Here has been much old-fashioned painting, upon wainscot and stucco, of bishops, saints, kings and queens; but, to the loss of history, defaced. This town was undoubtedly Roman. We judged the _castrum_ was where the castellated building now stands, east of the market-place; which is the brow of a hill, and has a good prospect. The market-place, which is a square, lies between this and the cathedral. On the site of the cathedral once stood a Roman temple. Digging for a foundation of a buttress to be built on the west side of the steeple, they opened a vault, which descends under the church to a subterraneous oratory, like that under the cupola of St. Peter’s at Rome, called _limina apostolorum_. Here I suppose were kept the reliques of saints. This place is built out of the ruins of the temple. Over the inward entrance to the vault is laid flat a fine Roman inscription; the report of which led us down thither, though the passage to it was as bad as that of Poole’s hole, Derbyshire. We found it a noble large stone of the emperors Pertinax and Aurelius: we could not transcribe the whole, because part of it is still within the wall. Over the next door lower down, a large stone is set perpendicular, and half of it cut away, in nature of an arch: the mouldings likewise chopped off; the whole so defaced, that nothing to any purpose could be made out of it, all the words being imperfect. Upon the walls of the crypt we saw many Roman fragments of mouldings, and carved work, with bits of fluted and cabled pilasters. In searching about the oratory we found a very fine altar almost intire, laid sideways into the very foundation. We dug away the earth and bones underneath, and discovered thereby a new _Legatus Augusti Q. Calpurnius Concessinius_; and a new troop of horse in Britain, of which he was the captain, the _equites Cæsareani Corionototarum_. The ground-plot of this town is much like that of Caster in Lincolnshire; four streets going diagonally from the angles of the market-place. Some silver and other Roman coins were found not long since near the church. This church is a very venerable and noble Saxon structure, and may serve for a specimen of the manner of raising those fabrics at that time of day. The workmen were but lately then brought from Rome, by the great Benedict bishop of Weremouth, who may truly be called the Arundel of that time: he was a nobleman of Northumberland, minister to king Oswy: he travelled to Rome twice, some say five times; and brought home a fine collection of books, of which the venerable Bede made so good use: he also brought hither architects and artificers in building, carving, painting on glass, and the like; so injurious are the notions of some modern antiquaries, who think we had no stone buildings before the Norman kings.