ROMAN URBAN TOPOGRAPHY in Britain and the western Empire

New streets for old : the topography of Roman Lincoln Michael J Jones
Roman Lincoln owed its elongated plan largely to topo- three tombstones are known from north of the river. Most
graphical factors, with occupation extending particularly were noted during building operations last century, but
along Ermine Street to the north and south. Just how more recently (198 1) another cremation turned up on the
extensive was the settlement, and how intensive was its South Common and in 1982 four were found in Monson
occupation, is still emerging from excavation. Almost 40 Street, a site which had already produced one of the
years ago Sir Ian Richmond wrote of the upper colonia, legionary tombstones. It is interesting to note that these
‘the tale of structures. . .is a sorry one. All too many finds were made about 50m east of High Street (the Fosse
opportunities have been missed’ (Richmond 1946, 39). Way), and apparently east of another Roman street which
Since then much effort and public money have been branches off the Fosse not far to the north. Although the
expended on rescue archaeology in the City, principally in earliest street levels could not be investigated, it is possible
response to the large-scale redevelopment schemes which that this is Ermine Street (Magilton 1982), which would
have mainly affected the lower part of the walled city and thus have crossed the Sincil Dyke on the line of the
the riverside in the last twenty years or so. Ironically, medieval Little Bargate (Fig 59). Although this might
excavations on those sites have not added a great deal to make better sense in terms of the location of some of the
our knowledge of the Roman street system, whereas the early graves, unfortunately no indications of a road are
now-abandoned Inner Ring Road Scheme would have visible on South Common and geophysical prospecting is
revealed much. desirable.
Phase I of the Scheme did go ahead in 1971, occasioning
a small excavation on the High Street frontage, which
produced for the first time stratified evidence for a
pre-Roman settlement (Jones 1981, 87; Jones et al forthcoming).
This is perhaps no more than might have been
expected, given the known pattern of late Iron Age
settlement in Lincolnshire, the Celtic derivation of the
place-name, and earlier chance finds. The pottery from
the site suggests an origin probably no earlier than the 1st
century BC, and one might postulate a settlement of
houses scattered along the river frontage on slightly higher
areas of ground — for much of the valley was too low-lying
and marshy for settlement.
Study of the natural ground levels is one of the clues to
the location of the earliest occupation (Fig 59). To the west
and south-west of the city are large areas of gravel dotted
with occasional natural meres. If one assumes a natural
origin (and this has yet to be proved), the Brayford Pool
probably originated in this way. Today the canalized line
of the river Witham as it flows through the City gives a
misleading impression of the earlier width of the river,
known from both antiquarian accounts and modern
excavations (Drury nd; Whitwell 1970, 42; Jones 1981,
88-90).
On historical and perhaps also epigraphic grounds, part
of the Ninth Legion is thought to have been in Lincoln
before AD 50, whereas the samian (but not the coins)
studied to date suggests that the uphill fortress was not
built before 60 (Jones 1980; Hartley 1981; Reece & Mann
1983). If, as at Gloucester, there was an earlier base, where
was it? Is the location of the early cemetery up to 2km to
the south a clue, or is this a reasonable distance at which to
expect military graves? Some of these burials are of
soldiers of Legio II A diutrix and therefore postdate 71, but
others have no cognomina and, some scholars suggest,
ought to predate 50. 1
Once begun, this seems to have
continued as the major cemetery for the troops, and only
86
If we are looking for a suitable location for a base — be it
auxiliary fort or vexillation fortress-in this area, then the
gravel terraces identified by the Soil Survey beneath the
north part of the South Common and between the two
known cemetery areas would be the most favourable spot
from the point of view of soil conditions. But to date there
have been no Roman finds from here. To the north only
small areas of higher ground exist south of the river, a fact
borne out by recent excavations (eg at St Marks: Gilmour
in Jones 1981, 92ff). It does seem, however, that by the
late Neronian period there was occupation associated with
the army on both sides of the river (Wacher in Colyer &
Jones 1979, 83; Jones et al forthcoming). On the north
bank the natives may have been resettled in a regular
canabae, since the land here would have been required for
installations supplying the garrison. By the time the uphill
fortress was abandoned, the area occupied had grown
considerably, particularly on the hillside (see Fig 61).
The size of the garrison is still uncertain. The fortress
enclosed an area of approximately 40 acres (c 16 ha),
similar to the contemporary fortresses at Exeter and
Gloucester. Only small fragments of barrack blocks have
been uncovered, and more large-scale excavations are
required to bring our knowledge of the buildings and their
demolition or reuse in the early colonia up to the level
which exists for Exeter, Gloucester, and Colchester. If it is
assumed that barracks lay against the western defences,
the east-west width of that block will have been c 60-80m
(c 200-250ft); when allowance is made for the principia
and via principalis there could be no more than three strips
of insulae separated by north-south streets in the retentura
(cf Crummy, this volume, p 82 & Fig 56). But an attempt
to reconstruct the plan of the Lincoln fortress on the lines
suggested by Crummy for Colchester would be premature.
Streets of this period which are known or can be
assumed are the via sagularis (separated from the legionary