entrance to the town or village but over a bridge. See a Specimen of a Mount on a Baronial Seat at Bishopton, Durham, in the twelfth century, in the vignette at the end of this Chapter, p. 524. Here Roger Conyers, in the time of King Stephen, successfully resisted one W. Cumyn, who wished to possess himself by forcible means of the See of Durham. The site of this little strong-hold is a low plashy meadow, completely commanded by rising ground. The chief confidence of the occupants was in the facility of flooding the trenches, a mode of defence extremely common with regard to Castlelots, or manor-houses; and somtimes adopted in castles of the higher class, in preference to more obvious advantages from situation. The elevation of the Mount is 60 feet; at the crown from north to south 10 paces, from east to west 16 paces; the circumference of the first ditch 200 paces 2.

MOTES, in Scotland, are mounds of earth, thrown up into a sort of hemispherical form; and commonly some stones are placed on end around the base. They are supposed to have been Courts of Justice 3.

OBELISKS. Mention has been before made [p. 87] of Runick Obelisks. But they were not confined to that nation. Holinshed, speaking of the ancient Scots, says, "The graves and sepulchers of our noblemen had commonlie so many obelisks and spires pitched about them, as the deceased had killed enemies before time in the field." He adds, "they used not to write with common letters as other nations did, but rather with ciphers and figures of creatures, made in maner of letters, as their epitaphes upon their toomes and sepulchers remaining amongst us doo hitherto declare 4."

PICTS' BURGHS. These are Norwegian buildings in the Western Isles, generally placed within sight of the sea. They are not to be found, except in Great Britain and Scandinavia. Mr. Lowe describes them as formed like cones, with a vaulted cell and winding stairs. Many of them are to be seen in every parish of the Zetland Isles; and several one or two stories high are yet standing. All are built after the same form, of large rough stones well laid. They vary in size. Some of them are not twenty feet in diameter, others thirty within the wall, which is ten or twelve feet thick, with small apartments and stairs. They had no windows, and a very little door. Whether they have been roofed at top does not appear. In the interior they vary. Some have additions of strength on the outside. They have all been built in the most inaccessible places, surrounded with water, or upon some high rock; and some have two or three walls of earth and stone around them 5.

PISCINA. Among the Romans was, 1. a fishpond; 2. a shallow reservoir for persons who did not know how to swim; 3. a place for watering horses and washing clothes.

POND. Many of our ponds in fields are surrounded with high banks and underwood. It is a Roman fashion, the “vallum acernum" of Propertius 6.

RATH. This was an ancient fortress or castle of the Irish chiefs, and is a very interesting specimen of certain Celtick modes of living.

The Rath, like the British oppidum, described by Cæsar, was a large circular inclosure, on elevated ground, not unfrequently in the bosom of woods, and consisted of the following component parts, viz. the Beallagh, Dun, Mote, Ran, Rath, Uugh, &c. of which in order.

Beallagh, an external circular inclosure, answering to the outward Ballium of the

'Du Cange, v. Mota. 2 Hutchinson's Durham, iii. 163. Surtees' Durham, iii. 67. 3 Archæolog. ♦ Holinshed, v. 242. v. 23, seq. ed. 4to. 5 Gough's Camd. iii. 743. 6 L. iv. Fab. Tarp.

Norman castles. With the Irish, it was generally constructed of a staked hedge or fence of wood; sometimes with, but generally without an entrenchment. Within this inclosure resided the servants and domestick animals of the Chief.

Dun. This, situated within the area of the Beallagh, near the centre, and, generally, in an elevated part, was the immediate habitation of the Chief and his family, and answered to the Norman Keep. (See the Scotch Dun, in Plate, p. 79.) Mote, Mothan. The circular entrenchment which inclosed the Dun.

Ran. The rampart, whether of earth or stone, which surrounded the Dun, and generally situate within the mote. Where it was naturally a mound of earth, it was commonly flanked at the top, by a wood parapet, or pale.

