CHAP. III. Romney Roman occupation of Britain? Now, looking at the untiring energy and perseverance of the Romans, and at what they effected in Romney Marsh, and other parts of England; bearing also in mind that the district must have been thinly populated and there was no urgent necessity for such a direct communication with London, I submit that this conclusion is the only safe one we can come to. Be this as it may in the Weald of Sussex, I cannot find any authority for showing either a British or a Roman road at this period of our history through that part of the great forest which now constitutes the Weald of Kent.* We can thus account for the road already referred to (being the XV. Iter of Richard of Cirencester) "From London through Bittern (near Southampton) again to London," which makes a complete circuit of the forest, encompassing considerable portions of Kent, Sussex, Surrey, and Hants; and this in some measure adopts the extent and boundary hereafter given to the forest by the AngloSaxon Chronicle. For the reasons already named I have omitted some of the sites of the stations mentioned in this Iter. I will now refer briefly to that portion of our map lying between the Weald and the sea coast. It is somewhat remarkable that such vast districts as Romney Marsh and the Andred Forest, occupying so large a space in Kent, should be so contiguous, and yet in every way differ so materially. For whatever mighty convulsion must have taken place, at no one period of history can we discover the latter other than a wild forest without any regular or defined boundary; while a large portion of the entire district of Romney Marsh was, 2,000 years ago, part of the vast ocean; and what is now some of the finest grazing land in the world, was for many ages nothing more than a low swampy morass, always however preserving a separate and distinct boundary. The forest was drained by the river Limen or Rother, *Harris says the Romans were kept out of it by the thickness of its woods and the badness of its ways. B. I., pt. 3, p. 347. which rises near Argus Hill, in Rotherfield parish, Sussex, and flowed originally, it is supposed, along the foot of the hills, finding an outlet at Lympne; then it shifted its course towards Romney, and as we proceed we shall find that its course became eventually diverted to Rye. Three small rivers-the Tillingham, rising in Beckley; the Brede, in the neighbourhood of Battle; and the Tweed, in the parish of Playden-all unite with the Rother. Mr. James Elliott (the district engineer) remarks that though he is constantly discovering Roman remains in Romney Marsh proper, he never finds any in Walland and the adjoining marshes, thus proving that Romney Marsh was the first portion of the district which was inclosed. He is of opinion that there must have been a shingle spit on the site of the present sea wall at Dymchurch, before the time of the Romans, as the surface of the Marsh though from eight to ten feet below high water mark, is, it must not be forgotten, fourteen feet above low water mark, a state of things which could not have existed if the Marsh had not been shu off from the sea, the slope of the surface of the Marsh being from the sea towards the hills; and this surface he believes to be in the same position with reference to the sea and high water mark as it was at the time it was shut off from the sea, as silting up had then ceased. In further illustration of the map, I am indebted to my friend Mr. Henry Mackeson, of Hythe (who, while actively pursuing his daily avocations, is ever ready to assist in the advancement of knowledge), for a geological description of the district, which will be found in the Appendix (A). CHAP. III. Lewin's Portus Romans, com the Society of Horsfield, vol. i., p. 5. CHAP. IV. St. James. St. Peter. CHAPTER IV. INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN. BEFORE EFORE I refer to the departure of the Romans, and settlement of the Saxons, I must give a brief history of the introduction of Christianity into Britain; for though it took centuries to reach the benighted district I have undertaken to describe, it did at last reach it. The precise period when the Christian religion found its way into Britain, like the precise spot on which Julius Cæsar first landed on our coast, must probably for ever remain undetermined. Still, we are not left altogether without some light to guide us; early writers assume that it was before the end, or perhaps even the middle of the first century. Justin Martyr, who lived about the year of our Lord 140, says there was then no country known to the Romans where Christianity was not known also; and Tertullian, a little later, exultingly declared that the parts of Britain inaccessible to the Roman arms had been subdued by Christ. Is, then, its introduction to this island to be ascribed to either, and if so, to which of the Apostles? Some writers have concluded that it is to be traced to the labours of the Apostle James, who preached the Gospel in Spain, Britain, and other countries in the west. His early martyrdom, however, as related in Acts xii., 1 and 2, renders such a supposition very improbable. There are those who have keenly contended for Saint Peter as having founded the British church; but this also does not appear probable. At a late period of his life he wrote from Baby CHAP. IV. lon, in the extreme east, and he suffered martyrdom at Soon after the south-eastern part of our coast had been formed into a Roman province under Claudius, Aulus Aulus Plautius Plautius (as we have seen) was appointed the first governor, and his wife Pomponia Græcina was accused of having embraced a strange and foreign superstition, which has been interpreted to mean that she was a Christian; she was possibly the first who introduced the new religion into Kent. It has also been thought that Claudia Rufina, Claudia Rufina the wife of Aulus Pudens, mentioned in 2 Tim., iv., 21, was a British lady, and the daughter of either Caractacus, or of Cogidubnus, King of Regnum (Chichester). There is a popular legend, told by William of Malmesbury, which alleges that Joseph of Arimathea was sent into Britain by Philip, A.D. 63, with eleven other disciples, and planted the Christian religion here, and that the first Christian church in Britain was built at Glastonbury to the honour of the Blessed Virgin. But Dr. Harris, our p. 488. county historian, who evidently wishes that Christianity in Britain should be first planted in Kent, discredits this Ant. of Brit. CHAP. IV. legend, and says it was a mere monkish invention to gain credit to their convent; and Bishop Stillingfleet contends Churches, c. 2. that it has no good authority to support it. It has ever been part of the papal policy to impress the world with the belief that the British church was the offspring of Rome; while the theological writers of the reformed church of England have always contended that there was a greater resemblance in the early British church to the practices of the churches in Asia Minor than to those of the church of Rome. Bede, who was born in the vicinity of Wearmouth, and flourished in the seventh century, when he wrote the Ecclesiastical History of England, tells us that towards the close of the second century the thick mists of superstition were scattered, and the heavenly light and brightness of Christianity shone upon this Island by means of a British King Lucius. king named Lucius,* who, admiring the integrity and holy life of the Christians, made petition to Pope Eleutherus, by the mediation of two Britons, that he and his subjects might be instructed in the Christian religion. On this the pope sent hither from Rome two holy men with letters (which Camden says were extant in his day, and not forged), who instructed the king and others in the mysteries of the Christian religion. The truth of this statement may be questioned, as it must be remembered that there were no kings in Britain at this period, the whole Island having been reduced by Claudius, but Camden explains this by stating that he might have been a titular king, which was frequently the case in Roman provinces. P. C7. P. 4. P. 100. Kilburn, the Kentish writer, who wrote in 1659, calls Lucius the first British king who embraced Christianity; and he states that he built the church in Dover castle. Dr. Harris, who published his History in 1719, adopts these statements, and adds that Lucius endowed his church with the customs of the port. In support of this, he refers * I remember to have read somewhere that King Lucius built himself a palace at Chilham, and resided there; but the truth of this tradition may be questioned. |