Palisadian. [volume] (Cliffside Park, N.J.) 1906-current, 1920-07-17
Buried Fortress of Segontium,
Near Castle, to Be Ex-
cavated.
OF GREAT HISTORIC INTEREST
Results Of the Excavation Will Be
keenly Followed by Archaeology
lists of Both Hemisphere
British History Involved.

Won in North Wales lies the buried
Roman fortress of Segontium. The
castle is a grim and lordly pile plant
ed by grim king in token of his
might; erected, so Pennant says, by
the forced labor of Welsh peasants on
money wrung from the Welsh chief
tainS who had failed in the struggle
against King Edward l. 1t dates back
some seven hundred years in British
history, but compared with the Roman
fortress of Segontium it is thing of
yesterday, Ernest III. Ram tells the
Boston Transcript. Long before the
Saxon, Dane or Norman trOd the soil
of Britain the land echoed to the
heavy tread of armed Roman legions
as they pushed On toward the setting
sun in their attempt to establish the
dominion Of the Caesars over the
whole of western Europe. They laid
the course of Waiting street diagonal
~ across the country, through st. Al
bans (verolamium). Dunstable (Duro-
cobrivae, and Towcester Uacth-
dcrum) to Chester (Deva) on a line
now followed by the London and
Northwestern railway. Through
Chester they passed on to Carnarvon
(Segcntium) and struggled across the
Menai straits, over a track now fol-
lowed by the "Wild Irishman," the
London Northwestern mail train, as
1t swirls on to Holyhead.
The Light Of the Spade in History.
At Segontium was established the
last Roman fort, at the terminus OF
their military road in North Wales.
1t is this Roman fort which British
psychologists now propose to exca-
vate If the sufficient sum of $4,000
can be raised to defray the expenses
of the work.
There are few more obscure periods
In the history Of Wales than that OF
the Roman occupation, and it is not
to be expected that much light will be
thrown upon it by literary records.
But the spade may give us what we
seek In vain from the written or print
ed page, and excavation has already
Welded valuable results from Caer-
went, Gelligaer, Castell COLLEEN and
Caersws. So far, however, nothing
has been done in the northwest cor
ner of the principality, that region OF
Gwynnedd which occupies so large
space in the history Of medieval
Wales. The proposed excavation Of
Segontium may enable this gap to be
filled with accurate if not extensive
information.
The Roman fort Of Segontium took
its name from the river (now the
Saint on which it stood, and occu-
pied the higher ground behind the
present town of Carnarvon, where in
a later age was built the church Of
Llanbeblig. 1t was known to the
Welsh as "Caer Saint" or ~ Gaer
yn Arfon." While inferior in import
ance to the legiohary stations at 1sca
and Deva, it was fortress Of some
consequence, covering ABOUT five and
a half acres and serving, as l have
said, as the terminus Of the military
road which ran through North Wales.
And may add that from Aberglas-
lyn and Gortmadoe, in the neighbor-
hood of Carnarvon, Prince Mador ap
Owain Gwynedd is said in Welsh
legend to have mustered his forces
and sailed in ten ships for the cOlOni-
cation of North America. toward the
end of the twelfth century.
A Belgian Garrison.
An inscription of about 200 A. d.
chronicles the fact that at that time
the water supply of the place was put
in order by the first cohort of Sunici,
and this auxiliary force, drawn or
partly drawn from Belgium, may have
furnished the regular garrison of Sc
gontium. No attempt has hitherto
been made to examine the site sys-
tematically, and, as was said by the
late Doctor Haverfield-than whom
no greater authority on Roman Brit
ain lived-"The spade alone can de-
termine the successive stages which
Roman Carnarvon may have expert
enced. This much is certain. There
is no site In North Wales, and only
one or two others in the whole penin-
sula, which are so likely, if properly
and Systematically explored, to throw
light on the condition of the country
in the later Roman and earliest post
Roman ages"
Chance finds that have already been
made are of considerable historical
value, particularly a talisman or
charm in the form of thin plate Of
gold-bearing magical characters and
Greek inscription calling on sundry
spirits to protect one Alphianos from
evil. It is probable tina. it was made
in Alexandria in the second century.
What had been its wanderings before
1t was crushed among the ruins OF
Segontium!
The fragment of similar charm
may be seen at York, and these make
the only two of their kind to be found
in Britain.
Another find was the famous gold
crossbow brooch of the fourth century,
which is now preserved in the Carnar-
,-ox fou,r1 library