Thanks to Bill Dal Cerro

British Heritage magazine is the leading authority on British culture
for North American travellers and history enthusiasts.

CURRENT ISSUE: September 2003

Special Issue--ROMAN BRITAIN The Roman invasion initiated a period of drastic change in Britain, beginning with violent resistance to the outsiders and leading to the blending of Celtic and Roman culture that included the rise of cities and great country estates, and the importation of European art and architecture.

The Coming of Rome
The invasion of Britain in AD 56 represented a turning point no less significant than the invasion of William the Conqueror ten centuries later. Rome's three and a half centuries of rule ttransformed a disunited island of separate tribes into a prosperous outpost of the Roman empire.

Hadrian's Wall
Rome's advance stopped with the north of Britain still unconquered.
Roman engineers erected a massive wall and forts to protect this frontier, and the fortification's remains tell us much about the military organization, architectural styles, and life of Roman Britain.

Towns
The first century of Roman rule in Britain was a time of extensive city-building, leading to the establishment of nearly 100 urban centres containing temples, baths, shops, and private homes by AD 130.

Villas
The precursor of the later English country house, Roman villas carried classical civilization into the British countryside and often represented the height of affluence in Roman-Britain society.

Plus: Roman Wales, collecting British Roman coins, Queen Boudicca's revolt, The Museum of London and its Roman collections, and more ...

British Heritage Magazine
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Three Articles appear below. Remember it is from a Britain's perspective.

British History Online
http://www.britishheritage.com/historyonline.htm
A Bit of Old Roman London
Julius Caesar in Britain
'The Grandeur that Was Rome'  Fishbourne’s Roman Palace
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A BIT OF OLD ROMAN LONDON

by Brenda Ralph Lewis
As a city and port, London began with the Romans. There had, of course, been earlier settlements on the site, for in the Stone Age primitive Britons hunted mammoth in what is now Piccadilly, but in 55 BC when Julius Caesar made his first summer’s sortie into Britain, London was little more than a collection of wattle-hut villages.

Caesar’s initiative raised little support among his compatriots, for a century later the Romans still considered that Britain “lay out of the inhabited universe.” So fixed was this idea that when, in AD 43, the Emperor Claudius mounted an invasion force, his soldiers at first refused to leave the safe, known shores of Gaul (France). Claudius eventually prevailed, as Roman Emperors normally did, and in the summer of that year the Roman Army landed 50,000 men on the deserted beaches of Kent.

The subjugation of Britain was by no means easy. The area covering most of present-day England took a good 40 years to pacify and only then did the Celts begin to settle down to what became nearly four centuries of Roman rule.

During this time the Celts became accustomed to a life of comfort not known again until Victorian times. The new Roman towns and country villas, for instance, possessed piped water, central heating by hypocaust, efficient sanitation, and the luxuries that went with prosperous civilized life: choice pottery, works of art, expensive rugs, rich ornaments, mosaic floors, and frescoed walls.

The transformation was most striking in London, whose potential as a port was quickly recognized by the Romans. It was, to their experienced eyes, quite obviously the most convenient place where seaborne and landborne traffic would met. As a result, archaeologists have been well rewarded with finds that give evidence of the thriving commerce of the centuries when Britain was part of the Roman Empire.

Some of the massive timbers uncovered in the bed of the Walbrook, a tributary of the Thames, and in the London Bridge area, for instance, were probably from Roman wharves, piers, and jetties. These timbers consist of planks on mortised poles and are divided into platforms and compartments.

In 1868 timbering was found near the mouth of the Walbrook at Cannon Street Station. Eighteen years later, excavations in the Walbrook Valley revealed revealed rows of decayed piles, some joined by planks, together with tiles, sandals, knives, pottery, and coins of the Roman Emperors Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, and Nerva who between them ruled in Rome from AD 69 to 138.

Timbers found in the King William Street area between 1920 and 1926 may have indicated the position of a harbour and were dated from marks on pottery also found to just before AD 100. In 1910 during the building of County Hall on the Surrey side of Westminster Bridge, part of a Roman ship was discovered 21 feet below street level. It has proved to be the largest Roman relic yet discovered in London and, as such, presents the authorities with several problems.

