NOTE C

ROMAN REMAINS AT EXETER.

  The importance of the Roman antiquities of Exeter - that is, in a comparative sense, for they contrast poorly in structural character with those of most other Romano-British stations - renders a fuller view of them desirable. The largest collection of details is contained in the Sylva Antiqua Iscana of Captain W. T. P. Shortt, a work which embodies a large amount of miscellaneous information under this head up to August 1840, and which is supplemented for 1841 in his Collectanea Curiosa Antiqua Dunmonia, This latter volume deals considerably with the Roman antiquities of the county at large.
   Mr. J. Davidson (1) held that, not only were the foundations of the city walls Roman, but part of the existing remains of the castle, and that the old church tower of St. Mary Major (now removed) exhibited traces of Roman work on the south side, the suggestion being that it had been a watchtower. He likewise claimed as Roman parts of the substructure of the East and South Gates, and portions of the walls of "Athelstan's house" in Paul Street. Foundations presumed to be Roman are noted by him as having been found in High Street at the corner of Castle Street (nine feet below the present surface), St. Mary Arches Street, Bedford Circus, Market Street, Guinea Street, South Street, and Mint Lane.
   Definite structural remains were found in High Street in 1836. Captain Shortt notes:

  "A Roman family sepulchral vault, seven feet square, arched over, and containing five coarse, strongly baked cinerary urns arranged in niches round its interior, was discovered behind the “Three Tuns Inn/ High Street” (2).

  While Mr. Davidson states:

  "In the same year, at a great depth below the site of the ‘County Bank,’ light was let into a low arched chamber, containing a quantity of bones of men and animals (3).

  No Exonian find, however, exceeds in interest the discovery of a bath and tesselated pavement behind the Deanery walls in South Street in 1833. The walls were of Heavitree stone and brick, and the original pavement of black and white tesserae set in concrete. This had been covered with a lime-ash floor. On and about the spot was a quantity of Roman pottery (including one perfect vase with a green bird painted on it) and glass. The associated remains of a thirteenth-century encaustic tile pavement further showed that the old Roman bath was in use a thousand years or so after its construction. Portions of another bath were found in Queen Street in 1845, with the adjuncts of a hypocaust.
   Other tessellated pavements are recorded: In Pancras Lane, plain white tesserae; in High Street, opposite Broad Grate, found in 1777; on the site of Bedford House, with a design; on the north side of the cathedral, near the Speke Chapel, found in 1841. This was twenty feet by eight feet, and formed of red and grey tesserae, without any ornamental pattern.
   A well, to which there is every reason to attribute Roman origin, was opened in Pester Lane, or Pesthouse Lane, near Culverland in 1836, possessing circular pipes of lead and pottery; and it [has been thought that the ancient well of Lyons Holt might also have been of Roman formation.
   Captain Shortt suggested that the small central court, so common in the houses of the older part of Exeter, represented the Roman impluvium.
   Fragments of Ionic columns, found in 1886, are in the Exeter Museum.
   Metal images - lares or penates - have been found at various times. In a niche below the foundation of a house in the High Street, near Broad Gate, five bronze penates were found in 1778.

  "Two of them, about four inches and a half in height, represented Mercury. Of the others, which were smaller in size, one was supposed to be meant for Ceres, another for Apollo, and the fifth for Mars. With them was the figure of a cock, and a small pedestal (4).

  A small bronze figure of Julius Caesar (now in the British Museum), about three inches in height, was found in 1836, in removing some walls in the Westgate quarter; and among the fragments dug up about the South Street bath in 1833 was an Egyptian bifrontal bust of Isis with hieroglyphics. It is about three inches high and has been described as of grey freestone glazed over. But judging from other Egyptian figures of kindred date, one would rather suggest that it was of vitrified stone ware. It is now in the Exeter Museum.
   Relics of Roman sepulture have occurred at several points within the city confines. The vault in High Street, already noted; three urns beneath the "Acland Arms,” St. Sidwells; an urn in Magdalene Street; urns near St. Davids Church; also numerous pits in "the New Road near the city gaol," now the site of the " Rougemont Hotel."
   Mr. Davidson calculated that up to 1855, and chiefly from 1723 to that year, Eoman coins had heen found at Exeter in no less than 75 different localities, the quantity in one case amounting to half a busheL He also reckoned 78 different types. In fact, the total bulk must have been enormous.
   Coins of the following emperors, &c., are recorded by Captain Shortt as having heen found in Exeter within his personal knowledge in the decade 1832 to 1841. The comparison of the different years is interesting.

