part; it is extraordinary that it has no foundation whatever, but is literally set down on the surface of the ground, and is therefore undermined by the waters of the Itchin, which reach it at spring tides. A large bank of earth has been thrown up against it on the inner side; and it appears as if, at a distance of about nine feet within the outer wall, another wall, about two feet thick, had been erected, seemingly as a sort of strengthening to the rampart of earth. Within the area of the ancient wall, the remains of two very coarse pavements, or rather plaister-floors, are visible; one in the bank to the left of the new road, which has been in part washed away by the Itchin; the other in the ditch to the right of the road, about midway between the two roads. It seems not unworthy of remark, that the whole soil, as well within the wall, as between the wall and the outer ditch, is full, not only of fragments of bricks and tiles of various forms, but of small pieces of that beautiful earthen-ware, the color, polish, and grain of which, when broken, resemble fine sealing-wax, more than any other substance I know of. The ditches dug through these fields for the new road, have afforded me nearly a hundred pieces of this ware; some of them plain, some embossed with animals, masks, thyrsi, lyres, ears of corn, and poppies. An ornament at the top of the embossed part, like a deep festooned fringe, with tassels between each festoon, is almost universal in them. Fragments of vases, of a coarse earth, not finer than our garden pots, are pretty common; and some of these appear to have been of very considerable size. The largest were red; some others were of a dirty brown, like unbaked clay: those in which ashes and coins were found, were of the latter sort. One of these, when found, presented a most singular appearance, as it was inclosed within another which nearly fitted it, and whose mouth was so narrow as by no means to have admitted it in its hardened state; the fragments of both these vessels bear evident marks of the potter's lathe, both within and without. A fine and perfect glass urn was also found, but it has been unfortunately destroyed."

Among the other remains discovered here, are fragments of sculptured and other stones, which seem to have formed parts of

a Roman

a Roman building. The old farm-house, also, which stands within the area of this station, and is now converting into a residence for Henry Hanson Simpson, Esq. furnishes a memorial of the Roman occupation of this spot, in a rude stone, inscribed as follows.

IMP. CÆS. LV

CIO DOMI

TIO AVRELIANO.

The farm-house appears to have been partly formed from a castellated mansion of the Bishops of Winchester, the ruins of which are noticed by Leland; and an old stone building, lately used as a barn, was probably in some manner connected with it, as the upper part of the wall, next the fosse, has loop-holes for the discharge of arrows. The area of the Station is about half a mile in circumference: some have supposed that it was connected with NORTHAM, a hamlet on the opposite bank of the river, where Roman coins are reported to have been found.

SOUTHAMPTON,

OR SOUTHTON, though not of Roman origin, is still of considerable antiquity, and very probably may date its rise from the decay of the station at Bittern; though at what particular era it became a town, is not to be distinctly ascertained. Its name has been the subject of some argument; but the most natural conclusion is, that it was derived from the river Ant, or Anton, which, after flowing from the upper parts of the county, and giving appellations to several places in its course, here widens into a considerable estuary, and, in conjunction with the station, forms the head of the Southampton Water; the supposed Antona of Tacitus. Those who controvert this etymology, deduce its name from the Saxon word Ham, a home, or residence, "which so frequently enters into the composition of the names of our towns, sometimes with, and sometimes without, the adjunct, Ton." The manner, however, in which the name is spelt in the Domesday Book, and other ancient records, is clearly in favor of the former opinion, as

in

in these writings it is spelt Hantun, and Hantune: the prefix of South most evidently arose from its relative situation to Northam. The county itself was also called Hantunscyre; though its name has been long corrupted, and, equally with Southampton, now suggests an erroneous inference in respect to its origin.

The earliest mention of this town occurs in the Saxon Chronicle, from which it appears, that it was attacked by the Danes, in the year 873, who landed from thirty-three vessels; but, after committing many atrocities, were repulsed, and driven to their ships. About 980, a body of Danes again landed here, and ravaged the town and its neighbourhood; and scarcely twelve years afterwards, they are recorded to have a third time plundered Southampton, under the command of Sueno of Denmark, and Olaus of Norway. Whether the town was fortified previously to these devastations, does not appear with certainty; though an eminent antiquary, Sir H. C. Englefield, Bart. in a late publication, suggests the opinion that a Castle was built here by the Saxons, very soon after they had achieved a permanent establishment in this country. "The peculiar advantages of the narrow, and rather high point of land on which Southampton now stands," observes this gentleman, "commanding at once the Itchin and Test rivers, and very easily fortified on the land side, could not escape their notice; and, from the high circular hill, on which the keep of the Castle formerly stood, and the curved line of its yet remaining wall, we have probable grounds for supposing it to be among the most ancient of the Saxon Castles. But, besides the present existing fortifications, there is great reason to supect, that the northern ditch of the town, filled up within the memory of man, and of uncommon breadth and depth, was continued quite across, till it met the Itchin, and completely insulated the Castle and present town. The antiquity of the Bar-Gate, whose central round arch is evidently much older than any of the other gates of the town, is no small confirmation of this supposition; as the walls and gates, with the exception of the Bar-Gate, appear to have been built at once, and are very uniform in their structure, some small parts only excepted. It is, however, immaterial to the view of the progres

