Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, 4, 60–69 (1875)
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OBSERVATIONS ON THE RECENTLY DISCOVERED ROMAN SEPULCHRE AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
by william henry black, esq. f.s.a.
[Read at an Evening Meeting of the Society, 10 January, 1870.]
When the Dean of Westminster communicated to the Society of Antiquaries
on the 9th December, 1869, the then very recent discovery of a Roman
interment within an inscribed stone coffin, in the “North
Green” of the abbey, lying east and west, between the north side
of the nave of the abbey and the fence which separates it from the
parochial churchyard of St. Margaret’s; although I then perceived
the importance of this discovery in respect of the history of that
locality, yet I reserved the observations which then occurred to me
until I should have visited the ground and seen the coffin itself.
Accordingly I went thither the next day, and inspected the coffin in the
cloister; but could not obtain access to the exact spot where it had
been found. On Monday the 13th I was more successful, having obtained an
interview with the Dean; and I carefully examined those parts of the
ground which then lay open. In the meantime I had marked the spot (as
shown in a sketch-plan exhibited by the Dean) on one of the best maps of
London which I possess, that published by Cross in 1842, and I had
obtained a remarkable series of ancient lines and measures from it.
I have repeatedly pointed out to this Society and elsewhere the fact, of
which no practical use had been made by antiquaries before I recovered
the measures and methods of the Roman surveyors, that, by a law of the
Emperor Tiberius,* they were authorised to use sepulchres for purposes
of boundary, and for points and intersections of geometric lines. I had
already shown that the sculptured and inscribed marble sarcophagus or
sepulchral monument, found in September 1867 at Clapton,† had
served as a geometric point from which numerous
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measures extended to boundary points of Hackney and its neighbouring
townships. I thought, therefore, that this newly-found coffin, in like
manner bearing a classic inscription at the side or in front, might have
served for a similar purpose; and so I have found it.
Without entering upon a discussion of the veracity of the measures to
which I have often referred in this Society or elsewhere, and without
specifying the ancient denomination of the measure or quantity of those
lines and spaces which I shall now describe, suffice it to say that the
latter is neither an itinerary measure of the Romans, nor any one of the
large or small measures used in originally surveying or mapping a
country, but it is one rarely used in Britain, and here used only for
supplementary surveys. Its proper denomination is perfectly well known
to me, but has no identity with any measures that I have heretofore
quoted. It stands on its own merits; and there is no necessity to stir
up controversy by giving a name to it, beyond treating it as an
algebraical quantity denoted by the letter x. The magnitude or
linear quantity of this measure is enough for the present purpose, and
is obtained by drawing equal lines to two Roman monuments, the positions
of which are clearly ascertainable.
Of these two monuments the first is Ossulstone, from which the
great hundred, wherein the metropolis is locally situate, derives its
name. Its position and identity I had discovered some years ago by
reversing my method of determining the uses of geometric stones: that
is, by finding, from the proper boundary points, a centre where lines of
proper quantities unite, so as to make them serve as radii from such
centre to the said boundary points. I find this method infallible, and
often trace out the positions of obscure or lost monuments by geometric
figures. I examine the spot indicated by this method, and there I find
the monument or some certain trace of it. Ossulstone is figured in Sir
John Roque’s great map of 1741–1761, sheet xi. in the very
spot to which my process on other maps had led me; and it is there
called the “Stone where soldiers are shot,” situate near the
north-east angle of Hyde Park. It was afterward covered with an
accumulation of soil, and is now dug up and lies against the Marble
Arch, as stated in my petition, presented last session to the House of
Commons, for the protection of ancient uninscribed stones,
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mounds, and other landmarks;—monuments of more value and
importance to historical science than medieval tombs and sculptured
effigies, which are already in official custody, and infinitely more in
need of public conservation than ornamental works of art can be.
The second equal line leads to the well-known sculptured stone,
undoubtedly of Roman work, formerly uninscribed, but now bearing an
English inscription below the sculpture, dated “1685,” which
stone forms part of the front wall of a house on the eastern side of
Panyer Alley, between Newgate Street and Paternoster Row. I had already
found and publicly mentioned that this stone had geometric uses, both
within and without the City, and had mentioned to Parliament its
temporary disappearance and restoration. Now I find that this stone is
equally distant from the newly-discovered Sepulchre as that is from
Ossulstone.