Rath. The court or open area within the ran, wherein the Pilait or right lann, i. e. the habitations of the chief and his family were situated. They were, in general, small buildings constructed of earth and hurdles; or the foundation was of earth, upon which they erected walls of wood. These habitations consisted for the most part of one apartment, few of two; and the number of them in each Dun or Rath, was from four to eight.

Vagh, Vaigh. The cave or cellar where the provisions were kept, and into which the women, children, &c. retired in case of danger. It was generally placed under the Dun, and had steps leading from the Rath, though it was sometimes situated between the Dun and the Rath in the field.

Of the ancient Cathairs, the same as the British Caers, we have now no remains; only the Duns, of which that at Ardscul, about three miles from Athy, is a very fine one. It has, beside the above, the

Amhaire or Radhaire, i. e. the Speculum or Watch-tower, wherein the habitations of the Chief were generally situated, and wherein were constantly placed the guards. In this may be traced the foundation of a building, consisting of two apartments, on a line with each other. In one was a fire-hearth, composed of four large stones, one for the hearth, one at the back, and one at each side. These were neatly hammered, but not chiseled. Coal was found there. The well or cave under the Rath was ten feet square. The Irish Raths or Duns, when situated in the plain, are generally circular, but when on a natural hill are of different forms, according to the nature of the ground. In a Rath on the Curragh of Kildare, is a tumulus, and another with a cavity. This seems to have been the kitchen, or place where they dressed their food, by lighting a fire in the cavity, around which was a number of sticks suspending on the top, the skin of a cow or other animal filled with water, in which was put the flesh to be boiled, after the manner of the ancient Scots. There are also holes, having originally roofs over them, wherein upon heath, &c. slept the domesticks of the chief; and at the east are the foundations of small cabins or houses. The earth-walls are yet about a foot above the ground, and run in all directions. Between the three mounts also lay heaps of small stones, which served for roasting, by having the crater made hot, and the flesh put in, and then covered with other hot stones. When the flesh was boiled the fire was not taken out, but kept burning under skins, as before1.

RED-HORSE. Horses are carved in the turf, on the sides of hills, in Berks and Wilts, &c, according to presumption, as memorials of successful battles fought in the vicinity. The White-horse was the Anglo-Saxon bearing. The Red-horse in Warwickshire, Mr. Wise supposes a memorial of the famous Richard Nevill Earl of Warwick, whose castle

'Gough's Camden, iii. 482-484.

of Fullbrook, now entirely demolished, stood eight or nine miles off, facing the hill. Just before the battle of Towton, he killed his horse with his own hand on the field. This battle was fought upon Palm Sunday, which is the anniversary of scouring the horse. If this statement be correct, the tradition seems to be well founded'.

ROADS. The origin of roads is beyond the date of history. Subterranean roads, useful in warm climates, were invented by the Egyptians. The tombs on each side of the ancient roads were awful and impressive objects. Roman roads are divided into Consular, Prætorian, or Military ways, which must be distinguished from vicinal ways, i. e. cross roads. The materials were such as the country afforded. Semiramis paved highways, but the Romans borrowed the custom from the Carthaginians. Some Roman roads were paved, i. e. bedded with stones in the centre (agger) with a foot pavement on the side, (margo) with stones to mount horses (stirrups not being used) at every ten feet. At every mile's end, stood a milliary, a useful invention of Gracchus. Trees, &c. by the sides were cut to admit air, and ditches, like ours, excavated to carry off water. The military ways were of sixty Roman feet in width, twenty for the agger, and twenty for the slope on each side. The smaller roads consisted of the semita, for persons walking, one foot broad; callis, a bridle road half a foot broad (sic); tramites, cross-ways; the actus, four feet broad for beasts of burden, or a simple chariot; the iter, two feet for men alone; the via, eight feet in breadth for carriages to meet 2.