The fragment found was 38 feet long and 18 feet wide and its centuries in the black silt of the river had turned the timbers to the sludgy consistency of mushrooms. For a year after its discovery, efforts were made to prevent the ship from falling apart. The sodden would was coated with glycerine and encased in wire netting. These precautions were only partly successful, for much of the timber shrank, twisted, and split. The middle section, however, was removed in one piece and, packed in a 100-foot box, was dragged over Westminster Bridge to the London Museum, Kensington, by 12 horses.

The river Thames has also provided tangible evidence of the early history of London. The area of Roman London--from the Fleet River to the Tower of London--has been roughly determined by various lengths of city wall uncovered from time to time. The wall did not exist before AD 61, a fact that contributed to the first destruction of the city at the hands of the ferocious Iceni of Norfolk.

The Iceni were incensed by the tyranny of the new Roman government and by insults to their queen, Boudicca, and her family. They rebelled and before the Roman Governor, Suetonius Paulinus, could intercept them, seized and destroyed Colchester, routed an entire Roman legion, and swept down on London. As the Iceni stormed through the unwalled city, they took no prisoners, but massacred, hanged, burned, and crucified with headlong fury. This experience left terrible marks on London. In 1914, excavations in King William Street revealed a thick layer of ash stretching from the Walbrook to Gracechurch Street. Charred remains of timber houses, bits of blackened roofing, and traces of clay burnt to a red powder came to light. It appeared that the fire of AD 61 swept over this angle between the Walbrook and the Bridge and reduced the Roman clay and timber houses to a red dust.

London Bridge Approach also afforded evidence of the disaster. A heap of coins, some bearing the head of Emperor Claudius and all dated before AD 54, were discovered among ashes 17 feet down. Some of the coins had become molten in the heat of the burning city and were found partly fused together.

The revolt of the Iceni was finally quelled and London was rebuilt. Emperor Hadrian visited it in AD 119 and found it a thriving city, with several industries flourishing in the Walbrook area. Large quantities of leather and leather goods have emerged from the silt of the Walbrook to give evidence of London as Hadrian saw it. The most frequent discoveries have been pieces of trimming and waste hide. Leather was widely used in the Roman world for domestic purposes and for clothing, upholstery, tents, sandals, cloaks, and undergarments.

In 1953, excavations began to determine the width of the Walbrook, and in 1954 archaeologists were thus conveniently on hand when, during the building of Bucklersbury House, the greatest archaeological sensation London has ever known occurred. The Temple of Mithras was uncovered during foundation digging at Bucklersbury House and Londoners were therefore able to see for themselves the altars, statues, and other accoutrements of one of the most popular religious sects in the Roman Empire. Thousands of sightseers flocked to the site and work on Bucklersbury House was halted so that the Temple and its contents could be removed and saved.

Less glamourous but more revealing about life in Roman London were the beautifully preserved examples of metalwork found at the same time. One day’s excavation alone revealed nearly 60 pounds of assorted objects such as nails, hooks, knives, chains, needles, rings, brooches, and studs. They were so numerous that it seems likely a metalworking shop stood nearby and the relics were, perhaps, “seconds,” that is, unsatisfactory products and unusable scrap that had been thrown into the waters of the Walbrook.

The Walbrook has, in its time, yielded some grisly relics. Not least gruesome were the many human skulls that appear to litter its length. Hundreds have been found, though no certain explanation of their presence has yet been reached.

However, the Roman historian Tacitus did give a clue to this particular mystery. Writing in the 1st century AD, Tacitus recorded that during their revolt, the Iceni killed some 70,000 people, which provides some idea of the population of London in AD 61. The skulls in the Walbrook might well be those of victims of the Iceni, although there is another theory that could explain their presence equally convincingly.

In AD 296 Emperor Diocletian sent a general named Carausius to deal with troublesome pirates along the Dutch coast. After completing his task, Carausius crossed the English Channel to Britain, and declared himself Emperor. Diocletian made several attempts to dislodge Carausius but his lack of success indicated that it might be more politic to accept the usurper as a joint ruler. No sooner was this put into effect, though, than Carausius fell victim to another ambitious man: his lieutenant Allectus, who murdered him. Allectus, in his turn, declared himself Emperor. Diocletian was by now tired of this insurrection and sent a force to Britain to remove Allectus.