Although there is a triangle formed by lines between these points, of
which the Sepulchre toward the south I shall call “S,”
Ossulstone toward the north-west I shall call “O,” and the
stone in Panyer Alley I shall call “P;” yet the base-line
from “O” to “P” is here
diregarded, not being
constituted by multiples or parts of the quantity x, and there
being no necessity, arising from the practice of the Roman engineers,
that it should be so constituted. They chiefly employed radiating lines,
forming curves more or less parts of a circle, and sometimes in every
direction, so as to make a whole circle. In this instance the radiating
lines, except that from “S” to “O,” all tend to
constitute a large arc in an eastward direction, toward the boundaries
of London and Southwark, of which arc “S” is the centre.
Thus the same quantity x is found in a line drawn from
“S” to an angle of the territory or liberty of London, on
the Fleet River, situate north-west of Smithfield; and the same quantity
x is found in a line drawn thence to “A,” the
boundary of Whitechapel and Aldgate, south of Rosemary Lane; whence
another line x leads to the Lord Mayor’s stone,
“N,” at the ancient watercourse bounding the borough of
Southwark and the parish of Newington, near the Elephant and Castle.
The next line x that I shall notice, drawn from “S,”
leads to “D,”
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at the mouth of Dowgate Dock, or the Wall-brook. Then the curve from
“O” to “P” and “D,” passing over the
Thames, reaches the mouth of a corresponding Roman dock,
“M,” on the southern side of the river, properly named
St. Mary Overy’s Dock, but called in the map
“St. Saviour’s Dock.” It next proceeds to a boundary
point “H,” in High Street, Southwark, and so on to the
western extremity of Bermondsey parish, where a trifinium of three
parishes or townships occurs, which I shall call “B.” Each
of those lines radiating from “S” is of equal length to the
others, being the quantity designated x.
If the line “S” to “D” be directly prolonged by
a further equal quantity, it reaches “W,” the Whitechapel
stone, situate at the corner of a street (called Cannon Row) between the
London Hospital and Mile End, at the trifinium of three of the Tower
Hamlets, whence extend various and long measures of different quantities
throughout the county of Middlesex, and also into Kent, Surrey, and
Essex. This prolonged line or radius therefore, from “S” to
“W,” is equal to 2x. A similar long line is the last
that I shall describe as leading directly from our first point, the
Sepulchre, namely (per radium 2x) to “R,” the
trifinium of the great parishes or townships of Rotherhithe and
Camberwell, and the manor of Hatcham; from which point runs another line
x, to “C,” the confnium of two Tower Hamlets crossing the
Roman military way called Cable Street, 150 yards from the spot where I
write this paper. Thence back again, across the river, passes another
line x, to “RR,” the trifinium of the said parish of
Rotherhithe and of the manors of Hatcham and Deptford, in Surrey. Thence
also (from “C”) passes another line x, to “F,”
the mouth of the river Fleet, where it touches the line “S”
to “P,” second already described. From “F”
another line x reaches a trifinium of three Tower Hamlets, at the north
end of Back-church Lane, whence I had previously found measures of other
known distances to many other boundary points. Two or more lines, also,
of the same quantity x, pass from “W” to other boundary
points, one of which terminates on the river Ravensbourne, and one other
line x reaches from Cable Street to “T,” the extreme south
boundary of Southwark, near St. Thomas-a-Watering, at the trifinium
of Newington, Camberwell, and St. George’s Southwark. Thence
a long line of 2x reaches back to a Westminster boundary at Hyde
Park Corner.
Returning again to the line “S” to “P,” I find a
line x running southward from the stone “P” to
“NL,” the confinium of Newington
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and Lambeth, at the corner of Kennington Lane. Hence a like line x
reaches (in a south-westerly direction) to “L B,” the west
angle of Lambeth, which boldly projects into Battersea parish at the
locality now called “South Ville.” Thence a like line, drawn
almost northward, reaches to “Q,” an ancient boundary-point
of Westminster at the west end of Birdcage Walk. Thence another like
line x reaches to “X,” a projecting boundary-point between
Marylebone and Pancras parishes, near Park Square, in the New Road.
Thence the same quantity (x) brings us in a south-east direction
to the Thames, at the precise boundary-point “LW,” between
the liberties of London and Westminster.
