted iron and steel for their weapons instead of bronze; they worked their gold, silver, and iron mines; they exported cattle, hides, slaves, wheat and barley, and sporting dogs; their chieftains grew rich; they built cities.