would naturally be more used than the upper, and hence the reason why it has found a record in the Itinerary.*

The elder Whitaker regarded Coccium as the capital of the Setantian territory. True, the "City of Supremacy" of a tribe of Ancient Britons would present but a poor figure in comparison with even a modern village. If there be any value in this interpretation it can only apply to the settlement of the Aborigines, and not to that of the Romans. Chester appears to have been the most important military station with them in this district, and Ribchester perhaps the next. The low mound at Walton, situated near the junction of the rivers Ribble and Darwen, is a locality very likely to have been selected for a stronghold by the original inhabitants, and its central position amongst the Setantian people is in favour of John Whitaker's supposition. When the surrounding country was clothed with primæval forest, it must have presented the very model of a fastness to the eyes of a people who dwelt for security amongst morasses and dense woods. The broad stream of the Ribble forms a natural fosse on the north and east, whilst the lesser, though not insignificant, Darwen, encloses the site on the west, and partially on the south. The lower lands in the neigbourhood of the rivers, would, at the period referred to, doubtless be sufficiently swampy to accord with the most fastidious Ancient Briton's taste with respect to fortification. glance at Robert Porter's map, published in 1738, will show that the locality formerly presented even more attractions of this character than at present. The Darwen, in its course from near the site of Walton Hall, towards its junction with the Ribble, made a deep indentation eastward. This formed an additional double moat, and defended the mound on the south. The present straight course of the Darwen is artificial. The remains of the old channel may yet be distinctly seen. The centre of the curve reaches nearly to the weaving shed lately erected by Mr. Calvert. The situation likewise commands the old ford, or pass of the Ribble." (See Map.) The Roman invaders often selected the sites

A

By this route the following places would correspond with the southern portion of the 10th iter of Antonine :-Mediolanum, Middlewich; Condate, Stockton Heath, near Warrington; Mancocunium, Standish; Coccium, Walton, near Preston; and Bremetonacis, Lancaster. This, of course, implies, as suggested by Mr. Robson, that the Mancocunium, with its variation Mancunium of the tenth iter is a distinct place from the Mamucium, or Manutium of the second, the crossing of the two being at Condate.

of the British towns or encampments for their stations, and the discovery of the foundation wall, already alluded to, strengthens the probability that Agricola in this instance merely retained possession of a fortress previously occupied by the discomfited native inhabitants.

Camden placed Coccium at Cockey, on account of the similitude of the names. I have made some enquiry as to existence of any local terms* which may have been corrupted from words indicative of the presence of Roman people at Walton, but have not been very successful. This at best is dangerous ground to tread upon.

Walton-le-dale is the present title of the village, the valley being named Cuerdale. The Roman station is only about a mile distant from the spot where the immense Saxon and Danish treasure was found a few years ago. May not Cuerdale be a corruption of Caer-dale? The only relic of any portion of the word Coccium that I have yet met with is more humorous, I fear, than demonstrative of the existence of a remnant of the Roman appellation. However, it is worth notice, and may, perhaps, suggest something. Dr. Kuerden, in his description of Preston, nearly a couple of centuries ago, says, "There is, likewise, below the Churchgate barrs another public footway southward, leading towards the bridge over Rible into London-road; and this passage at its entrance out of town was called Cocker-hole." If we by this are to understand that the road led to Cocker Hall, it would exactly identify Walton with the word Cocker. This footway most probably traversed a portion of the Roman road. On leaving the town it was joined by a track of a similar character, which is thus described by Kuerden :-" Another remarkable foot passage toward Rible Bridge is through the churchyard southward, by the publiq schoole and antient place called Chappel of Avenam, over the Swilbrook southward, by west field to the aforesaid Bridge of Rible; and this passage is called the Stoney gate, being the greatest foot tract to the Burrough of Preston."

The discovery at Walton throws valuable light upon the much canvassed probability of Ribchester having been a "seaport," during the Roman occupation of Britain. The affirmative chiefly rested upon a vague

He

* Mr. Sibson, describing the road from Warrington to Lancaster, says, "it is probable there has been a fortified camp" at Walton, " to protect the pass of the Ribble." adds, that Walton is Val-tun, or fortified town. The Rev. John Whitaker says Gual is the British word for rampart, and is formed into Wall, Val, Bal, and Ual or Al."