  1832. - Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Hadrian. Faustina, Severus, Qeta, PhUip, younger, Gallienus, Tetricus, Victorinus, Diocletian, Magnentius, Constantine the Great, Constantine II., Constantius, Victorinus.
   1833. - Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Maximinus, Probus, Allectus, Maximian, Tetricus, elder and younger, Victorinus, elder, Constantine the Great, Delmatius, Constantine II., Constantius II., Gratian.
   1834 - Claudius, Galba (?), Vespasian, Domitian, Gordian III., Constantine the Great, Constans, Maximus.
   1835. - Claudius, Britannicus, Nero, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Faustina, Cornmodus, Severus, A. Severus, Maximinus, Gallienus, Claudius Gothicus, Aurelian, Probus, Carus, Allectus, Tetricus, elder and younger, Victorinus, Constantine the Great, Constantine II., Constantius, Constans, Magnentius, Gratian, Valentinian, Valens. "During the excavations in the summer of 1835 Roman coins increased to such a prodigious degree as to become nearly a drug at Exeter." This was mainly due to the excavations connected with the market works. Coins of Claudius have heen found in and under the old walls, and, with those of Vespasian, under St. Mary Arches.
   1836. - Claudius, Antonia, Nero, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Traian, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Lucius Verus, Commodus, Faustina, elder and younger, Caracalla, Severus, Julia Domna, Julia Mammea, A. Severus, Valerianus, Claudius Gothicus, Tetricus, elder and younger, Probus, Carausius, Diocletian, Constantine, Galerius, Maximian, Magnentius, Crispus, Constantine II., Constantius, Constans, Galerius, Postumus, Julian, Valentinian I., Gratian, Valens.
   1837. - Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Sabina, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Faustina the younger, Etruscilla, Philip, Severus, Valerianus, Licinius, elder, Probus, Tetricus, elder and younger, Carausius, Allectus, Diocletian, Constantine the Great, Licinius, younger, Crispus, Maximian, Constantius, Vetranio (?) Constans, Magnentius, Julian, Gratian, Valentinian, Valens.
   1838. - Consular coin, Augustus, Claudius, Gallus, Nero, Vespasian, Domitian, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Faustina, elder and younger, Commodus, Severus, Caracalla, A. Severus, Gallienus, Aurelian, Tacitus, Tetricus, elder and younger, Victorinus, Carus, Carausius, Allectus, Constantine the Great, Constantius, Theodora, Constans, Constantius II., Flavins Claudius Julius, Magnentius, Decentius, Valens, Valentinian, Gratian.
   1839. - Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, Domitian, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Valerianus, Gallienus, Claudius Gothicus, Victorinus, Postumus, Carausius, Numerianus, Maximian, Constantine the Great, Crispus, Licinius, Constantine II., Constantius, Constans, Constantias II. Magnentius, Julian, Flavia Helena, Valerianus, Gratian, Valens.
   1840. - Claudius, Vespasian, Commodus, Gallienus, Carausias, Allectos, Severus II., Constantine the Great, Constans, Constantine II., Julian.
   1841. - Consular Cornelia gens, Augustus, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Nerva, Trajan, Antoninus Pius, Severus, Gordian III., Tetricus, elder and younger, Victorinus, Constantine, Crispus, Constantius, Constans, Magnentius, Gratian, Valentinian, Valens.

  What seems of special note here is the typical manner in which the coins of the earlier emperors from Claudius on to the Antonines steadily recur (and plentifully) year after year; pointing, as it seems to me, inevitably to the conclusion that the Roman occupation of the city cannot be placed later than the second half of the first century. The scantier representation of the emperors who succeed, and the plentiful illustration of those of the lower empire, are equally significant; and so is the repetition of the coins of Carausius. It is very much as if for the greater part of the third century the Romans had less to do directly with Exeter than immediately before or after; and as if Carausius found the city one of his strongholds, which may well have arisen from its practical independence. Other discoveries of Exeter coins point in the same direction.
   The first great find of Greek coins was in 1810, when the main sewer was made in the Fore Street, and where, some twenty feet below the level of the present pavement, "an immense quantity of ancient coins was found in ground never before disturbed,'' Jenkins the historian securing nearly 1000. Among these were many Egypto-Greek coins (eight Ptolemies), a number of Imperial Greek, an Antiochus IX., and eight "numismata serrata of Syria." The full list includes examples of Ptolemy I., Ptolemy VI, Berenice (1), Hiero I. of Syracuse, Cleopatra III. (1), Antiochus IX., Syrian coins, coin of Agrigentum, supposed coin of Elis, Imperial Greek coins (among other cities) of Alexandria, Amisus, Antioch (both), Chalcis, Cyrrhus, Hierapolis, Hermopolis, Singara, Zeugma, Cyzicus (1), Sidon, Samosata, Regium, Nicaea (1), Anazarbus, Maeonia or Lydia (1), Amphipolis, Berytus, Caesarea in Cappadocia Carrhae, Pydna. Alexandrian coins are the most frequent.
   Mr. D'Urban catalogued in Notes and Gleanings the Roman. coins found in Exeter which came under his notice while he held the curatorship of the Albert Museum, 1871-84. He remarks:

