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Glevum and the Second Légion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Charles Green
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Extract

The movements of the Second Legion (Legio II Augusta) in the first three decades of the Roman occupation of Britain have for long been a subject of speculation. In particular, the quest for the site of its first semi-permanent base, before the establishment of the fortress at Caerleon, has given rise to the conjecture that at Gloucester it would be found. The only evidence for this has been the size and shape of the Roman enceinte known to exist there and the general probability of the site, considered in relation to the Severn crossing. Other evidence adduced in the past by local antiquaries will not bear scrutiny in the light of modern knowledge.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 32 , Issue 1-2 , November 1942 , pp. 39 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © Charles Green 1942. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 The preparation of this paper has involved the co-operation of many friends, including Dr. St. Clair Baddeley, the late Dr. T. Davies Pryce, Mrs. E. M. Clifford, Mrs. B. H. O'Neil, Drs. K. D. Pringle, O. H. Wild, and E. S. Ellis, Messrs. F. G. Hudson, V. E. Nash-Williams, J. A. Stansfield, and D. W. Herdman, as well as many others too numerous to mention. My colleague, the City Surveyor and his staff, in particular Mr. H. W. Kennett, have been unfailingly helpful, as have Mr. T. D. Watkins and many contractors and their clerks of works. Above all I wish to thank Mr. C. F. C. Hawkes, of the British Museum, for his assistance and advice freely given at all times.

2 Tersely put by Haverfield, F. in Eph. Ep. ix (1913), p. 519Google Scholar: ‘Hiberna legionis II Augustae hic olim fuisse, scilicet circa a. 43–70 p. Chr., multi coniecerunt, nemo probavit: coloniam sub Nerva constitutam esse ex C. vi n. 3346 constat.’ For more recent views see Arch. Journal lxxviii, 264 ff.; Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society ( = BGAS) lv, 1933, 55 ff.; R. G. Collingwood, Archaeology of Roman Britain 1930, 15; see also Collingwood and Myres, Roman Britain and the English Settlements ed. 1, 1936, 94–7, ed. 2, 1939, 94–7, with revised text.

It is essential to point out that the name Gloucester cannot be used with precision to define the town of Glevum. The latter I define as the area embraced by the walls erected c. A.D. 100, i.e. the colonia established in the reign of Nerva (see belowp.51,n.57). If the name Glevum is used to indicate any larger area, confusion and error will arise, as it has in the past.

3 BGAS liv, 1932, and subsequent volumes.

4 Ibid, lv, 1933, 55 ff. This paper is excellent for its summary of, and extracts from, the older records, some of which are quoted below.

5 25-in. OS map.

6 Observations by the writer who recorded sections at the Quay in 1936. The installation of Llanthony Weir in the early years of last century caused a rise of 12 ft. in the level. This information is from the records of Mr. N. L. Bradley, an officer of the Severn Commission.

7 Leland, Itinerary (ed. L. T. Smith) ii, 57–8.

8 Green, Catalogue of Potters' Stamps and Second Catalogue of Potters' Stamps (Gloucester Museum Occasional Papers, 1933 and 1935).

9 First Richborough Report (Soc. of Antiquaries Research Report, 1926) 87, no. 5.

10 Archaeologia vii, 1785, 379–381; Gent's Mag. n.s. xl, 1853, 39,40; BGAS i, 1876, 155; Fosbrooke, Hist, of the City of Gloucester 1819, 21.

11 Archaeologia xviii, 1817, 121–3.

12 Sutherland, C. H. V., Romano-British Imitations of Bronze Coins of Claudius I (Numismatic Notes and Monographs, no. 65, 1935)Google Scholar.

13 Archaeologia vii, 1785, 379–381; Fosbrooke, o.c. 22.

14 Information regarding this type of dagger and its date was given to the writer by Mr. C. F. C. Hawkes.

15 Arch. Journ. xxxiv, 148; xxxvi, 166; Eph. Ep. iv, 664., 665; vii, 837. These altars, together with others from Gloucestershire, have recently been described by Mrs. Clifford, E. M., BGAS lx, 1938, 297Google Scholar ff., pl. ix, fig. 15; x, fig. 18.

