This quotation has been given at length in order to sustain the contention--put forth more than once in this book--that treasures associated with the Roman epoch lie around us in every part of our island, and that all sorts of novel surprises mutely await the advent and quest of the diligent investigator. But to return for a moment to Corstopitum. It has been realised that the city was a centre of iron-work and pottery-making to supply the needs of the troops. It furnished a base for the invasion of Caledonia by Lollius Urbicus in A.D. 140, and for the great expedition of Septimius Severus in A.D. 208. Much of the area excavated during 1906 and the following years has been filled in, but the most important buildings remain open--two large granaries, the fountain or public water-pant, and a large unfinished building, which may have been designed as a military storehouse, or as the praetorium of a legionary fortress which never came into being. The most remarkable finds made here have been the Corbridge lion in stone, which now enjoys an European reputation, and two hoards of gold coins, now in the British Museum.[1] [Footnote 1: _Vide_ Official Handbook to Newcastle and District, put forth on the occasion of the last visit of the British Association to that city.] The Map above gives the line of Hadrian's Wall through the two counties of Northumberland and Cumberland, viz., from Wallsend to Bowness, and indicates the principal places on the route. For further details of this absorbing subject the reader is referred to such works as the Proceedings and Transactions of learned societies, such as the _Archaeologia Aeleana_, or the _Lapidarium Septentrionale_. The _Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum_, Vol. vii gives a full rendering of the inscriptions. APPENDIX D "The Society of Antiquaries, in conjunction with the Shropshire Archaeological Society, carried on extensive excavations at Wroxeter during the years 1912, 1913, and 1914. "Wroxeter, the ancient Viroconium or Uriconium, is situated on the east bank of the Severn, between five and six miles south-east of Shrewsbury. The lines of its walls can still be traced, enclosing an area of about 170 acres, and the town must have been an important centre in Roman-Britain, as it stood at the junction of two of the main roads, viz., the Watling Street from London and the south-east, and the road from the legionary fortress of Caerleon in South Wales. There were also other roads running from it into Wales and to Chester. The town is referred to by the Ravenna Geographer as Viroconium Cornoviorum, and was probably the chief town of that tribe which inhabited a district including both Wroxeter and Chester.