  “On the slopes of the hill towards the Exe, especially on the south side of Fore Street, there is a great depth (about fourteen feet) of made earth. Near the bottom of this accumulation the soil teems with fragments of Samian ware, coins, and other ancient remains. . . . On the other hand, between North Street and the Guildhall, in the High Street, great numbers of coins have been found at a slight depth."

  Of these he enumerates examples of Augustus, Antonia, Nero, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Faustina, elder, Marcus Aurelius, Faustina, younger, Cornmodus, Clodius Albinus, Severus, Caracalla, Severus Alexander, Maximinus, Gordian III., Philip, elder, Gallienus, Salonina. Of the lower empire Postumus, Yictorinus, Tetricus, elder and younger, Claudius Gothicus, Tacitus, Probus, Maximian, Carausius, Allectus, Constantius Chlorus, Helena, Theodora, Constantino the Great, Crispus, Constantine II., Constans, Constantius II., Magnentius, Decentius, Valentinian L, Valens, Gratian, Arcadius.
   Mr. D'Urban notes as particularly common - coins of Nero (a type with winged Victory holding shield being very numerous), Vespasian (specially winged Victory and Eagle-globe types), Domitian (moneta type), Antoninus Pius (Health and Serpent type), the Tetrici,. Constantius Chlorus (Soldier and Dart type very common), Constantine the Great (five types very common, particularly Romulus and Remus).
   In 1878-9 Musgrave's Alley yielded examples of Nero, Faustina the younger, and Constantine ; and Bartholomew Street of Caius Caesar, B.C..100, Vespasian, Domitian, Lucius, and Tetricus. (A coin of Julius Caesar is also said to have been found at an uncertain date).
   A quantity of bones, &c., was dug up on the premises of Messrs. Kennaway and Co., Palace Gate, Exeter, in 1878. There were eighteen human skeletons, lying in all directions; and associated therewith bronze articles, Greek and Roman coins and pottery, with bones of animals. The bronze articles were parts of two fibulae, apparently, and of a pin. Fifteen or sixteen coins were found - nine were Greek, and of these six were struck at Tomi in Maesia; the earliest was one of Nicopolis in Maesia bearing the bust of Septimus Severus. The Tomine examples were respectively of Commodus, Julia Domna, Caracalla (3), and Philip I; there was another Philip I. of Deultum, Thracia ; and the ninth was uncertain. The six Roman coins were respectively of Trajan, Tetricus (2), Allectus, Magnentius (T), and Antoninus Pius. The pottery was mostly of strong thick Samian ware, with the potter's mark CAR. EISIANI. NI.; but there were a number of fragments of coarse ware. Another item in the find was a fine-toothed comb.
   These details were set forth by Mr. Parfitt at the Paignton meeting of the Association; and at Ilfracombe in the following year (1879) he brought together a number of additional facts (5),
   The fragments of pottery found in Exeter include:

  "parts of vessels of all sizes and shapes for culinary and other domestic purposes, and of qualities varying from the roughest baked clay, in colours black, red, and white, to the finest red Samian ware ornamented with scroll foliage and figures in tasteful and historical designs. On many of them the names and marks of the potters have been observed. These articles consist generally of urns, vases, bowls, cups, bottles, wine jars [lamps], tiles, bricks, and sepulchral urns. Of glass, pieces have been found oi phials, funnels, and strainers, a syphon, and a lachrymatory"(6).

