In the Archæologia Æliana[117] is a plan and description of an ancient aqueduct, which brought water from some distant rivulets to the station at Lanchester. It consists of two branches, the longer of which is nearly four miles in extent. Earthen embankments, to preserve the level, are occasionally used in both of them, and, as they run over sandy ground, the bottom of them has been puddled. The two lines, after uniting, deliver their water into a reservoir outside the station, near to its south-west corner. That the water of this aqueduct cannot have been used for domestic purposes appears from what Hodgson, the author of the paper, adds—‘Several wells have, from time to time, been discovered here by labourers, on the outside of the walls, and there is a plentiful spring at a short distance from where the bath stood.’ Whatever may have been the object served, the water-course at ÆSICA is a striking memorial of the skill, forethought, and industry of the Roman garrisons. At the present day, in a highly civilized country, and after the enjoyment of a long period of internal peace, we are but beginning to see the necessity of bringing water from a distance into our large towns. An individual garrison, exposed to all the hazards of war, scrupled not, even fourteen or sixteen centuries ago, for some purpose which they thought important, to cut a water-course six miles long! It is not a little remarkable too, that after the lapse of so long a period, the cutting should be distinctly visible through so large a portion of its track. The view which is here taken of the object of the water-course is not given because it is absolutely satisfactory, but because it presents the fewest difficulties. We might have expected that if a miniature lake had been formed on the north of the station, some remains of the embankment necessary to confine its waters would appear; none are, however, to be observed. The soil, on being turned up, has not the black and sludgy aspect, which might be anticipated, but is of a yellow hue; the bottom of a pond at Wall-mill, which was drained within living memory, has, however, a precisely similar appearance. To the south of Great Chesters is Wall-mill, near to which the burying ground of the station seems to have been. Brand observed here several remarkable barrows, and was shewn some of the graves which had been opened. ‘They consisted,’ he tells us, ‘of side stones set down into the earth, and covered at top with other larger stones.’ He took them to be very early Christian sepulchres; this is more than doubtful. The progress of agricultural improvement has obliterated all traces of the cemetery; to one, however, of its sepulchral monuments reference will afterwards be made. The Romans systematically avoided intra-mural interments. The following is one of the laws of the Twelve Tables: HOMINEM MORTUUM IN URBE NE SEPELITO NEVE URITO.