Regulbium a Poem; With an Account of the Roman Station at Reculver - new book

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE ROMAN CASTRUM. Jl He Roman castrum, as it was the earliest erection, demands the first notice. It is situated upon a gentle eminence or sand hill, elevated 35 feet from the level of the sea. In its original state it occupied a space of ground equal to 8 acres, 1 rood, 1 pole; the area within the wall measured 7 acres, 2 roods, 26 poles. Its form was that of an oblong square, whose greatest length was from north to south; the four sides of this square did not exactly (though nearly) face the cardinal points, and the angles were rounded. Within the area of the castrum which has evidently been raised by buildings and other causes, the remains of the wall never rise above the level of the surface, having in all probability been removed by the inhabitants at a distant period; on the outside the greatest height of the remains is ten feet. What was the original height of the wall cannot be determined, not even by a comparison with that at Richborough, which is no where perfect, though in some parts it is nearly 30 feet high. On the outside towards the south the foundation of the wall is exposed by the removal of the earth in several places, where it seems to have been composed of round pebbles, smaller than those used in the superstructure. The materials. which compose the remains of the wall are invariablyround flint pebbles, such as are found upon the beach, cemented firmly with coarse mortar, and no courses, or foundations of brickwork are visible as at Richborough; though from the number of Roman bricks worked into the church, and lying about in all directions, there is no doubt, but that in its original state it was strengthened by these fillets or bands at regular intervals, as may be remarked in that building;! nor are th.re any portions re- Called in this part of the...