Half the Roman fleet under the leader of the expedition, Constantius, became lost in the fog but the other half managed to reach the Solent. Allectus was hunted down and killed in Hampshire, but some of his soldiers escaped and headed for London. They ran wild through the city, killing and looting as they went. Constantius, meanwhile, landed almost unnoticed at the Pool of London and took the rebels by surprise. They were slaughtered in the street, perhaps beheaded, and it is possible that their skulls were flung into the Walbrook.

The sacking of London by Allectus’ soldiers may also account for the presence in the river of a bronze head of the Emperor Hadrian. This, arguably, best known and impressive relic of Roman London is 16 inches high and was found in 1834 when the waters to the east of the 3rd arch of London Bridge were being dredged. The statue from which the head came, standing as it did for imperial authority, may have been pitched into the river by the rebels of AD 296 and, in the course of time, became dismembered.

The London Bridge in question was built between 1824 and 1831 and whilst its predecessor, the old medieval bridge, was being dismantled, hundreds of Roman coins were revealed deep in the silt. They were mostly of copper or brass, although one or two were gold, and several were made of silver. The coins bore the heads of Julius Caesar and of the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius, both predecessors of the Invader Claudius, and may have been trown into the river for good luck. This was a common pagan custom and one that survives to this day. It is quite possible that the Romans may also have intended the coins to serve as offerings to the river god, one of the most ancient of all deities worshipped by man. The Romans, in fact, worsipped many river gods and a 14-inch statue of one such deity has been found in the Walbrook 20 feet below the surface.

The coins by London Bridge may have indicated, too, the line of a Roman bridge that the medieval structure replaced. The archaeologist Charles Roach Smith, who was present in 1834 when the coins were found, believed that they were thrown into the river “at the erection of a bridge.”

“It is well known,” Roach Smith wrote, “what importance the Romans attached to coins as a means of transmitting events to posterity, and we can readily conceive that they would bury them in a place so favourable for security as the bed of the Thames.”

There has been much speculation about where, if at all, the Romans built a bridge across the Thames. It seems reasonable to suppose that they did. Julius Caesar forded the Thames during during his sortie into Britain in 55 BC. And he noted that the river could “be crossed only at one place on foot, and that with difficulty.” In addition, the magnificent network of Roman roads that remains today the basis for the modern road system, radiated outwards from the London Bridge area.

Several other objects were uncovered along with the coins, including bronze statuettes of Roman deities, many of which seem to have been deliberately mutilated. Charles Roach Smith acquired the statuettes, together with most of the London Bridge finds. One statuette, a bronze figure of Jupiter, was headless and legless. The silt in which it was found was later used to build up the towpath on the banks of the old Surrey Canal. People living in nearby cottages often found small relics and, sometime later, Roach Smith was offered several objects which, by incredible good luck, included Jupiter’s missing leg.

Roach Smith, of course, lived in a time when archaeologists dug for treasure by hand, a time much more favorable for discovery than today. Most 19th-century Roman finds, like his enviable collection, were uncovered while new bridges and wharves were being built. Destruction of the docks during the Second World War meant a good deal of rebuilding along the river and modern mechanical excavators carried off undiscovered relics that the old method of digging by hand so often revealed.

Nevertheless, the chance of further discovery has not been ignored and the possibility still exists of finding what the British workman has long called “a bit of Old Roman.” The Port of London Authority has, in fact, directed that any find made during PLA work in the river Thames should be handed to the PLA librarian and in 1955 the Authority readily agreed to excavation and gave assistance when a wattle floor that may have been pre-Roman was discovered near Isleworth, in Middlesex.

Among relics required by the Port of London Authority is a Roman tombstone found at Tilbury during the building of a dock in the early years of the 20th century. The stone, which was incomplete, was inscribed in Greek: “Demetrius, to Heraclia His Wife [set up this stone] at the Expense of Her Own Estate as a Memorial to Her.”

Similarly, the prolific Walbrook yielded a wax writing tablet containing a letter from a Romano-Briton to his servant in London. Fortunately the stylus with which the letter was written scratched through the wax onto the wood beneath, and the words are still clear enough to read: “Rufus, son of Callisunus, greeting to Epillicus and all his fellows. I believe you know that I am very well…. Do thou look after everything carefully. See that thou turnest that slave girl into cash….”
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JULIUS CAESAR IN BRITAIN

Half a century before Christ was born a Roman General landed on British soil for the first time and so marked one of the great turning points in history.

by Brenda Ralph Lewis

In the late summer of 55 BC Julius Caesar stood on the north coast of France and looked out over the Channel. Some 30 miles across the water lay an island, which, according to travellers’ tales was rich in pearls, lead, gold, and tin, but Caesar’s interest in Britain was dictated not so much by a desire to exploit her mineral wealth as by the strategic position of the island.

