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XIV. On some Roman Vestigia recently found at Kirkby Thore, in Westmoreland: in a Letter from Captain W. H. Smyth, R.N., K.S.F., D.C.L., President of the Royal Astronomical Society of London, &c. to Sir Henry Ellis, K.H., F.R.S., &c., Secretary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2012

W. H. Smyth
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Extract

Being recently on a visit to my friend Sir George Musgrave, Bart. F.S.A., of Edenhall, in Cumberland, I found he had become possessed of a number of Roman relics from Kirkby Thore, a parish on the high road between Appleby and Penrith. Some of these are of considerable local interest; and as so few particulars of the early military transactions of the Romans in Cumberland and Westmoreland are known, every additional ray of light becomes valuable to history and chronology. I therefore beg to exhibit a sample of these relics to the Society, by Sir George's kind permission, and to add a word or two in general illustration.

Type
Research Article
Information
Archaeologia , Volume 31 , 1846 , pp. 279 - 288
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1846

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References

page 279 note * This name impresses the mind with deeds of officious intrigue, robberies, inroads, and every species of brigandage; and history countenances the prepossession. The Brigantes are considered to have fought their way from Phrygia in the east to Albion in the west, devastating the lands they passed over like a flight of locusts. It is also averred that they tried their hands at piracy, and that the terms brig and brigantine have descended to us from them. Now the latter designation was once expressly applied to corsairs; “but,” says Camden, “whether the word had that signification in the old Gaulish or British languages, and whether our Brigantes were of that temper, I dare not affirm.”

page 280 note * In his account of this wall, Camden shows a curious precursor of our railroad telegraph. He says, “The inhabitants tell you there was a brazen trumpet (tubulus) or pipe, whereof they now and then find pieces, so artificially laid in the wall between each castle and tower, that upon the apprehension of danger at any single place, by the sounding of it, notice might be given to the next, then to the third, and so on.”

page 286 note * It is well known that these signets were commonly used by individuals for attesting letters, confirming statements, and giving validity to testamentary documents; but the Romans had no public official seals,—and the Imperial edicts were proclaimed and recorded without that authentic distinction. The Legions, however, had peculiar impresses, or stamps.