Itinerarium curiosum (centuria I) : $b or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great BritainStukeley, William
History
Itinerarium curiosum (centuria I) : $b or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great Britain
Stukeley, William
Great Britain -- Antiquities -- Early works to 1800; Great Britain -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
it, to render it useless against their incursions. Where this wall is
standing, it is ten foot high or more, made with excellent cement: on
the eastern side is such another gate, formed by the return of the
wall, as at the place last mentioned. Geo. Hunt, an old man, living in
the farm-house, told me he has found coins here: he says, once
the sea-bank broke, and his house with all the adjacent marshes was
floated: for the level of the ocean is higher than this place; but it
has fenced itself out by raising the ground continually near the shore,
as it does in other like marshes. Whether the sea reached this lower
wall, even in the time of the Romans, I cannot determine; for I do not
believe this was the very port, but the castle belonging to it: that, I
rather think, was somewhat more eastward, about West Hithe; and there,
the town that belonged to it: for they find old foundations frequently
under the side of the hill, laid in strong terrace mortar. The rev. Mr.
Bagnal, minister of the place, informs me, that the field, of about
sixteen acres of ground, adjoining to the church-yard of Limne, is to
this day called the Northern town: nor do they know that it ever had
any other name; which intimates that the Roman town was thereabouts,
lying upon the slope of the hill, as the castle does, and to the east
of it. This port is now called Ship-way, where the _limenarcha_, or
lord warden of the cinque ports, was anciently sworn; where their
courts were kept, and all the pleas relating to these ports: since the
decay thereof, that ceremony is transferred to Dover. This Ship-way
too denominates the _lathe_, or division of the country. Leland says,
the people of Limne had an horn and mace, remaining ensigns of their
authority.
Thus have we conducted our journey, for the space of 500 miles, all
upon Roman roads, to these three famous ports on the eastern shore,
where commonly the great Roman emperors and generals landed from the
continent; and in which we have run over such notices as occurred to us
in thirty-five Roman stations, many camps, and other things of highest
antiquity. The season of the year for expeditions being far spent, it
is time to release your lordship’s patience, and retire into harbour,
concluding with the great Roman wit, in his poetical voyage,
_Lemanis longæ finis chartæque, viæque._
10 Octob. 1722.
[Illustration: 99 LEMANIS Portus _9 Oct. 1722_.
_Dnᵒ. Hans Sloan Barrᵗᵗᵒ._ +M.D.+ _Tabulam d.d. W Stukeley._
_Stukeley Delin_]
[Illustration: 58 GARIONENVM
Borough Castle
_3. Miles S.W. from Great-Yarmouth contains abᵗ 5. acres_
_Statio fuit hæc Præpositi Equitum Stablesianorum sub comite
Limitis Saxonici._
Henrico Hare Armᵒ. GARIONENVM sua manu dimensum consecrat
_W. Stukeley._]
ITER DUMNONIENSE. VI.
_Ipse locis capitur patriis & singula lætus
Exquiritque, auditque virûm monumenta priorum._ +Virg.+
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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