ROMANO-BRITISH NORFOLK Hill, in Markshall, 1,200 yards north of the place, and across the river. It is a rude imitation of a ' Third Brass ' of Helena, and good judges have assigned it to the period between the end of Roman rule and the English conquest/ It remains to consider the character of the place. I have classed it as a small country town, and other writers have done so before me. But it is proper to add that others again have considered it a great military fortress. Thus, one archsologist quotes the remark of Tacitus that after the defeat of Boudicca the auxiliary troops were planted in fresh posts, and thinks Caister to be one of these. Another ascribes Caister to an early period in the Roman conquest, and suggests that hence the Romans pushed westwards : he traces their progress by the earthworks at Oving- ton, Mileham and Castleacre. I do not think that either of these writers proves his case. The area of Caister, while somewhat small for a legionary fortress, is a very great deal too large for an auxiliary garrison ;* while its connection with the earthworks at Ovington, Mileham and Castleacre must be held a hazardous theory in face of the fact that hardly any Roman remains, and none of early date, have been noticed at any of the three spots. In truth there is no good reason to call Caister a Roman place of arms. No military remains have ever been found there. Its modern name, though derived through Anglo-Saxon from the Latin castra, does not prove it to have been a fortress, while its Romano-British name indicates rather that it was a small country town, like Venta Bel- garum or Venta Silurum, and its area and remains harmonize with such a view. The evidence of coins further suggests that its Roman life commenced during the last twenty or thirty years of the first century, while the round towers of its walls show that it was fortified at the end of the third century or during the fourth, like many other country towns in Britain and northern Gaul. Further than this we cannot go. The site, though open and available for excavations, has never been trenched, and till the spade come to our help, we must remain content with this vague sketch of what is, at least, probable about a striking ruin. {b) CAISTER-BY-YARMOUTH Another Norfolk site, also called Caister, may perhaps be that of a little settlement or at least a village. Caister-by- Yarmouth stands on rising ground half a mile from the shore, about two miles north from Yarmouth town. It has usually been described as a fortress guarding the arm of the sea which may once perhaps have flowed over the flats between it and Yarmouth. No trace of a fortress has however been dis- covered, nor any sign of walls or fortifications of any sort. The remains actually found are principally as follows: (i) In 1837 some labourers digging clay in a field near the Norwich road, ' a few hundred yards ' to the north-west of Caister church, met with a pit at least 6 feet deep and 1 Numismatic Chronicle, xx. 43, and Proceedings, Nov. 19, 1857. 2 The known legionary fortresses seem to average 45-55 acres; the smaller forts, which were garrisoned by auxiliaries, vary from about 4-9 acres. 293