From this last-mentioned point I gain, by the same remarkable measure x,
the true diagonal quantity of the territory or liberty of London: viz.
(1) from its south-west angle at “LW,” to “Z,”
its extreme east angle in Portsoken Ward, behind and between Somerset
Street and Great Alie Street, where, in making the perambulation of
Whitechapel parish, the boundary-plate is touched in a wall behind the
late Presbyterian Meeting-house now called “Zoar Chapel.”
The same diagonal x is found by measuring (2) from Holborn Bars to the
trifinium on Little Tower Hill, where the City boundary meets the
liberties of Tower Without and Aidgate Without; also (3) from the
extreme north-west angle of the City liberty in Gray’s Inn Lane,
to the City boundary on the north (not the south) side of Swan Street,
Whitechapel; and also (4) from Temple Bar to Aldgate Bars, at the
north-east corner of Somerset Street, Whitechapel. All these are
diagonal lines of the territory of the Roman Londinium.
I could greatly extend this survey with the same radius x, and its
constituent parts and multiples, but I have shown enough to demonstrate
three things: (1) the certainty, value, and usefulness of the quantity
derived from the relation between the Roman Sepulchre at Westminster and
other ancient monuments; (2) the great antiquity of the townships,
manors, parishes, and districts marked out by this elaborate and exact
system of limitation, of which some few elements only are now exhibited
out of the measures of x described in my MS. “Explorations,”
and out of thousands demonstrable by the ordinary measures consisting of
Roman miles and stadia; and (3) the true geometric character of the spot
chosen for the position of the newly-discovered sepulchre.
Picture
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Let me now treat of the sepulchre itself. It was found in a dry sandy
soil,* altogether different from what has been hitherto represented or
supposed to be the nature of Thorney Island, the site of Westminster
Abbey, and from the bog-earth which was lately dug out of the ground
southward of St. Margaret’s Church in making a subterranean
railway. The boldly and deeply-cut inscription of this coffin remarkably
contrasts with the delicate and almost obliterated inscription of the
more elegant coffin found at Clapton, and now preserved at Guildhall.
Both contained bones when found, but both had been disturbed and rifled
long ago. Both were inscribed at the side or in front, as if for public
view; and the Clapton sarcophagus bears an elegant medallion likeness of
its occupant, which it is unreasonable to suppose should have been
intended to be hidden under the ground. The original covers of both have
disappeared: for the Westminster slab, bearing a fantastic cross of the
twelfth or thirteenth century, rudely cut in relief, cannot be the
original top of the sepulchre. The ornamentation of the Clapton monument
covers its whole side or front: that at Westminster occupies only the
extremities of the side or front, and seems to consist of two
peltæ, or perhaps the halves of a dimidiated shield, the
curved edges being turned inwardly, toward the panel which contains the
inscription, and the lines of division being placed at the utmost
distance asunder. If so, each part has one-half of the pattern or
bearing, the insignia of the shield; and the shield itself would be of
the same round shape as all those figured in that most important Roman
record, the Notitia Dignitatum Utriusque Imperii.
Together these insignia would constitute four pairs of bosses or
circles, placed so that two of the pairs form, together with a central
lozenge, a kind of quatrefoil; and the upper and lower pairs, situate
against the edge of the shield, have lateral curves connecting them with
the central group. No such shield is represented in the Notitia;†
but there
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are four shields bearing each a single pelta.* Nor can I
certainly determine its meaning from the inscription, which says,
“Memoriæ Valer. Amandini, Valerii Superventor et Marcellus
Patri fecerunt:” that is, “To the memory of Valerius
Amandinus, Valerius Superventor and [Valerius] Marcellus to
[their] father made” it. Here all three are named
“Valerii,” but the elder son is surnamed Superventor.
