Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-09-10
ANCIENT LONDON.
What Lies Beneath the Pavements of the
Modern City


To form true conception of the Roman
city we must sweep away al! the accumu-
lated results of modern art and industry
We must create a tabula rasa. and re-
move, as the mere Pigments of fancy, the
Cathedral, the Abbey. the Tower, tie
swarmlng throngs of Cheap side, and the
endless squares of brick buildings that
shelter the millions of the L )ndon of to
day; dissolve the splendid vision. and
think only OF the past. Confined within
, she narrow limits of these walls, its gre4t
est length the river-front its greatest
breadth between Cripplegate anil tie
Thames, we see the Roman city. Ii is
lnclosed by d wall of stone work. and g
! ment from twenty to thirty feet high
Lowers or castella appear at Intervals.
IL was built upon the plan of all Other
hOman cities, and resembIed Pomp4ii Ui'
Lindum. It's four chief streets, at least
forty feet wide, met in its forum; they
were perfectly straI ght, and led directly
to the gates. At tneir sides were mar
rover llmltes, or lanes, ali equally
straight and free from sinuosities. Tue
Roman engineers laid out their strata
with unchanglng regularity. Every
street was paved with one. like those of
POmpei. Beneath the streets ran the
sewers aud water-pipes-we may assume
so invariably found In every Roman
city.
1t is impossible to determine exactly
the site of the London forum; it is only
probable that there must have been one
We may, however, Infer from evidence
too detailed and minute to enter upon
here, that the forum stood upon the old
est part of Roman L )ndon, viz, south OF
COrnhill and east of the Mansion House.
1t IS by no means certain that there was
d forum. But an inscribed title seems to
show that the seat of government Of the
province Was at London. Those, how
ever, who consider the later Importance
of Roman London can hardly believe
| that it had no public buildings. At first
an insignificant town, although port Of
some trade, for more than two centuries
1t controlled the exports and imports Of
the entire Island. Its wharves were
flied with animation, its harbor with
ships of burden, All the authorities
point to London as a centre of CONNER
cial activity.
So complete was the security in which
South Britain remained tor centuries.
under the protection or Hadrian's wall
Loadon was LETT without any other defeuce
than a Strong castle of the banks of The
river until the age of Constantine I'm.
like nearly all other R )man cities, it had
no walls, unprotected even from ditch,
and lay open on all sides to attack At
last. however, at some unknown period,
but between the years 800 and 369, by
some unknown hand, the R oman wall was
| built. Its extent may easily be traced 4;
fragments of it still remain; and recently,
at an excavation made by the railway
company, q patty of antiq1arians were
enabled to study and explore more than
ne-hundred feet in length of these an
cient defences. Saxon and Dane, Nor
man and Englishman. have in the long
course Of fifteen centuries altered, over
thrown, or rebuilt them; but their course
and circuit were never changed. The
r oman wall fixed the limit of the city
and its venerable fragments still recall
the days when the last Roman legions
marched down the Dover street wlen Al
fred restored the wall or when Ppm and
Hampden found within it; shelter the cit
akel Of modern freedom. = Harper 5
Magazine.