He could clearly see that Britain posed a backdoor threat to his latest and greatest conquest (France) whose subjugation Caesar had now enforced after eight years' hard campaigning. During those years the Celts of Britain had aided their Gallic kinsmen against Caesar and he judged that until Britain was his, the north coast of France would always be vulnerable to surprise attack.

Caesar, however, was aware that there was little time left--before winter brought campaigning to a halt-- to complete a British invasion, not time enough, in fact, to mount the usual Roman form of attack that called for long-term tactics, infiltrating enemy territory and sapping morale through propaganda and subversion. There was no time either for proper reconnaissance of the island, of for gathering information about the nature and size of the country, its harbours and the methods of fighting used by its inhabitants.

Caesar had already tried to extract this information from the veneti, a tribe living in Britanny who traded regularly with the British. But the Veneti had refused to talk. Their recent defeat by the Romans had been marked by the massacre of their nobility and the sale into slavery of most of their people, and Caesar's questions only prompted them to warn the Celts of Britain that Rome's greatest general was now interested in their land.

Caesar’s reputation in Britain was well known and the Celts knew they would have little chance against the magnificently equipped Roman Army unless their defence was carefully planned. While they armed in secret, they also began to play for time, sending representatives to Caesar at Boulogne. Ostensibly to offer their submission to Rome. The Celts knew that Caesar would not doubt the sincerity of this; arrogant and accustomed to success as he was, he took this submission as his natural right.

The Celts returned to Britain accompanied by Caesar’s ambassador, Commius, King of the Atrebates, one of the Gallic tribes. With Commius Caesar send 30 horsemen, who had instructions to “visit as many of the tribes as possible, to persuade them to place themselves under the protection of Rome, and to announce that Caesar himself would shortly be arriving.”

Caesar arrived within a few weeks, on an early autumn morning. He came with 80 transports and the X and VII Legions, but without his cavalry, whose ships had been trapped in France by savage Channel winds. As Caesar approached the white cliffs of Dover, he found an impressive sight awaiting him. On the clifftops stood rank upon rank of Celts, waiting, Caesar had no doubt, to pay homage to himself and his legions. It was only when the Roman ships came closer to the shore that Caesar saw this was no welcoming party: the British ranks were bristling with weapons.

The Roman galleys sailed north-east towards Deal, and the Celts walked and rode along the clifftops, pacing the ships. It was an unnerving sight for the would-be invaders, and by the time the galleys were as close to the beach as their size would allow, even the courageous X Legion, Caesar’s favourite, was apprehensive. Quite uncharacteristically, these legionaries hesitated for several minutes before obeying the order to jump into the waist-high water. Their hesitation was soon justified. The men were still wading towards the shore, weighed down by their arms and the heavy mailed leather jerkins they wore, when the British horsemen came riding out into the surf, swinging their swords and shouting battle cries. Behind the horsemen, on the beach, stood more Britons armed with stones and javelins. Bombared from above and slipping on the shingle, some of the Romans fell into the water. Enough reached the beach, however, to form up in line and charge their assailants, and with the menacing line of Roman javelins now advancing on them, the Celts turned and fled. It was fortunate for them that Caesar, lacking his cavalry, could order no pursuit.

The Britons now had tested the strength and determination of the Romans, and had found them to be considerable. They decided therefore to play for time once again and the following day sent a deputation to Caesar offering apologies for their hostility. With the arrival of the British chieftains who swore loyalty to Caesar, the general once again began to hope that Britain would prove an easy conquest.

The Celts’ goodwill, however, was soon seen to vanish when an unexpected but powerful ally came to their aid--the British weather. About a week after Caesar’s arrival, the ships carrying his cavalry appeared on the horizon, almost at once, a fierce storm blew up, tossing the ships about on the water, snapping their masts and tearing their sails to shreds. As the fury of the gale mounted, the ships were driven back towards France, and by the time darkness came, all had disappeared from sight. The bleak dawn that followed revealed a beach littered with the wreckage of Caesar’s transports. All that remained at anchor was a pitiful row of storm-battered hulks.