This cognomen is a military term, not only used by Ammianus
Marcellinus once, (as quoted by some of those gentlemen who spoke when
the discovery of this monument was first made known,) but also
repeatedly occurring in the Notitia. By this record it appears
that, in the fourth century, some of the “auxiliaries,” or
regiments distinct from Roman legions, were stationed at Axiupolis
“under the disposition of the spectable man, the Duke of
Scythia,” by the title of Milites Superventores.†
Also, “under the disposition of the illustrious man, the
Præsental Master of the Infantry,” (subject to whom were the
Comes Limitis and the Dux Limitis in Britain,) were
constituted eighteen regiments of “Pseudo-Comitatenses,”
including those called “Superventores Juniores.”‡
Also, “within Gaul, with the illustrious man, the Master of the
Cavalry of Gaul,” are specified “Superventores
Juniores.”§ Lastly, “under the disposition of the
spectable man, the Duke of the Armorican and Nervican Tract,” was
stationed an officer entitled “Prefect of the Milites
Superventores, at Mannatiæ.”#
In the second of these four instances, the insignia of the
“Superventores” are pictured in the Record. The form of
their shield was round, with a simple circle or boss in the centre. How
this is coloured in the illuminated MS. which I have used and collated
at Paris, I cannot remember; but Pancirolus, in his Commentary,¶
describes the “shield red, with a golden orb in the middle.”
He adds that, in one MS. the shield was green, and bore a purple ball in
the middle. It appears, however, that the only
“Superventores,” whose shield is exhibited in the Imperial
Record, were the Juniores; and they must (as in all other
instances) have borne a difference to distinguish them from the
Seniores, who are twice mentioned without their distinctive
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name of seniors. To these, I conceive, the Valerii belonged who
erected this monument, and their father also, who was interred in it; at
least the one surnamed “Superventor.” Hence, I submit
whether the peltæ sculptured on this tomb were bearings
proper to the “Milites Superventores,” or “Senior
Overcomers.” If so, this is one of the most ancient examples of
heraldry in Britain.
The importance of this sepulchral monument, in respect to the topography
of Westminster, cannot be too highly estimated, since here is clear
proof of its Roman occupation, which was alleged by the monkish
historians, but is discredited by modern antiquaries. Whether or not
there ever were a temple of Apollo, on the site of the abbey, is a
matter of comparatively small importance; but that Roman domestic
edifices were there, appears plain to me from the ruined substructures
disclosed by the learned and zealous Dean. Among those ruins, consisting
of squared chalk and stone rubble, I found lumps of mortar, containing
finely-powdered brick, which all those antiquaries, who have fractured
and examined the lumps now exhibited, agree with me in believing to be
Roman.
I conclude by saying, that, when those foundations shall have been
thoroughly explored, and the precise position of the Toot-hill, formerly
in or near Tot-hill Fields, Westminster, shall have been ascertained,
and treated as the other geometric mounds are capable of being treated,
the earliest history of Westminster may be written, with greater
probability than it could be under the uncertain influence of traditions
and legends handed down by the monks of Westminster, whom our public
records prove to have been in some respects untrustworthy. Nevertheless,
there was some truth in their tradition of Roman occupation, whether or
not by a temple. At all events, it now appears to be not improbable that
this Roman interment, while its inscription was above ground and
visible, being made without the usual dedication to the Dii
Manes, may have been deemed a Christian sepulture (as possibly it
was), and so may have given rise to a belief in the sanctity of the
spot, as a place proper for the erection of a church or monastery early
in the seventh century.
W. H. Black, F.S.A.
Mill Yard, Goodman’s Fields,
23 Dec. 1869.
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POSTSCRIPT.
The following are the authorities from the Notitia at length,
extracted from the edition of 1602:—
1. “Sub dispositione viri spectabilis, Ducis Scythiæ …
Auxiliares Milites Superventores Axiupoli.”
(f. 100b.)
2. “Sub dispositione viri illustris Magistri Peditum
Præsentalis, Comites Militum [leg. Limitum] infrascriptorum.
Italiæ. Africæ. Tingitaniæ. Tractus Argentoratensis.
Britanniarum. Littoris Saxonici per Britannias. Duces Limitum
infrascriptorum decem … Britanniarum … Legiones Comitatenses triginta
duæ … Pseudo-comitatenses decem et octo … Superventores
Juniores.” (f. 126b, 127.)
3. “Sub dispositione viri illustris Comitis et Magistri Equitum
Præsentalis. Vexillationes Palatinæ ix … Vexillationes
Comitatenses xxxii … Qui numeri ex prædictis, per infrascriptas
provincias habentur. Intra Italiam … Intra Gallias cum viro illustri
Magistro Equitum Galliarum … Superventores Juniores.”
(f. 133b, 135b, 136.)