tradition, and a conjecture of the ever daring elder Whitaker, endorsed by the historian of Whalley. The latter learned antiquarian afterwards discovered that this position was not tenable, and honorably acknowledged it. Mr. Edward Baines, however, in 1836, published a singular paragraph on this subject, from which we might infer that, in his opinion, Ribchester had been a seaport in the time of the Roman domination. He says:—“ It must be acknowledged that Preston was not a Roman station; but that when, by the gradual recession of the waters, or by that mighty convulsion of nature which threw up the huge mass of Pendle, and deranged the whole system of plants and minerals in the vale of the Ribble, to a great extent Ribchester sunk into decay, Preston rose upon its ruins and became the principal port of Lancashire." He further adds, in a note:-"No Roman remains have been found here " (Preston) "while at York, Lancaster, Ribchester, and Manchester, they abound."

Some antiquaries appear to expect that all remains ought to “come into court" at their bidding, or, thenceforth "hold their peace," in order that their theories may be freed from the disagreeable necessity of being reconciled with facts subsequently discovered. It would, however, have been very remarkable indeed, if such remains could have survived the mighty convulsion alluded to. In comparison with the time of the heaving up of the "huge mass of Pendle," the Roman occupation of England is but a thing of yesterday, as the merest tyro in Geology at the present day will easily understand. Mr. Baines afterwards altered his opinion and contended that the presence of the red rock in the bed of the river disproved the assumption of the elder Whitaker. The Rev. John Clay, however, in his lectures on the Ribble, strongly maintained that Ribchester had been a seaport, and that the bed of the river had been elevated by an earthquake, since the period of the Roman occupation.

The discovery of the remains in the centre of the alluvial deposit between the Ribble and the Darwen, opposite the ford over the former, furnishes better evidence of the condition of the valley with regard to tidal action, than a thousand speculations, however ingenious. The circumstance that the red rock crops out at an angle, and that the immense depth of debris in the valley is stratified horizontally, is satisfactory proof that the latter has been deposited since the elevation of the former, at whatever period that event occurred. The discovery at Walton may be said fairly to set

this question at rest; for if the tide had, at the time alluded to, risen six feet higher, or, what would amount to precisely the same thing, had the valley of the Ribble been depressed but six feet, the station could not have existed. Indeed, it must have required then, as now, to be well embanked, to protect it from the ravages of the winter floods, providing the river current and the tidal flow were no greater than at the present time. In all human probability the valley of the Ribble presents nearly the same general features as when the Roman legions left the country. Its superficial aspect may have changed; the alluvial deposits may have increased; the river channel may have become "sanded up," or diverted; marshy swamps may have been converted into solid earth; the dense oak forests which once crowned its banks, may have fallen before the axe of civilization; but no proof has yet been advanced that its great outlines have changed since the day when the painted Setantian warriors succumbed to Roman discipline and Roman valour, and resigned their stronghold in the midst of the swamps of Walton, to the soldiers of the victorious Agricola.

ON THE ETHNOLOGY OF SOUTH BRITAIN AT THE PERIOD OF THE EXTINCTION OF THE ROMAN GOVERNMENT IN

THE ISLAND.

By Thomas Wright, Esq., M.A., F.S.A., &c.

(READ 1ST MAY, 1856.)

In a paper read at the meeting of the British Association in this town in 1854, I endeavoured to show the error of the popular notion that there was anything like uniformity of race in the population of this island when it was first visited by the Roman arms, and the more than probability that it contained Teutonic as well as Celtic blood. Of the ultimate fate of this population we are left in great uncertainty, arising not only from the deficiency of direct information on the subject, but from the different applications of the name Britons in subsequent times, when it was usually applied to the Roman population of the island, but sometimes, when given to a people independent of the Roman power, to the Caledonians of the north, who alone continued in a state of hostility to the conquerors. I am not aware that in any instance in the later Roman historians the name of Britons is applied to the remains of the peoples who inhabited our island in the time of Cæsar, and I confess that I have serious doubts if there existed any representatives of the ancient Britons to whom that name could have been applied, unless it were the servile class which was attached to the soil, and which held no place in the political history of the country, except by occasional and partial insurrections into which they were driven by oppression or by the hope of plunder. Under the government of Agricola, as we learn from Tacitus, a policy of comparative gentleness and conciliation was adopted towards the Britons, but this appears to have been abandoned under his successors, and we have every reason to believe that the older population of the island was afterwards treated with an oppressive severity, the effect of which during four centuries may easily be imagined. Among the numerous Roman inscriptions which have been found of a date subsequent to the first century, commemorative of individuals, we never find the name of a Briton.