As the Romans surveyed the appalling scene, the morale of the Celts rose once more. The British chieftains began to slip away from the camp. Peasants were rounded up, war chariots made ready, arms burnished and sharpened. Now that the Romans seemed marooned on their unfriendly island, the Britons were once more preparing to fight them.

The Romans, however, were far from helpless. Roman legionaries were not only superb fighters, they were skilful engineers as well, and this would not be the first time they had repaired ships by using the wreckage of those more badly damaged. They were even able to forge the nails that held the timbers together. While the men of the X Legion began this repair work, their colleagues of the VII went foraging for food. From their dense oak forests the Britons watched the Romans begin to reap their barley fields, waited till the task absorbed them and then rushed out of the trees, yelling war cries and brandishing spears. Some distance away in the Roman camp, sentries saw a huge rising cloud of dust. Immediately Caesar himself and a handful of troops stormed out of the camp and ran towards the fields. At their approach the Britons fled back into the forest.

The next few days brought more heavy rain, but on this occasion the weather worked to the Romans’ advantage. It kept the Britons away long enough for them to finish repairing some of their ships and send them to Boulogne to fetch more materials. However, when the downpour at last abated, the Britons staged another lightning raid. The Romans drove them back to their forest hide-outs, but by this time Caesar had lost patience with so capricious an enemy, The following evening he packed his troops into the remaining galleys and sailed back to France. He had spent less than three weeks in Britain.

Caesar did not record his feelings about the failure of his 55 BC invasion, but he was careful to send a report to the Senate in Rome painting a favourable picture of what had, in reality, been a near disaster. As a result, the Senate voted a 20-day period of thanksgiving for Caesar’s “exploit.” To explain its lack of success, Caesar intimated that his expedition had been a mere dress rehearsal for a full-scale assault, planned for the following year. Convinced now that a new “province” would soon be added to the Roman Empire, a motley group of opportunists, treasure-seekers, and adventurers joined Caesar’s second invasion force. This time he took with him five legions (25,000 men) and 2,000 cavalry. He also embarked an elephant--probably the first ever to be seen in Britain.

The Roman fleet of 800 ships arrived off the Kent coast in the summer of 54 BC to find the landing beach deserted. The newcomers, unaware of the events of the previous summer, supposed that the mere sight of the Roman galleys had frightened the Celts away. Caesar knew better. He guessed, correctly, that the Britons had decided to wage guerilla warfare on the Romans, a plan well suited to their inferior weapons and tactics. A pitched battle, which Caesar knew the Britons could not win, was what he now desired most.

Caesar sent scouts to round up a few prisoners, and from them he learned that the Britons were about ten miles away. It was nearly midnight, but Caesar set off immediately and marched through the moonlit forests and marshes of Kent towards Canterbury. There was a brief skirmish near the banks of the river Stour, but as soon as the Romans began to attack in earnest, the Britons disappeared into the trees. The further the Romans advanced, the further the Britons retreated, drawing the invaders deeper and deeper into the forest.

Once again, the weather came to the Britons’ aid No sooner had the Romans sighted the British rearguard, than a messenger came running up to Caesar with the news that a gale in the Channel had wrecked his ships, plucking them from their moorings and smashing them down upon the shore. A disappointed and angry Caesar was obliged to abandon the pursuit of his elusive enemy and return to the beach to survey the damage. Forty ships had been completely destroyed. Those less badly damaged were dragged up on the beach and for ten days the Romans worked around the clock to repair them. That done, Caesar ordered his men to dig themselves in behind earthen ramparts and wait for the Britons to attack in force.

The Britons let them wait. They had now overcome petty rivalries in their own camp and had united under one leader, Cassivellaunus, King of the Catuvellauni tribe. He was content now to nibble at the Romans, by sending out raiding parties and staging a few ambushes, knowing that sooner or later, Caesar would have to take the initiative.

Summer was fast fading into autumn when Caesar at last lost patience and marched from his fortified camp towards the Thames. The Romans arrived at the only crossing place to find that the Britons had barricaded it by driving stakes into the riverbed. The obstacle was overcome when the Romans clothed their elephant in an armor of iron scales and placed on its back a tower full of archers and slingers. The great beast lumbered into the Thames, with a shower of arrows and stones pouring down from the tower. The terrified Britons bolted for the protection of the trees and refused to come out, except to make a few hit-and-run forays, which did them little good.