sive

sive augmentation of the present town, whether this conjecture, relative to the Bar-Gate, and its ditch, be well founded, or not; as it is equally certain, under either supposition, that the Castle would very soon form a town around itself; both by the habitations of those dependant on it as a fortress, and those who sought protection under its wings, from the multiplied dangers of that period of unceasing war and pillage. The very ancient Church of St. Michael was probably founded soon after the Castle, and was, as it now is, the manerial Church of the town: and it is worthy of remark, that the streets immediately under the Castle, are proved, by their names, to have been the original markets of the infant town; and that all the most curious remains of antiquity stretch along the shore of the Southampton Water, where the Castle protected them on the land side, and the sea rendered attack not very easy on any other."

The

* Walk through Southampton, p. 84, 86. From the very minute account in the same work, of the Walls and Gates of Southampton, the ensuing particulars are selected. The principal entrance to the town on the land side, is by the "large and extremely beautiful Gate, called emphatically, the Bar.* Its north front is of rather uncommon form, being a sort of semioctagon, flanked with two lower semicircular turrets, and crowned with large and handsome machicollations. The arch of entrance is highly pointed, and adorned with a profusion of mouldings, which now end abruptly, a part of the flanks of the arch having been cut away to enlarge the carriage-way, which was inconveniently narrow. Above the arch is a row of elegant sunk pannels, alternately square and oblong. In each of the squares is a shield in relief, painted, with a coat of arms. These ornaments were added to the gate after the accession of James the First.

"The footways on each side are modern perforations through the old flanking towers, as the brick-work entirely covers the ancient walls; but, by inspecting the sides of the principal arch, it seems as if there had formerly been arches opening laterally into these towers. The arches

and

This, it may be observed, was anciently the name of those edifices now called gates, while the word gate signified the street or road leading to the bar; a phraseology which still obtains in the north of England.

The different assaults made on this town by the Danes, render it probable, that it had obtained some importance very early, and

most

and front hitherto described, though probably 450 years old, are modern, when compared with the central part of the Gate, which is of early Norman work, if not more ancient than the Conquest. Its plain and massive round arches, which are considerably wider than the outer pointed one, are a full proof of this. Within this most ancient part, another addition has been made to the town, forming a plain and flat front; which, though never very handsome, was much injured by an awkward attempt to adorn it, at the beginning of the last century. The points of its ancient windows are obliterated; a painted rustic covers the old wall; and Queen Anne, in long embroidered stays, and a gown, whose folds would disgrace even the barbarity of Saxon sculpture, exhibits her jolly fat face from a Gothic niche in the centre. The battlements have however escaped the ravages of improvement; and an ancient alarm bell hangs in a niche formed for it, between two of them. The leads are spacious; and from these the gradual increase of this noble Gate is easily traced. The original Gate was flanked by two semicircular towers, towards the country; between these, and projecting beyond them, the present beautiful exterior front was added; the front towards the town appears the most modern of all. The two lions sejant, cast in lead, which now form a respectable guard at the entrance of the Gate, were formerly placed at the extremities of the parapet of a bridge which crossed the ditch before the Gate, and were removed to their present situation, when the ditch was filled up, and the bridge demolished.

From the Bar-Gate," the Wall runs eastward about 200 yards, and is still visible, though encumbered with dwelling houses; among which, two semicircular towers are barely discernible. It terminates in this direction by a high round tower, which has a more modern appearance than other any part of the walls, and seems to have been built with embrazures, like Calshot Castle, for the reception of cannon. From this tower the wall runs quite straight, in a direction nearly south, till it reaches the water: at the distance of about 100 yards from the north-east angle, East-Gate formerly stood: this was demolished above thirty years ago; but a drawing of it is among Grose's Antiquities, and it appears to have been equally ugly and inconvenient. The whole length on this side is about 800 yards, and it is defended by a broad