"Old England" (F). From the side channel (G) between Brentford ferry and the Aits thirty-six have been drawn, and thirty from the mouth of the northern channel (J) at the lower end of the Ait nearest to Kew Bridge. In addition to these 266 stumps which have been removed, there are doubtless a great many more remaining buried in the bed of the river, but in too soft and decayed condition to be a source of danger to navigation. After the Romans had subjugated the southern portion of Britain much of the defence work would probably be removed in order to open the waterway for vessels, and to give freer access to this important ford, the main passage of which seems to have led through "Old England," that historic and well-named spot where so many evidences of ancient warfare have been discovered. To protect the passage and also to guard the adjoining stretch of shallow water1 upon the gravel stratum which underlies the Thames between Isleworth and Kew, 2,000 or more stems of young oaks would alone be required for the upright stakes. It is hardly conceivable that they were first placed there to oppose Caesar's troops, but rather that such defence work, though repaired and strengthened to meet the invasion, had from the earliest times been maintained to prevent hostile incursions by South Eastern tribes from entering the interior portion of Britain through this natural portal in the barrier of the Thames.

1 The following figures were supplied to me, 1905, as the depths of water in Syon Reach when the water was standing 13 feet below T. H. W. and about 18 inches of flood water out at the time of sounding and subsequent to the dredging operations:

Specimens of these stakes can be seen at the British and London Museums, the Middlesex Guildhall, Westminster, etc.

CHAPTER VI

CAESAR IN MIDDLESEX

MARCH TO THE THE THAMES-ROUTE THROUGH MIDDLESEX-SUBMISSION OF

March to the Thames.

Wow and

THE TRIBES

E will now go back a little and trace Caesar's march from the Kentish coast and through Middlesex to Verulamium.

About 18 July 54 B.C.' Caesar reached the shores of Britain with a fleet of some 800 vessels, transporting from Gaul an army of five legions, about 17,500 infantry, with 2,000 cavalry. After the troops had disembarked, Caesar tells us that he at once marched to attack the British, who were beaten back to a stronghold in a neighbouring wood, "well fortified by nature and art." At last they were driven out, and this spot in Bourne Park is still known as "Old England's Hole." It is a curious coincidence that both in Kent and Middlesex, there should be two places known as "Old England," where Caesar engaged the British on his march to Verulamium.

3

Then he returned to the coast, as a storm had arisen which had caused considerable damage to his ships, and so it was not until 2 August that he was able to march on the Thames, leaving his vessels under a guard of ten cohorts, or about 3,000 men, with 300 horse.*

Owing to the narrow British trackways through the woods, the frequent sallies of the enemy, and to the necessity of foraging for food, the progress of the army was slow, and when on the march might be reckoned at ten miles a day. The upland of Richmond was probably the last camping ground before Caesar reached the Thames, and the middle of August may be taken as the date of the battle at the Great Ford of the Thames, in the Brentford reach, between the Romans and the allied

1 According to the Emperor Napoleon III it was on July 21st.

* Reckoning a legion at 3,500 men. The full strength was from 4,500 to 5,000 infantry. One of Caesar's legions on active service would rarely number more than from 3,000 to 3,600 men. "Caesar," Dr. W. G. Rutherford.

"Never forget that this is Old England's Hole, and that here a last stand was made for liberty by your British forefathers." See "Caesar in Kent,” Vine, p. 168.

"De Bello Gall.,” v, 2 (“The Celt, Roman, and Saxon"). Wright considers that Caesar's march lay along the edge of the Kentish Weald. The probable route was Deal to Aylesford, Eltham, Brentford, Stanmore, and Verulamium.

tribes under Cassivellaunus. After allowing for the guard left at the coast and for losses on the march, it appears that Caesar, when he forced the ford, had under him 14,000 soldiers, exclusive of any deserters from the Britons. He was opposed by large numbers of tribesmen, for the country was "well peopled," and they were there in "great numbers." When Caesar arrived at the Surrey end of the ford he did not wait for low tide, for his infantry went up to their necks in water. If, as it has been suggested, the Roman catapultae cast stones across the river, then under cover of that fire the cavalry would first go forward, and from being mounted could assist the infantry who followed them to scale the barrier of stakes and interlaced boughs.' To have attacked anywhere off the main trackway would only court disaster, for in addition to the marshes which then fringed either shore, behind these on the Middlesex side ran the eastern chariotway, on which at any point down to the Lea, Cassivellaunus could have speedily concentrated strong forces to fall upon the Romans struggling through the riverside mire to gain firm ground.

Route through Middlesex.-When Caesar's troops had rushed the palisades, the Britons abandoned their circular stockade on the tongue of land rising from the Thames between the Brent and the brook from Ealing, and taking to flight, retreated to the wooded uplands of Northern Middlesex. Cassivellaunus now disbanded his levies, retaining about 4,000 charioteers, with whom, Caesar says, he used to watch our marches and retire a little from the road and conceal himself in places difficult of access and wooded. From those districts through which the British chieftain knew we were about to march, he drove the cattle and the inhabitants from the fields into the woods, so that when for the purpose of plundering and laying waste our cavalry scattered themselves too widely, he would send forth his charioteers from the woods by all the known ways and bypaths, and engage with them to the great danger of our horse." From this we can