  Some of this pottery is undoubtedly of local clay and manufacture, and hence there may be a germ of truth in the suggestion made by Mr. Albert Way in 1879, that Roman types of pottery have continued to be made at Barnstaple. Mr. J. R Chanter indeed sees, and rightly, no grounds for believing that the Romans ever gained a permanent footing in North Devon; but they were so long here, and so much of their ware seems native to the county, that some sort of tradition may have lingered through the ages, transferred from one pot-work to another.
   The potters' marks found in Exeter, as recorded by Captain Shortt, Mr. Parfitt, and others, include:

  ADVOCIS F; ARBO . . . ; AVSTRI. OF.; ARCAM; CROFEZOT (?);
   CA RAΓI NI CAR; COCVRO D, CIFN M.; DIVICATVS; DIOCHV.;
   DRA and . . . VR, DIΛIXLIMV ERF and OF; RAN; ELSIANI.;
   M. I E. GEMIM. NI; IVIIVMJ; IMANNIE; ... INI; lAVI. M. IVS;
   IVIII or IVLLi; IIXVHM IΏA . . . ┐; LVAN. O; L S.L. P.; L. VARIV;
   LIIF M; L. FO; MARCELLUS (?) MIV, IVVP, (Reversed); MUXTVLEI;
   MNI. OF.; ЭLLORAM; METTO . . . ; MA ; MAR. . ; M. VINII ; MARCELLI; 
   VIII; NERO. FEC.; NICEPH; NAMILIA; OF. ARCA. MOM; OF. NOV;
   OF. MVR; OF. RAN; OF. MOD; OF. PRIMI; OF. MVRRAN ; OF. AQV. ;
   OF. CRESTIO; OF. NIGRI; OF. MODESTI; ORA ; OF. MASCVI; OF. CELA; 
   OF. SEVERi; OF. BASSI; O. DIO; OF. NOV; OF. MO MOD; P.AV. R;
   RVFIΛΛ MAN; REGINI. M; RVTHENI. M. REGVIVES; SEXTVS  FI.;
   SILVANI F; [S]lLVAN; SVORNTED OF.; S. ENNIVS F ; Σ. VERIVS. 
   VERANIVS; TAVRICI OF; VR.

  The number of metal articles of personal or domestic use recorded for Exeter is singularly small - so small when compared with the enormous quantities of coins and pottery as seeming to require some special explanation. Westcote (in addition to a pot of coins found near Rougemont, including examples of Antoninus Pius) speaks of a ring from the same locality with Cleopatra and the asp for device. Another seal (a carnelian), bearing a bearded head and the words “SEVERIVS POMPEYVS," was found in the gardens between Musgrave's Alley and the castle walls. A bloodstone intaglio, with a figure of Mercury, found at Pennsylvania, is in the Exeter Museum. Beyond this we get two bronze lamps (terra cotta lamps are figured by Captain Shortt), a small casket or box, a small vase, some fibulae, a small bronze crescent, a knife, a stylus, several keys, a crisping pin, a copper ring with clasp, a rude leaden spoon, and in iron a nail and some rather indefinite remains.
   The list is completed by the bronze hilt of a dagger, unearthed in South Street in 1833, and the only trace of a Koman weapon recorded. This has the greater interest from bearing the name of its owner - Σ. MEFITI T.EO.FRIS. — read by Captain Shortt, "Servii" or " Marcii Mefiti Tribuni Equitum Frisiorum" = Servius or Marcius Mefitus tribune of the Frisians.
   The inscription is one of the very few literary relics of Roman Exeter. Leland speaks of two Roman inscriptions as built into the city wall near Southernhay, but they are gone; and beside the legend on the dagger we have only the seal of Severius Pompeyus, sundry sgraffiti on funereal pottery (NAMELIE; XINI VMXA; MINA; and MỴ), and an inscription found in the vicinity of Musgrave's Alley.

  Until within some fourteen years ago the slab bearing this inscription was built into the north-east wall of the porch of Musgrave House, with a head of Julia Domna (brought from (Bath) in the wall opposite. The porch was then destroyed to build a billiard-room for the Club, and the inscription has disappeared. fortunately before it went Mr. J. M. Martin, C.E., made an exact and careful copy, and I am indebted to him for the fac-simile (reduced] tracing reproduced. The inscription is within a plain ine border, the outside dimensions of which are 15 inches by 14.

  Footnote

  (1)    Notes. 

  (2)    Sylva, 142.

  (3)    Op. cit. 43.

  (4)    Davidson, Notes 46

  (5)    Trans, Dev, Assoc, x. 335, xi. 303.

  (6)    Davidson, Notes, 45