FORTVNAE . REDVCI ESCVLAP . ET . SALVTI . EIVS LIBERT . ET . FAMILIA CAII . PONTII . T . F . CAL . MAMILIANI RVFI . ANTISTIANI . FVNINSVLANI VETTONIANI . LEG . AVG D . D [Picture: Stone Altars] In the year 1821 a handsome altar was found by some labourers in a field called “The Daniels,” in Great Boughton, near Chester, between the Tarvin and Huntingdon roads: it is now preserved at Eaton Hall, the seat of the Marquis of Westminster. It is of red sandstone; the mouldings are bold, but it has no other ornaments upon it except the scrolls which support the Thuribulum. The inscription is the same on both sides, and is as follows:— NYMPHIS ET FONTIBVS LEG XX. V V It has been supposed that the reason why this altar was erected on that particular spot, was because of the pure water which springs on that side of the town: the old Abbot’s well is in that quarter, whence water was formerly conveyed by pipes to some of the monasteries in Chester. In 1729, in digging a cellar in Watergate-street, a stone was found with an inscription, of which the following fragment only remains:— NVMINI . AVG ALMAE . CET NVS . ACTOR EX . VOTO . FACI In the Chapter-house of Chester Cathedral, there is a red sandstone, 24 inches by 8 inches, found on the site of the Deanery, bearing this inscription:— COH . I . E. OCRATI MAXIMINI . M . P Mr. Roach Smith, an eminent authority in such matters, says that this inscription is to be ascribed to the century of Ocratius Maximus, of the first Cohort of the 20th Legion: it has evidently been a facing stone, probably in the city wall; it resembles in character the centurial commemorations on the stones in the great northern wall, and, like them, apparently refers to the completion of a certain quantity of building. In the year 1738, in digging the foundation of a house in the market-place, a fragment of a slate stone was found, on which was cut in bas-relief, the figure of a Retiarius armed with his trident and net, and a considerable part of the shield of the Secutor. The Secutores and the Retiarii were gladiators, distinguished by their armour and manner of fighting. They bore in their left hand a trident, and in the right a net, with which the combatant attempted to entangle his adversary, by throwing it over his head, and suddenly drawing it together, and then with his trident he usually slew him.