1 Caesar makes no mention of the use of elephants to assist his troops.

2 Cicero, writing to Trebatius, says: "Take care, you who are always preaching caution, mind you don't get caught by the British chariot men. I advise you to capture a chariot and drive straight home” (“Ad Treb.,” Ep. VI). A chariot, or essedum ("ess," Celtic for a carriage) may have contained several men. Caesar says: "Their way of fighting with their chariots is this: first they drive them on all sides and throw their darts; insomuch that by the very terror of their horses, and noise of the wheels, they often break the ranks of the enemy. When they have forced their way into the midst of the cavalry, they quit their chariot and fight on foot. Meanwhile the drivers retire a little from the combat, and place themselves in such a manner as to favour the retreat of their countrymen should they be overpowered by the enemy. Thus in action they perform the part of nimble horsemen and stable infantry. By continued exercise and use they have arrived at that expertness, that in the most steep and difficult places they can stop their horses at full stretch, turn them which way they please, run along the pole, rest on the harness, and throw themselves back into their chariots with incredible dexterity" (" De Bello Gall.,” iv, 33).

identify central Middlesex with its primeval forest through which the northern chariotway ran, bordered here and there with cultivated patches of land, while the hills of Sudbury, Horsadun, Harrow, and Brockley would be excellent points from which to observe the movements of the Roman army.

Submission of the Tribes.-Meanwhile before marching on Verulamium Caesar received the submissions of several British tribes, and the historic place where this took place was probably the tableland a mile above the ford, between the Brent and the Ealing brook, and near the Boston Road, Hanwell, to be described in the next chapter, as the spot where, in A.D. 43, Aulus Plautius pitched his camp. On leaving Caesar, the Trinovantes from Essex, and the Cenemagni from Suffolk, would return home via Old Ford on the Eastern way. The Cassi were close at hand in Herts, or if, as some suppose, they hailed from Gloucestershire, then they, and the Ancalites from Bucks would travel by the north-western trackway crossing the Ux (now the Colne) at Uxbridge; while the Segontiaci from Berks, and the Bibroci, from Surrey, would use the Thames ford. From these envoys Caesar learned “that he was not far from the capital of Cassivellaunus, which was situated amidst woods and marshes, for a town among the British is nothing more than a thick wood, fortified with a ditch and rampart to serve as a place of retreat against the incursions of their enemies." Inside of which, Strabo says, "they built huts and collected cattle, but not with a view of remaining long there." Allowing ten days for these matters, and for clearing the hostile Britons from the hills and forest in the Harrow-Stanmore district, Caesar would be striking his camp about 25 August. He would then march through Middlesex by the northern chariotway to Verulamium, the stronghold of Cassivellaunus, distant twenty miles, which would certainly come within the description of "not far" away from his camp above the ford of the Thames. Verulamium fell towards the end of August, "for the enemy after a short stand were obliged to give way, and vast numbers of cattle were found there."

Since only a small part of the summer now remained, Caesar, having fixed the yearly tribute which these British tribes were to pay, and having taken hostages, marched back to the coast, where he found his fleet repaired. Then, as the equinox was drawing near, he sailed away to Gaul,' having been in Britain a little over two months, and without having achieved any permanent conquest though leaving behind a dread of the Roman name.

1 To Atticus, Cicero writes: "We are awaiting the issue of this British war. . . . Anyhow we know that not one scruple of money exists there nor any other plunder except slaves, and none of them either literary or artistic. I heard (Oct. 24th) from Caesar and my brother Quintus that all is over in Britain. No booty. They wrote on Sept. 26th 'just embarking"" (Ep. 16 and 17).

CHAPTER VII

CLAUDIUS CAESAR AT THE FORD OF THE THAMES

PLAUTIUS ADVANCES TO THE THAMES-BATTLE AT WIMBLEDON-CLAUDIUS CROSSES THE THAMES-CAMP AT BRENTFORD-CARACTACUS

Plautius advances to the Thames

N A.D. 43 Aulus Plautius landed in Kent with an army of about 40,000 men. with Colchester), capital

entrenchment of Caractacus, the chieftain of the Catuvellauni, and the regular way there from Kentland lay through the main ford of the lower Thames at Brentford, and thence through Middlesex by the eastern chariot- or track-way crossing the Lea at Old Ford, and on into Essex.

The reason for describing this part of the campaign, is on account of the light it throws upon the difficulties connected with a passage into Middlesex by the minor ford at Thornea Island, Westminster, and on the protection then afforded by the Thames with its bordering marshes against incursions by the tribes dwelling in the south-eastern portion of Britain.

Up to the time of the invasion by Plautius it would seem that the Thames and its marshes formed a division between two tribal groups or confederacies. To the south of the river stretched the Belgic group in touch with their brethren in Gaul, and in Julius Caesar's time they were under Commios the Atrebate, whose sons Tincommios, Verica and Eppillos ruled respectively over the Regni, Atrebates and Cantii. To the north of the Thames lay the Catuvellauni and their allies under Cassivellaunus, who as already described was defeated by Caesar at Verulamium. Cassivellaunus was succeeded by his son or grandson Tascovant, who died about A.D. 1, and Cumbeline, son of Tascovant, held his capital at Camulodunum and died about A.D. 41.

...

The historian Dion Cassius (circa A.D. 150) states that "the Romans met with no opposition on their landing, the petty chiefs of Kent appear to have sought refuge in their woods and marshes. .. Plautius first defeated Caractacus and afterwards Togodumnus, the sons of Cumbeline who was dead. When they took to flight, he won over by agreement some of the Boduni who were under the dominion of the Catuvellauni, and from thence, having left a garrison behind him,