Now the unmistakable smell of autumn was in the air and Caesar, aware that time was running out, resorted to subversive tactics. He had in his camp the son of a British chieftain recently defeated by Cassivellaunus. When Caesar promised to restore this young man to his stolen kingdom, some of the smaller tribes deserted their leader. Cassivellaunus, in his growing isolation, persuaded the four kings of Kent to attack Caesar’s base camp and so draw the Romans away to defend it. The plan failed, but Caesar eagerly seized his chance when Cassivellaunus asked for a truce.

Caesar negotiated a treaty imperiously, almost as if he had won a great victory. Cassivelaunus promised to abide by it, but Caesar, impatient now to be gone, took no precautions to ensure that he did so. All Caesar wanted was to get away from this inhospitable island, from its abominable weather, and its cunning inhabitants. Autumn gales were already blowing round the coast and the winds were frothing up dangerously choppy seas when the Roman ships weighed anchor and sailed for France.

Julius Caesar never returned to Britain. The island was left undisturbed for nearly a century, until AD 43 when the Emperor Claudius ordered the invasion that succeeded where that of Rome’s greatest general had so conspicuously failed.
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'THE GRANDEUR THAT WAS ROME' Fishbourne’s Roman Palace

After being hidden for 2,000 years, Fishbourne’s Roman Palace is again impressing visitors with its magnificent scale and intricate mosaic floors.

by Janet Peach
One spring afternoon in 1960, workmen digging a trench for a new water-main in the village of Fishbourne near Chichester, Sussex, came across what appeared to be ancient building rubble. The find was reported to the local archaeological committee, which quickly arranged a preliminary survey. This established that the rubble included the remains of roofing tiles, walls, mosaic pavements, and pottery dating back to a very early period in the Roman occupation of Britain. Thus began eight years of major excavations--years of mounting excitement as the ruins of the largest and most splendid Roman residence yet found in the British Isles were brought to light.

The dig was directed by Barry Cunliffe, then Assistant Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Bristol. Under his guidance several hundred enthusiasts, including local amateurs and students of archaeology from all over the country, helped sort and sift the mass of debris dating back nearly 2,000 years. Help also came from the United States. Professor William Hogan, then teaching at St. Alban’s School, Washington, brought a party of his students over to Fishbourne every summer during the early years to assist with the excavations.

The history of Fishbourne almost certainly goes back well before the Romans, probably to about 4000 BC when Stone Age hunters searched there for food. But as far as anyone can tell, no permanent settlement was established until the Roman Emperor Claudius invaded Britain in AD 43. He was determined to complete the occupation begun by Julius Caesar 100 years previously, and Fishbourne, with its natural harbour and safe, deep-water anchorage was an ideal supply base. The remains of such a base have been found in the shape of two wooden military-style buildings, together with pieces of equipment such as a belt plate and buckles. The military occupation did not last long, though. Because the conquering army made such rapid progress inland that within three or four years there was no longer any need for such bases on the south coast.

Fishbourne then entered a new period of growth and development, culminating in the construction of a large and splendid palace. The creator of this magnificent residence has not been conclusively identified, but he must have been a man of considerable wealth and influence. Circumstantial evidence points to Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus, a local king who had cooperated with the Romans during their invasion. He was allowed to continue to govern his people, but as a “client king” he remained accountable to his Roman rulers. He was subsequently promoted to become a “Great King in Britain.” In this position he would have acted on behalf of the Emperor and been able to maintain a suitably impressive lifestyle. The discovery of a series of dwellings--the earliest of timber, later ones of stone and finally the large palace--fits in with Cogidubnus’ rise in power.

Although the excavations can tell us little about the people who lived there, they have revealed a great deal about what each dwelling looked like and how it was decorated. A study of the bits and pieces left lying around by the workmen also gives us a fascinating insight into how some of the construction was carried out. A wide range of building materials was used, including local stones of various sorts and more exotic imports, such as marble from Italy and a brown speckled Breccia stone from eastern France. The designers and craftsmen must also have come from Rome or her other more established provinces, as the architectural designs and decorations were on a scale hitherto unknown in Britain...