4. “Sub dispositione viri spectabilis Ducis Tractus Armoricani et
Nervicani … Præfectus Militum Superventorum
Mannatias.” (f. 174b.)
Compare sections 28, 38, 40, and 61, as the text is divided in the
Edition of 1651.
Note: The value of W.H. Black’s x unit.
To find the value of Black’s x unit, measurements have been made
on Cross’s plan of London, 1836 edition (nearest to 1842
available). This is a finely engraved and coloured plan, much superior
to modern commercial street maps. It is mounted in sections with gaps
of 2–3 mm, and all measurements have been corrected accordingly.
Scale: There is a grid at 2-mile intervals. Mean of several measurements
gives 1 mile on the ground = 116·92 mm on the plan (1 : 13764).
Mark-points not identified with sufficient exactness on the plan: O, A,
N, RR, Ravensbourne, Holborn Bars, Aldgate Bars.
Measured lines are thus 20 in number: (distances in metres).
| X–LW | 2652 | |
LW–Z | 2705 |
| C–F | 2662 | |
S–Angle of London | 2707 |
| S–D | 2678 | |
LB–Q | 2707 |
| Grays Inn Rd–Swan St | 2678 | |
P–NL | 2711 |
| S–P | 2684 | |
S–M | 2712 |
| S–B | 2688 | |
F–Trifinium | 2712 |
| S–H | 2692 | |
C–T | 2727 |
| ½ of S–W | 2699 | |
R–C | 2730 |
| NL–LB | 2699 | |
½ of T–Hyde Park | 2731 |
| ½ of S–R | 2700 | |
Q–X | 2735 |
Mean value of x as derived from these measurements is 2700 metres (to the nearest metre).
Notes on mark-points
Many of Black’s mark-points cannot be identified on modern street
maps. Further research, preferably by people living in London, is urgently needed.
S The exact find-spot of the Sepulchre is 11 metres from the N wall of
the nave, 14 metres from the W wall of the N transept.
Plan in Archaeological J.
27,
facing p. 119.
General opinion is that the coffin was re-used in
Saxon times and is not necessarily in the original burial place.
Black’s belief in the Roman occupation of Westminster has however
been confirmed by finds of Roman building work in the Abbey Precincts
(RCHM
London, 3, 148, 165, 173).
O The Ossulstone is noted in RCHM London, 2, 100
(but the exact position is not shown on their map): “Hyde Park. The original Ossulton
Stone, said to have been a Roman ‘geometric stone’, formerly
stood near the NE corner of the park on the S side of Oxford Street; it
is marked on Roque’s map as ‘milestone’. The stone was
subsequently dug up and placed against the Marble Arch, but has now
disappeared”. There follows a reference to Black’s paper.
P The site is now occupied by St Paul’s (Central line) underground
railway station (rebuilt 1933 to replace Post Office station. A new
station site was necessitated as escalators were used instead of the
original lifts. The lift shafts were used in World War II as the
underground headquarters of the Central Electricity Generating Board).
The stone was extant in 1929.
H In Southwark High Street, near the entrance to Counter Court.
W In Whitechapel Road near the entrance to Maple Place. We have no other
information about the Whitechapel Stone.
C In Cable Street, near the entrance to Back Church Lane.
NL At the junction of Kennington Lane, Kennington Park Road and Newington Butts.
(For the relationship of these points, see the appended map).
Geometry of London borough boundary-markers as worked out by William Henry Black.
The positions have been taken from a map of 1923, a period before World War II
destroyed some street alinements and boundary markers, and subsequent ravages
of property tycoons.
The present borough boundaries are modern, dating from the constitution
of the Greater London Council in 1965, consequently rendering modern maps
relatively useless for geomantic work of this kind.
Editor’s note
The reconstruction of the old Central London Railway station
was part of the reorganization of the Central line which led to the
rebuilding of Chancery Lane and Holborn stations as well as the
abandonment of British Museum stations. For more details, see Nigel
Pennick’s Tunnels Under London.
The Panyer Alley stone’s whereabouts is
not known.
It would be an
act of great vandalism if it had been destroyed. A drawing of it appears
in Will Owen’s Old London Town (Arrowsmith, Bristol, 1921):
the inscription read:
When you have sought
The City Round
Yet still this is
The Highest Ground
August The 27
1688.
