1030 HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES ot LEICESTERSHIRE. gantes, where, after several bloody engagements \ etiam sive hodierna scriptura Yssydhyn pro sede equality of valour giving way to inequality of dis- est; unde et carpentum bellicum veterum Celtarum cipline, the Brigantes reluctantly submitted. Essedin appellatum est. Erat igitur Mandu Esse- I must now return to our station of Manduesse- din tanquam patriœ sedes. Curia hæc videtur fuisse dum, and the new-built city by the antient Britons sive Basilica veterum Uigantum sive Icenorum, cui called Manchgned, or Caer Manduguidh. This quidem successit inclyta Urbs Conventrœ sive Co- station, the third in the Arden, the eighth in the ventry vel Convent Fee (Arbor scilicet, sive Crux second Iter of Antoninus, and the ninth in the first Conventus) Anglis appellata, atque hæc nobis Man- Iter of Richard, is distant from the Milliarium, com- duessedum novum est.' monly called London Stone, in Cannon-street, 102 Horsley is very concise here: miles ; and, by modern mensuration, from the Bars ' Nor do I see any reason to question, but the in Holborn 99 miles. . next station of Manduessedum must be at Man- This station, situate in the province of Flavia ceter, where many Roman coins have.been found.' Maxima, has been taken notice of by all the writers Nathanael Salmon, in 1726, published a small and commentators on the Itineraries and interior pamphlet, intituled, ' A Survey of the Roman An- geographers of , of which in the tiquities in some of the Midland Counties.' In this order of time in which they wrote. Work he attempts to alter many of the stations, es- Camden, in his , ann. 1707, folio. pecially that of Manduessedum, which he removes * Paulo supra ad Watlingstreet, sic militarem Ro- to Warwick; allows a nameless station at Oldbury, manorum viam cum vulgo vocamus, ubi ponte saxeo but entirely destroys the existence of one at Man- Anker fluviusconjungitur , Manduessedum, oppidum ceter; reprobates the name of Watling-street as of longe vetustissimum, ab Antonino memoratum, lo- British or Roman imposition; and asserts, that it cum habuit; quod, suo nomine non omnino vidua- had that name from Watford Gapv turn, nunc Mancester dicitur, Nennii Catalogo Caer " The very great improbabilities," says Mr. Bart- Manchgued. Quod nomen cum lapidicinea adja- lett, " introduced in support of his absurd scheme, cent, e qua. structiles lapides effodiuntur, a lapidibus prevented any of his contemporary or succeeding effossis et excisis impositum suspicare liceat; e Bri- Writers from investigating any of his eccentric ideas, tannicæ enim linguæ glossariis Main Lapidis, pro- O Nathanael, peace to thy manes!" vinciali lingua Fosswad & effodiendi significationem Dr. Henry, in the first volume of his History of habere docemur, quæ conjuncta antiquum illud Britain, Appendix, p. 524, note S : nomen Manduessedum satis expresse referre vide- ' All our Antiquaries have agreed to place Man- antur : quantum autem et qualecunque olim fuerit duessedum at Mancester, which stands on the Roman viculus hodie perexiguus vix quatuordecim ædiculas military way called Watling-street, and where many numerat, et nihil antiquum præter molem antiquam Roman coins 3 have been found. Camden and Gale ostendit, quam Oldbury, i. antiquus largus, dicunt." derive its antient name from Maen, a rock; Mr. Sir William Dugdale, Warwickshire, ed. 1656*. Baxter, from Mandu Essedin, a family seat or ' Descending lower on this side the Anker, I come city; but, perhaps, it really was from Mandu next to Manceter, heretofore a Roman station, as Huiccii, the seat or capital of the Huiccii, the an- the form of that entrenchment, through which the tient inhabitants.