AMONGST the remains of antiquity at this place, the vestiges of the Roman fortress are the most worthy of attention; and although they are too small to give an adequate idea of the original structure, are yet sufficient to show the form and extent of the space enclosed, which appears to have been nearly a parallelogram, of about six hundred feet in length, and in breadth three hundred and fifty on the east, and three hundred on the west. {22} The wall by which this area was surrounded was fifteen or sixteen feet in thickness, and composed of small blocks of a loosely aggregated sand stone, dug from the neighbouring hills. It was formed with casing stones on the outside, the internal parts being filled up with courses laid diagonally, which according to the customary and substantial mode of building among the Romans, were run together by mortar disseminated through the interstices in a fluid state, forming a cement which has acquired by time an imperishable induration. Of the casing stones none are now to be seen, except in cellars which have been formed by the side of the wall. Where the fragments are sufficiently high, those portions of the Roman masonry, which remained after the destruction of the fortress, may be perceived rising to about six or seven feet above the ground, the diagonal courses of stone then ceasing. Above this the construction is marked by masses of larger dimensions than the lower parts; a circumstance evincing that another structure of a different period has been erected on the original foundation: this was probably a reparation which was made in the time of the Anglo-Saxons. At the north-east corner of the enclosure the remains of a circular turret are still visible; but of the towers or gateways no traces are left. Near the junction of the two rivers, on the south-west of the town, was formerly one of those mazes common to Roman stations, called the Julian Bower. In these the youth were exercised in a martial game, called Troy Town, which in after years, though divested of its martial character, continued to be amongst the healthy pastimes of the young, in their evening assemblies of pleasure and sport. {23} Cultivation has long since effaced every vestige of the maze; but the piece of land on which it stood still retains the name of the _Julian Bower Close_.