16 Terret in Bristol Museum: plaque; Douglas, Nenia Britannica 134, pl. xxvii, I, now in the Ashmolean Museum.

17 A fine series of similar tools from Newstead is illustrated in Curie, A Roman Frontier Post 1911.

18 BGAS i, 1876, 36, 37; xiii, 1888–9, 69; Gent's Mag., xciv, 1824, pt. 2, 165; n.s. ix, 1838, 302; xl, 1853, 39–40. 6-in. OS map. Some of the cremation urns are now in the Gloucester Museum.

19 Gent's Mag. 1824, xciv, pt. 2, 165; CIL vii, 67 and 306; Eph. Ep. iv, p. 519. The reading is RVFVS SITA EQVES CHO. VI TRACVM ANN. XL. STIP. XXII HEREDES. EXS. TEST. F. CVRAVE H.S.E. The measurements are 4 ft. 6 in. high, 2 ft. 7 in. wide and 5½ in. deep. The tombstone should be compared with that of a horseman of the first ala of the Thracian cavalry found in 1928 at Colchester, apparently of early date too. It is of the rider type and is surmounted, like the Gloucester stone, by a sphinx between two lions; the ‘ex’ of ‘ex testamento’ is also spelt ‘exs’. JRS xviii, 212, pl. xxiii, and Antiqs. Journ. viii, 1928, 527 ff. Another early rider tombstone of a Thracian cohort, probably the Sixth, the upper part of which has disappeared, comes from Wroxeter (Viroconium), CIL vii, 158 (and Eph. Ep. vii, 864, ix, p. 534, and Vict. Co. Hist. Shrops. i, 245 f.). Dr. Teuber, , Beiträge zur Geschichte der Eroberung Britanniens durch die Römer (Breslau, 1909) 50 fGoogle Scholar. points out that the cohors VI Thracum was with the Fourteenth Legion in Germany and came no doubt with it to Britain; and, as it was in Pannonia in A.D. 84, it probably left Britain with the Fourteenth in A.D. 70, after they had been in garrison together at Wroxeter.

20 Gent's Mag. xciv, 1824, pt. 2, 165.

21 Antiqs. Journ. xviii, 1938, 43 ff. See also above (n. 20).

22 A considerable collection of these objects is in the Gloucester Museum. I hope to publish them at a later date.

23 JRS xiii, 1923, 126.

24 Arch. Camb. xcv, 1940, 142.

25 Archaeologia lxxviii, 1928, 178.

26 Arch. Camb. xcv, 1940, 140. I am grateful to Lady Fox for enabling me to examine and discuss these sherds.

27 I am indebted to Mrs. O'Neil, formerly Curator of the new Corinium Museum at Cirencester, who enabled me to examine every sherd preserved in that museum and herself assisted in completing the task.

28 Rim in the possession of Mrs. Dent-Brocklehurst of Sudeley Castle. I am grateful to Mrs. E. M. Clifford, who enabled me to examine this sherd.

29 BGAS lvi, 1934, 110, I. This is now in the Cheltenham Museum.

30 Antiqs. Journ. xviii, 29 ff.

31 G. B. Witts, Archaeological Handbook of Gloucester, 23.

32 Observations by the writer.

33 Ibid. Independently observed by Dr. J. K. St. Joseph.

34 Tacitus, Ann. xii, 32Google Scholar.

36 Tacitus, Agricola 17, 3Google Scholar; Archaeologia lxxviii, 1928, 113 f., 146 ff. (R. E. M. and T. V. Wheeler); Arch. Cambrensis lxxxiv, 1929, 246, 251; lxxxvi, 1931, 106, 139 f., 156 (Nash-Williams); lxxxv, 1930, 187 (Hawkes); xcv, 1940, 104 (Fox); 'all conveniently summarised in Nash-Williams, The Roman Legionary Fortress at Caerleon, Monmouthshire (Cardiff, 1940) 9 ff., 28.