* great way called Watling-street passeth, doth mani- In the year 1723 or 1724, Dr. Stukeley visited fest, where divers coins of silver and brass have been, the stations on the Watling-street to the North of by digging and ploughing, frequently brought to High Cross; which journey, under the title of light; but now it is no more than an ordinary coun- ' Iter Boreale,' makes a part of the second volume try village, containing Hartshill, Oldburie,and Ather- of his ( Itinerarium Curiosum,' published since his ston, within its parish.' death in 1776, in which he says: Burton's Antoninus, 1658, p. 139. 'Manduessedum lies a little.to the South of the ' Manduessedum, a famous Roman station, as ap- bridge (Witherley) ; is an oblong square of 600 pears by Antoninus. To find out where it stood, feet in length, and 400 in breadth, divided equally amongst the Antiquaries, will be to no little pur- by the Watling-street; that half which lies on the pose: the difficulty, I suppose, arises from taking Leicestershire side is called The Old Field, that improper methods of investigation. Our learned on the Warwickshire side Castle Bank: the ditch Camden, by taking a sure course along the Wat- and banks yet perfect, with a spring at the North- ling-street, hath at a proper distance from Etoce- east gate4. The inhabitants informed me that bricks turn found it. Nennius gives it a place amongst the and exceeding strong mortar, with coins of brass, antient Cities ; to which the learned Usher assents.' silver, and some gold, had been dug up, as also Gale, Iter Antonini, p. 59, voce Manduessedum. found in sinking of wells; that several vaults go s MANDUESSEDO, Mancester, in agro Warwicensi, quite through, and that cattle have sometimes a Lapicidinis suis nomen habet; est enim Britannis dropped into them ; that houses reach from the Maen Lapis, et si locum adeas Lapicidinas invenies castle to the bridge, and that, in a piece of ground hie ærea Romanorum Imperatorum plurima, et ali- called The Furlongs, foundations of houses have quoties in manus agricolarum deveniunt capitaV been found; that the present church stands on a Baxter gives us a different derivation, p. 168. hill, where seems to have been a camp, the in- • Manduessedlim Antonino dicitur vetustum Cori- trenchments very deep, but too irregular to have gaunorum oppidum, quod hodie in finibus est Pagi been Roman.'—The Doctor adds, that • Oldbury is Præsidiarii sive Warwiccani, sed in ruderibus jacet a great camp on a high hill, whence a most de- nomine Mancester, quod urbs est Manduessedum. lightful prospect, Shugbury, Erdbufy, and Borough Hoc Nennio nostro vitiose scribitur Caer Manch- near Daventry, with the Watling-street as far as gued pro Caer Mandu guidh, quod est civitas Mandu Watford Gap, are all in view.' in sylvis. Siquidem Conventus iste primis tempori- All these Writers agree, that at or near the re- bus fere constabat Arduennæ saltu. Superius osten- maining camp, on the Watling-street, was the site dimus Britannis veteribus Mandu fuisse pro patrid, of the antient station, by the Romans called Man- etsi sit in fabella. Caledonii Regis Cul-huchi etiam duessedum; Salmon only excepted, who, taking no Maendy pro Regia vel Lapided domo. Essedin notice of this camp, and entirely disallowing the.

1 One of these rencontres is thus described by Tacitus : " Et victor Britannus, Petilio Ceriali, legato legionis nonæ, in subsidium obventanti obvius, fudit legionem, et quod peditum interfecit: Cerialis cum equitibus evasit in et munimentis defensus est." Aiistrum postea Annal. lib. xiv. cap. 32. 2 In a copy with his son Roger's MS notes (now in the Bodleian Library by the liberal bequest of Mr. Gough), is added, " Inter- fluit vicum hodiernum et antiquum fluvius Anker quern per pontem transgreditur Via. Watlingiana ruderibus Romanæ urbis ad intersectis 800 circiter pedes a ponte." 3 In 1763, an urn full of Roman coins was dug up in the parish of Polesworth at Aucote; and at the same place, and not long after, a flint arrow-head. In 1778, another urn and coins in the manor of Knowle and parish of Hampden in Arden. , 4 See, in the former part of this Volume, pp. cxlvii—el. some excellent observations on the , by the Rev. Thomas Leman, and others by the Bishop of Cloyne, and by the Rev, Dr. Pegge. antiquity