Christian antiquities -- Great Britain; Folklore -- Great Britain; Great Britain -- Antiquities
Having now referred to the very doubtful instances of continuity
represented by fabrics in which there has been an adaptation of Roman
materials, and having glanced at those churches which stand on the sites
of earlier buildings, we turn to Christian edifices which have been
built adjacent to Roman camps. At present, we will consider those cases
in which there is actual contiguity, but only a suggestion of
purposiveness. The ivy-clad church of Ashtead, in Surrey, stands within
a rectangular earthwork, partially defaced, and the visitor will readily
detect Roman tiles in the walls of the chancel. At Rivenhall, in Essex,
tesserae and Roman pottery were dug up in the churchyard, and a villa
was unearthed in the neighbouring field. From the data available, one
cannot decide whether or not a camp is indicated[32]. In the same
county, we notice Stoke-by-Nayland, while Suffolk supplies us with the
camp Burghcastle--a most interesting example. St Furseus, or Fursey,
built a monastery at this spot, but there remains only the church, which
lies a little to the north of the Roman fortifications. Its walls
contain triple bands of flints, faced by Roman workmen, while vases and
potsherds have been discovered in the vicinity[33]. Squared flints of
Roman workmanship were also found at Caister by Norwich[34]. The church
of St Edmund, at the last-named village, was built by Mediaeval
architects at one corner of a Roman earthwork, which encloses an area of
34 acres. The present church, as Professor Haverfield points out, is
certainly not a Romano-British “sacellum” or temple[35], but, in the
absence of excavations, one cannot assert that no earlier ruins lie
buried underneath the edifice. The oft-quoted instance of Castle Acre,
also in Norfolk, must be dismissed as spurious. Professor Haverfield,
who has carefully examined the evidence, could find no proofs in support
of the tradition of a camp, though there was evidence of Roman
occupation in the neighbourhood[36]. Under the present section, however,
we must include Market Overton and Great Casterton in Rutland. The
church of the latter village is situated at the south-west angle of an
earthwork, presumably Roman, though of earlier construction than the
Roman road hard by[37]. At Market Overton, the church stands entirely
within a square Roman camp[38]. In the adjoining county of Lincolnshire,
we get examples at Caistor and Ancaster[39], places bearing tell-tale
names. The church of Horncastle is within a few yards of a Roman wall, a
portion of which remains visible above the land-surface[40]. Lincoln
Cathedral is built partly within and partly without a Roman camp[41].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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