_Broughton_ now occupies this midway spot, _Brige_ and _Broughton_ may
be safely assumed to be the same. This method shows Leicester to
be the Roman _Ratae_, Carlisle to be _Luguvallum_, Newcastle
_Pons Aelii_, etc., with so much probability that none of these
identifications have been seriously disputed amongst antiquaries;
while few are found to deny that Cambridge represents
_Camboricum_,[206] Huntingdon (or Godmanchester) _Durolipons_,
Silchester _Calleva_, etc. A list of all the sites which may be said
to be fairly certified will be found at the end of this chapter.
B. 7.--Beyond them we come to about as many more names in our ancient
catalogues of which all we can say is that we know the district to
which they belong, and may safely apply them to one or other of the
existing Roman sites in that district; the particular application
being disputed with all the heat of the _odium archaeologicum_. Thus
_Bremetonacum_ was certainly in Lancashire; but whether it is
now Lancaster, or Overborough, or Ribchester, we will not say;
_Caesaromagum_ was certainly in Essex; but was it Burghstead, Widford,
or Chelmsford? And was the original _Camalodunum_ at Colchester,
Lexden, or Maldon?
B. 8.--And, yet further, we find, especially in the Ravenna list,
multitudes of names with nothing whatever to tell us of their
whereabouts; though nearly all have been seized upon by rival
antiquaries, and ascribed to this, that, and the other of the endless
Roman sites which meet us all over the country.[207]
B. 9.--For it must be remembered that there are very few old towns in
England where Roman remains have not been found, often in profusion;
and even amongst the villages such finds are exceedingly common
wherever excavations on any large scale have been undertaken. Thus
in the Cam valley, where the "coprolite" digging[208] resulted in
the systematic turning over of a considerable area, their number
is astounding, proving the existence of a teeming population. Many
thousands of coins were turned up, scarcely ever in hordes, but
scattered singly all over the land, testifying to the amount of petty
traffic which must have gone on generation after generation. For these
coins are very rarely of gold or silver, and amongst them are found
the issues of every Roman Emperor from Augustus to Valentinian III.
And, besides the coins, the soil was found to teem with fragments of
Roman pottery; while the many "ashpits" discovered--as many as thirt
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