Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/442

326 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE. the invaders and the retreating Britons. Dr. Roots, of Surhiton, to whose kindness we have been much indebted on several occasions for the exhibi- tion of various antiquities brought to Hght at Kingston, and for notices of these discoveries, is distinctly of opinion that Caesar passed the river Thames at this place. Finding that the Britons declined venturing a general engage- ment, and that it was their policy, by feigned flight and by detaching por- tions of his force from the main body, to beat them in detail, rather than attempt to repel him with their entire strength in pitched battle, Csesar resolved to lead his army to the limits of the country possessed by the Tri- nobantes, under the command of Cassivelaunus, which were bounded by the Thames, these limits being about eighty miles from the sea, or rather from his place of landing. Caesar relates, that, having reached the Thames, at the spot where alone it was fordable, " uno omnino loco, quo flumen transiri potest, atque hoc segre," his passage was strongly contested by the natives on the opposite bank, but by the superior power of his cavalry he carried the day, and passed into the Trinobantian territory. The question of the precise spot where this important occurrence took place has been a subject of frequent discussion ; Dr. Roots inclines to the opinion of the learned Horsley, that Ctesar passed the stream at or near Kingston, which has been strongly controverted by Gale and other authors ; and he remarks, as a corroboration of this notion, that the ancient name of the place was Moreford, or the Great Ford. " That Caesar (observes Dr. Roots) should have paused for some little time in the vicinity, after a fatiguing march, might fully be expected ; and that he did so seems proved by the fine Roman encampment on the rising ground of Kingston, adjoin- ing Wimbledon, and commanding the valley of the Thames. An additional evidence may be sought from the sepulchral interments, apparently made in haste, discovered at this spot, with bronze weapons and large masses of unwrought metal, of which a considerable quantity was found a few years since '^. This provision of metal seems to indicate the presence of ah armourer's establishment, possibly for the purpose of refit, previously to the transit at the great ford below." In the deep excavations made for the construction of cofier-dams, on building the new bridge at Kingston, numerous curious reliquice were brought to light from the bed of blue clay forming the bed of the river ; they consist of weapons of bronze, in fine preservation, many of which are now in the possession of Mr. Jesse. It is worthy of especial remark that, almost invariably, these objects were found on the Middlesex side, where •we might naturally exjDect the contest to have been most severe : very few have been found on the Surrey side ; and, with the exception of a bronze thumb-ring, (which, however, is certainly of medieval date,) very few relics were found which were not of a warlike character'. Dr. Roots was informed by a brazier than usual in modern brass. of Kingston, who had purcliased large ' This thumb-ring is in the possession masses of bronze from the gravel diggers, of Mr. Jesse, who has given a plate in his that it was composed of copper and tin, tlie interesting " Gleanings," vol. i. represent- latter being in much smaller proportions ing a bronze sword, blades either of dag-