Discovery Of Roman Remains At Templeborough.

DISCOVERY OF ROMAN REMAINS AT TEMPLEBOROUGH .

AT a general meeting of the Rothorhani Literary ancl Scientific Society throe papers on "Tcmpleborough" were read by Mr . J . D . Leader , F . S . A ., Mr . Geo . Wright , and the Rev . W . Blazeby . Tho Rev . Philip . C . Barker , the president , took the . chair , ancl there ivas a large attendance of members and their friends . The following paper was read by Mr . J . D . Leader : — : Dr . Collingwood Bruce , in the opening chapter of his most admirable work on the

Roman wall , remarks that "A large part of the knowledge we possess of the early history of our country has been clng out of the ground . " Certainly that is true of the Don valley , concerning the early history of which we have learned more by a few weeks of spade research than by any previously recorded efforts . Before a Rctherham audience it is quite unnecessary that I should describe the situation of the Roman station called Templeborough ; but for the sake of those ivho may not know it so well as you doa

, brief explanation is desirable . About a mile and a quarter to the west of the town of Rotherham , in the angle formed by the confluence of the rivers Don and Bother , may be seen the Well-defined outline of a quadrangular earthwork bearing the appearance of a Roman camp . It was not noticed . by Camden , but Bishop Gibson , in his edition of Camden , in 1695 , refers to it as " a fair Roman fortification , called Temple Brough . " It lies between the river

Don on the north , and the Sheffield and Rotherham turnpike road on the south . There has been a double agger , at least on the north , south , and east sides , and possibly also on the west . The inner area encloses a little more than four acres , and measures 390 ft . from east to west , and 450 ft . from north-to south . This is known as the Castle garth . Last autumn a crop of wheat grew there , ancl ivhen it had been reaped no stone larger than a river pebble was to be seen on the surface of the ground . There ivas simply a Avell marked earthwork , bounded on the east side by an old blackthorn hedge , and on the other sides open to the larger area of the field .

Rather more than two months ago explorations on this site began . I need not go into the circumstances that led up to them . Suffice it to say , that on the first of October operations began by cutting a grip across the south-east angle of the agger ; ancl before the expiration of the second day , previously-received notions about the character of the camp had been considerably modified . At various depths , in the very heart of the bank , ivere found fragments of Roman pottery and tiles , one of the latter

bearing the stamp C . IIII . G . Here then ivas evidence that the oarthivorks had been thrown up at some period subsequent to the destruction of a Roman station . It was an entirely new light , and ive followed its guidance with caution . The fourth cohort of the Gauls has left many traces of its existence near the Roman wall . It was stationed , according to the Notitia ( a ivork compiled about the year A . D . 400 ) , at Yindolana , or Little Chestersa station to the south of the wallbetween Chesters and Procolitiabut

, , ; that it had built a station in Yorkshire was a new and important fact . Presently our cutting led to some rough foundation work , which proved to be walls eight feet thick surrounding a well , not perfectly . circular , but measuring across its largest diameter 6 ft . 9 in . It ivas full , of earth , and had presented on the surface of the ground when we began not the sli ghtest indication of its existence . The investigations about this well are still going on . It has been excavated to a depth of 24 ft . but the

, strong inflow of water makes the work slow and difficult . In the course of the excavation , many fragments of black and red Roman pottery have been found , a small piece of bronze , many large stones , quantities of decayed wood , and part of a quernc . The walling ceased at a depth of twenty-three feet , and was found to rest on a bed of solid