36 Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club ( = CNFC) xxv, 1934, 209.

37 I am grateful to Dr. St. Clair Baddeley for permission to examine and refer to his unpublished pottery from Frampton.

38 Mrs. Clifford has recently published, in BGAS lix, 1938, 287 ff., an account of earthworks at Minchinhampton, Amberley, and Rodborough, lying just to the south of and above the Stroud valley, which she believes were constructed in the second quarter of the first century A.D. by Belgic (or belgicised) settlers. In any case the presence of the pottery indicates occupation by them, whatever the date of the earthworks.

39 Observations by the writer.

40 Gent's Mag. n.s. xxvi, 1846, 157; xli, 1854, 487.

41 CNFC vi, 1877, 179; see also BGAS lv, 1933, 94–5.

42 Observations by the writer throughout the excavation. Mr. W. H. Knowles also made certain independent observations which he published in BGAS lix, 1937, 337–8, and lx, 1938, 165 ff.

43 BGAS lx, 1938, 166.

44 CNFC xv, 1906, 255 ff. This is an interesting little paper arguing that the site was chosen, not for its easy crossing, but because of the difficult crossing, which gave protection to the settlement. The author, the late F. J. Cullis, F.G.S., was professionally connected with the Port of Gloucester and his opinion carries weight.

45 Information from Mr. Joe Price, blacksmith, whose smithy is almost opposite the site. This was later confirmed by Dr. St. Clair Baddeley, who saw,the boat.

46 BGAS li, 1929, 169 ff.

47 Arch. Journ. lxxviii, 264 ff.

48 The large-scale O.S. plan of Gloucester (I:500), published in 1852, shows the mouth of this stream, now underground.

49 o.c., 268 ff.

50 BGAS 1vi, 1934, 72 ff. It was impossible to investigate further because the rest of the building lay below the churchyard of St. Aldate.

51 Ibid. lvi, 70.

52 Ibid. lv, 1933, 277 ff.

53 A Samian cup of form 24 was also found near by in the Quay excavations in 1936.

54 Investigations into the early use of iron in the district are being carried out by Mr. F. G. Hudson and the writer, and may in due course throw more light on this point.

55 Brit. Arch. Assoc. Journ. xxvii, 203 ff. These objects form part of the Palmer Collection now in Gloucester Museum.

56 Lamp with nozzle ending in an obtuse-angle termination flanked on either side by a double volute as form no. 10 in (Dressel) CIL xv, 2, Tab. iii. Often the type has no handle, but some with a handle have been found at Haltern and are thought probably to have been made at Xanten. Loeschke, Mitteil. d. Altertums-Kommission für Westfalen v, 206, Type 35, Abb. 16: cf. Walters, Catal. of Greek and Roman Lamps in the British Museum p. xxiv; hence Wheeler, London in Roman times, 1930, 62, fig. 15, I. The scene—two slaves pouring water into a laver—is not a usual one on lamps. Lamps of this type are early and are occasionally found on Claudian sites in this country as Richborough (First Report pl. xix, 4), Colchester (Catalogue of Roman Pottery, pl. lxxi, 1–7, 12–15, 24), and London (Guildhall Museum). Our example may well have been a stray from Kingsholm.

57 CIL vii, 54 and p. 29 (cf. Viet. Co. Hist. Somerset i, 277, and Camden, Britannia (1600) 203); Eph. Ep. ix, 519; CIL vi, 3346 ( = ILS 2365); Mommsen, ibid. x, p. 12 (Scolacium). Ravennatis anonymi cosmographia (Pinder and Parthey) 427, 12.

58 BGAS liii, 1931, 283.

59 Ravennatis anonymi cosmographia (Pinder and Parthey) 430, 2; Bede, Hist. Eccl. I, ii, cap. xvi (Plummer i, 117; ii, 108). cf. H. Bradley, Collected Papers 119 ff.

60 CIL vii, 248; Eph. Ep. iii, 80; JRS xi, 102 ff.