LITMIR.BIZ

      White Horse Hill

      5. In various parts of England there are deep lanes or cuttings, which have received curious local names. There are no less than twenty-two such cuttings in different parts of England all known as Grim's Ditch. These, no doubt, formed boundaries, separating various tribes.

      6. The White Horse, cut out of the slope of Uffington Hill, and several similar objects in Wiltshire, as well as the crosses—also cut in the turf—at Whiteleaf and Bledlow, may also belong to this period. Some learned men, however, have thought that they are of a later date.

      7. From these early men then the Ancient Britons appear to have descended, and they were settled here a good many centuries before the coming of the Romans. Many of the wild tales and legends, still told in country villages, about giants and fairies, have come down to us from these early times.

      Summary.—There are many curious mounds and stones, about which wild tales are told. Earthworks are of various kinds. Those enclosed by an earthen wall or rampart are often called British towns or camps. They were places of refuge. There are two kinds of mounds, called Long Barrows and Round Barrows. Both were burial-places. The Long Barrows belonged to the older race. Stone circles, like those at Stonehenge and Avebury, had something to do with worship, and there are many stones in Cornwall and Devon which most likely were put to the same use. There are twenty-two old trackway boundaries in England all called Grim's Ditch. The White Horse and several other cuttings in the turf possibly belong to this same period. The old legends and tales about all these are worth keeping in mind, though at present we do not understand them.

CHAPTER V

       IN ROMAN TIMES

       Table of Contents

      1. Here, then, at the time the Romans first came to Britain were tribes of Britons who had been established in the country for centuries, living their lives according to the customs of their forefathers, and more or less cultivating the land. The Romans invaded the country, and, in time, subdued the people. They remained masters here for nearly four hundred years, but they did not make such a permanent impression on this country as they did in some countries which they conquered—as on France and Spain, for instance.

      2. We are to-day masters of India; but we have not made India English, nor are we trying to do so. The natives there go on cultivating the land according to their custom from time out of mind. They preserve their own manners, customs, and religions. In places where they come much in contact with our fellow-countrymen, they are influenced to a certain degree; but in India to-day the English and the natives lead their own lives, each race quite apart from the others.

      3. So it was with the Romans in Britain. They formed colonies in various places and built towns all over the land; they had country villas dotted here and there, some little distance from the chief towns, and built strong military stations in suitable districts. These posts were kept in communication by means of good roads. Many Britons must in the course of time have adopted Roman ways and Roman civilization; but the bulk of the Britons, living away from the Roman centres, kept to their own customs, and cultivated the ground in the way their ancestors had done. They prospered, on the whole, as the Romans kept the various tribes from fighting with one another.

      4. No doubt, in districts such as that which we now call Hampshire, and along the Thames valley, where wealthy Romans had their country villas, Roman methods of farming were in use. The Britons would see something of Roman ways of doing things, and, perhaps, tried to copy them.

      5. But the Romans have not left many marks upon our towns and villages. It is quite true that a large number of our present towns and cities are on the sites of, or near, Roman towns; but, in most cases, we have to dig down into the earth to find Roman remains. The most important Roman city, Verulam, has quite disappeared; and the most complete remains of a Roman town, Silchester, are near to what is now a quiet country village. The present cities of London, Winchester, Gloucester, Lincoln, Chester, Carlisle, and the towns of Colchester and Leicester, and several others, can hardly be said to have sprung from Roman towns, though they stand on their sites.