Page:VCH London 1.djvu/85

 ROMANO-BRITISH LONDON area. Public works carried out under high official auspices, as shown by tiles stamped pp. br. lon. (London publicani or contractors of the province)'"'' no doubt added to the dignity of the town, and in 368 both the Duke of Britain and the Count of the Saxon Shore seem to have been in the neighbourhood, though the former had duties in the north and the latter had control of a chain efforts in which London was not explicitly included. As the principal road-centre of the south-east, London would however have played an important part in the defence of the so-called Saxon shore that stretched from Brancaster in Norfolk to Portsmouth, the Thames estuary being about half-way between the extreme forts, which could best be kept in touch through London. It is quite in keeping with its commercial and official pre-eminence to find that here alone in Britain are there any considerable remains of artistic merit, though in this respect a leading town of Roman Britain cannot be compared with many second-rate Roman sites in Gaul. Building stone had all to be brought from a distance, and Roman structures have long since been quarried; but though London cannot now boast of a Roman amphitheatre*"" or triumphal arch, there exist a few fragments that attest comparative affluence and good taste, and more may yet be found. It remains to summarize the results obtained from the archaeological evidence available, which is almost overwhelming in quantity but till recent years curiously and provokingly deficient in details and method. The com- paratively steep banks of the northern shore would arrest attention from the river, and the clean gravel that then formed the surface"* made the place pleasant to live in, as Tacitus bears witness. The Lea marshes and the swamps of what is now Pimlico, together with the Middlesex forest to the north, isolated and protected the site ; but good roads were necessary for its development as a commercial centre, and Rome alone could furnish the skill and energy required. To Roman influence before the conquest was no doubt due the bridge that may be located at Westminster, and the course of the first main road was thus determined without reference to London. On the north bank the corresponding road from Colchester served to link London with Watling Street, and before long a branch road was provided to the ferry and wharves that seem to have existed near the Custom House. A passage of the river at this point may have necessitated roads inland before the Romans arrived, and even if the highway to New- gate be considered purely Roman, the Britons may have anticipated part of Ermine Street by a road to the interior striking north from the river. The triangle thus formed inclosed the first Romano-British settlement, which can only be justly estimated in relation to the area subsequently inclosed by walls. Little more than half the triangle seems to have been inhabited at all densely, and its whole area will be seen to be approximately the same as that of London within the Walls or of Hyde Park. When it is remembered that the walls inclosed virtually the whole of London till the time of Elizabeth, the Romano-British settlement will not be found too restricted in area, but ""> Examples figured in lllus. Rom.Lond. pi. viii, from Jrch. xxix, 158, pi. xvii, figs. 3-6. The interpre- tation is not certain : Corpus, vii, 1235. Tiles connected with the British fleet have been found at Lympne, one of the Saxon shore forts. '"' Roach Smith thought there was an amphitheatre on the site bounded by Old Bailey, Fleet Lane, Seacoal Lane and Snow Hill {Lond. and Midd. Arch. Soc. Trans, i, 32, 195). "' Jrci.lx, 12. I 41 6