Alberti has the following useful rules, which shall be given (expletory matter excepted), in translation, because they throw the greatest light upon ancient roads. "Some ways are military; others not 3. Those are military, where we travel with the army and baggage. Therefore it behoves a military way not to be much more spacious than military machines, &c. The ancients laid it down as a rule, that they should be never less than eight cubits. By the law of the twelve tables they thus fix the road, that when it is straight it should be twelve feet broad, when crooked sixteen. The non-military roads are those by which we go out of a military road into a village or town, or into another military town; as the actus, across a field, the lanes (diverticula) through a city. There is, besides, a certain kind of ways which savour of the nature of a street, as are those which are made for some certain, especially publick uses, namely those which lead to a temple, curriculum or basilica. It is necessary that the course of military ways should not be the same through the country as through the city. Without the city these things are especially to be observed; that the road be wide (patula) and most open for looking round every where; that it be free and most clear from every incumbrance of waters and ruins; that no lurking holes, no recesses be left for robbers to lie in ambush; that no adits convenient for devastations lie open to it, "passim unde vis;" lastly, that it be direct and very short; and what will be the shortest, not which is the straightest, but the safest; and I prefer its being a little longer to its being less convenient. Some think a country the safest where deep roads, like sunk ditches, intersect the country, ambiguous in the entrance, uncertain in the progress, and by no means safe, with high banks, from which an enemy may be easily crushed: more skilful persons prefer the safest road, that which is carried along the level ridge of eminences. Next to this is the road, which, according to ancient custom, is directed through the fields by a raised causeway. This the Ancients thought to in

Gough's Camd. i. 100. ii. 333.

tion. The old Roman roads they called military ways: those used by the country," via patria." Hoare's Mod. Wilts (Hundred of Mere), p. 167.

clude many advantages; for travellers walking along the lofty elevation of them were much relieved from the labour and tedium of the journey. It was also of much moment to see the enemy at a distance, and have the means of obstructing his advance with a small force, or retreating without loss of men; and as from Egypt, Africa, Libya, the Spains, Germany, and the Isles, where a large number of men and a great quantity of traffick resorted, they made a double road; and in the middle an eminent order of stones, like a boundary, was raised a foot high, that they might come by one road and return by. another, offence of those in haste being thus avoided; so it behoved a military way of this kind out of a city to be convenient, direct, and safe. If it be a famous and powerful place it ought to have very ample and direct roads, which may contribute to the dignity and majesty of the city; but if it be a colony or town, it shall have the safest en-trances if the road shall not lead directly to the gate, but be diverted to the right or left, near the walls, and especially under the very battlements; but within the city it may wind and be circuitous: and there I find the Ancients liked some inextricable roads, and others of no outlet, by which an enemy might hesitate through distrust, or if he rashly persevered, might be soon in danger. It will be useful also to have smaller ways, not extended to any length, but terminating in the first cross roads; as if the way was not publick and expeditious, but rather the entrance of a house opposite, for this will furnish better light to the houses, and render hostile attack more difficult. Curtius writes, that Babylon was built with streets dispersed, and not continuous. Plato, on the other hand, preferred not only the streets but even the houses to be conjoined, by way of serving for a town wall '."

Certain important rules were observed in laying out Roman roads. They never deviate from a straight line, except where nature has opposed some impediment. The highest points of land near to the general line were chosen progressively for surveying points, as from thence they could look forwards to some other point at a considerable distance, and thus deviate but little from the direct line. Stukeley, speaking of the Fossway, says, "You are often in danger of losing it through the many intersections of cross roads, and sometimes it is inclosed with pastures or passes under the sides of a wood. Therefore upon every hill top I made an observation of some remarkable object on the opposite high ground, which continued the right line, so that by going straight forwards I never failed of meeting it again." Sometimes a deep trench with a vallum on each side marks the course of the causeway; and in descending hills it takes the form of a terrace walk with a parapet before it next the precipice. Of Tumuli upon the line mention has been made under Barrows, p. 495. Most of the Consular roads terminated at sea-ports. Of the high roads there were often two, which led to the same spot, one inland, the other near the coast, for obvious reasons. The vicinal ways crossed the high roads at right angles 2.

