A NEW ROMAN INSCRIPTION FROM SOUTH SHIELDS. 159 4. The date of the inscription is fixed to the first year of Alexander's reign by the titulature, as well as by the name of the governor whom (as has been said) we know to have been in Britain in A.D. 221-2. Of itself, the titulature would not be quite conclusive evidence, as, from about the time of Septimius Severus, the numeral is sometimes omitted after TRIB. POT. 5. The formula of the inscription is of the usual character. It is, perhaps, a little unusual to find the governor himself curantem, but there are many parallels and the omission of any praefect or other inferior's name may imply the immediate supervision of Marius. The plural usibus is less common. The inscription possesses, however, a further interest than any involved in the details just noted. Like most lapidary monuments, it adds of itself but a shred to our knowledge, and only possesses real value when combined with others of its class. This new inscription from South Shields is a useful addition to a group of inscriptions which it is important for the student of Roman Britain to rightly understand. This group comprises the records of buildings erected or repaired in Roman fortresses, such as head quarters, offices, aqueducts, armours, baths, drill halls, store houses. Many of these records are dated, and, as is shown by the rough list appended to this note, the dates belong mostly to the first half of the third century. We need not, of course, take these records literally. The men who set them up followed only too readily the example set with more excuse by Septimius Severus, and they sometimes exaggerated their achievements. Not every building which is described as ruined by lapse of time' (vetustate conlapsum) was really in serious disrepair. But the inscriptions are not wholly groundless glorifications: they may be connected with historical facts, and it has been usual to connect those found in the North of Britain with the campaigns of Septimius Severus and the statements which attribute to him the building of a Wall. However, the dates of the inscriptions make this view almost impossible, for a very considerable number of them are subsequent to the death of Severus in February, 211, and scarcely any belong to the years of his personal presence in Britain. We must turn rather to the changes in the army introduced by that emperor and his successors, which tended to make the troops more territorial and the administration more efficient. Hence the number of new buildings and repairs providing for a more permanent occupation and sometimes, perhaps, occupying ground, as at Lambaesis, vacated by soldiers who had received land outside. I. British Inscriptions of the reign of Severus Alexander (A.D. 222-235) :— NETHERBY ... ... Arch. Ael. xi. 132; Eph. vii. 1115 ... ... [uncertain: after examination of the stone I think Alex- Restoration and dedication of some building Dedications [uncertain: perhaps relating to Dedications to Thingsus, etc. Gateway and turrets restored, soon after Granary restored A.D. 235. Milestone. C. vii. 965 ... Basilica exercitatoria equestris A.D. 222. There are some other uncertain inscriptions—e.g. (C. vii. 222) at Ribchester belonging to this or the preceding reign (C. vii. 1045) at High Rochester, dated about A.D. 219-222. ... CAERNARVON ILKLEY RIBCHESTER C. vii. 62 ... Principia ruina opressa, A.D. 211-217. ... Cohorti vii centurias a solo restit A.D. 253-9. ... C. vii. 210 C. vii. 225 Building restored A.D. 198-211. Temple rebuilt about A.D. 260 (C. vi. 1417). Something rebuilt A.D. 197 ? Some work done by soldiers, about A.D. 165. Bath burnt and rebuilt. Probably between • This list contains only inscriptions which appear to relate to some definite edifice or construction in a fortress. I have omitted the inscriptions which testify to the building of the two Walls by Hadrian and Antoninus, and other wall-stones. I have used my own discretion in including or excluding inscriptions of doubtful meaning. The inscription appears to mention the territorium of the garrison. This primarily commissariat arrangement dates back to the first century (Brambach, 1. Rh. 377) and need not, with Schiller (Gesch. i. 773), be connected with the changes of Septimius Severus. VOL. XVI. U XI. THE MANOR OF HALTWHISTLE. BY THE REV. C. E. ADAMSON. [Read on the 29th day of March, 1893.] THE manor of Haltwhistle or Hautwysel1 formed part of the 'Franchise of Tindale,' of which the kings of Scotland were lords seigneur, during parts of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In 1191 William the Lion gave Haltwhistle, Bellister, and Plainmeller as a dowry to his natural daughter Isabel, widow of Robert de Brus, on her marriage with Robert de Roos of Hamlake (Helmsley) and Wark-upon-Tweed, and the manor remained in the possession of her descendants for fourteen generations. Robert de Roos was succeeded by his son William who appears to have left Hamlake to his eldest son and Haltwhistle to his second son Alexander. In 1306, September 11th, Edward I. passed through Haltwhistle, and on his arrival at Carlisle he granted to the lord of Haltwhistle license to hold a weekly market and two fairs, one on the festival of the Invention of the Cross and the other at Martinmas. On the same occasion a complaint was made by William, son and heir of Sir Alexander Ros of Yolton, knight, alleging that he had been wrongfully deprived by John de Balliol, formerly king of Scotland, of the services of thirlage and maintenance of the mill pools of Hautwysel in Tyndale due by the lord of Grendon and his tenants in the time of his ancestor, Sir Robert de Roos, to whom William king of Scotland gave the manor of Hautwysel and appurtenances and praying remedy from the king as now lord of Grendon since the death of Antony bishop of Durham. It appears that Gilbert, the then lord of Grindon in the chapelry of Haydon Bridge, had granted an annual rent charge of four marks to Alexander de Ros for liberty for himself and his tenants to grind 1 At the east end of the town is a mound known as the Castle Hill. It bears traces of ancient fortification, and it has been suggested that the name of Haltwhistle (or Haut wysell as it was originally spelled) is derived from the watch' [wessel] on the 'high' [alt] mound. |