Roman Roads, construction of. Miss Knight divides Roman roads into stratas vias, pebbles and gravel, like ours; vias silice stratas roads paved with large unequal stones; and vias saxo et lapide quadrato stratas, paved with square flat stones regularly laid. In some roads four strata occur. 1. the statumen or foundation, all sand and soft matter being carefully removed; 2. ruderatio, a bed of broken earthen ware, tiles, &c. fastened by cement; 3. nucleus, a bed of mortar, on which was placed, 4. summa crusta, the outer coat of bricks, tiles, stones, &c. according to local

1 Fol. lv. lvi.

Knight's Latium, 26-30.

⚫ Hoare's Anc. Wilts, ii. p. 2, 63, 83, 86, 88, 98. Stukeley's Itiner. i. 107.

materials. Other methods occur, viz. paving with stones, and cementing with sand and clay. The first kind was raised in the middle for foot passengers, with flat stones; the two sides were composed of sand and fat earth for horses, on account of softness. The second kind of sand and clay was convex. A section of the Foss-way at Radstock exhibited the following construction. First, the foundation was made by a layer of large flat stones; then eighteen inches of earth and rubble; afterwards a course of small stones with pavement or pitched stones on the surface. On another road, at top, was a layer of small stones, then one of earth, and lower down a stratum of stone, grouted or pounded. The lowest foundation was concealed by the soil. The section was about six feet and a half high, and four paces wide. One road in a most perfect state was seven feet high, and twenty feet wide, with a regular trench cut on the north side. Here Mr. Crocker made a section, and found the grand agger twenty feet broad and six feet high; and the smaller one rising on the outside of the ditch nine feet wide. The method of making the roads was, according to Bergier, by throwing up two parapet ridges of earth, and afterwards filling up the ditch between them by some earth, that would consolidate. This ground-work they afterwards made more firm and compact with rammers and other instruments. In low and marshy ground they took care to raise the roads, so as to secure them against floods; and where the earth required it, they were made five, ten, and sometimes twenty feet high, that the waters might never rise above them. Where four roads divided, sometimes, at least abroad, Januses or gateways with apertures or arches in each direction were raised 1.

British Trackways, are the old British roads before the Roman invasion. They were not paved or gravelled, nor was the lined causeway or elevated street usual before the Roman conquest. Their basis was the firm and verdant turf. Sometimes they are elevated terraces. They were called portways and ridgeways: the latter term was used because they follow the natural ridges of the country; i. e. instead of keeping a straight line, they are seen winding along the top or sides of the chains of hills which lie in their way. They are attended generally by tumuli, and vestiges of villages and settlements, which are placed on their sides, some at the very crossing of two trackways. During their course they very frequently throw out branches, which, after being parallel for miles, are again united with the original stem. If the towns and trackways of the Britons were found convenient for the Roman purpose, they made use of them; if not, they constructed others, which differed very materially from such as had been made by the original inhabitants. The British Trackways, adopted by the Romans, as the Foss road and Ikenild street, seem rather to have been adapted for civil and commercial purposes. On the other hand, the Romans, although they made use of the British ways where they lay in a convenient situation for them, distinguished the roads which they formed, as well as those which they adopted, by very particular marks. They placed towns and military stations on them at regular distances, seldom exceeding twenty miles, for the accommodation of the troops on their march. New Roman roads often run parallel with these Trackways 2.

English Roads. Among our ancestors we find roads made of mortar and stone; of wood and stone; and roads for carriages, distinguished from bridle ways. Narrow

'Enc. Latium, 26. Hoare's Anc. Wilts, ii. p. 2, 77, 79, 83. In Swinburne may be seen a print of the famous Appian Way. * Hoare's Anc. Wilts, i. 175, 176, 248.; ii. 2, 45, 107. part ii. 14, 15. Modern Wilts (Hundred of Mere), i. 166.