"heys." In Lancashire the fruit of the hawthorn is still called " haigh," whilst in the south it is called haw. "Ham" is a very common termination of the names of villages, especially in the eastern and south-eastern parts of England, and was derived from the early settlements being "hemmed in" chiefly by hedges, so that from this old shrub has probably been derived the dearest of all English words, "home," i.e., ham, an enclosure. Other village names end in "sett," as "Heathersett, from the Anglo-Saxon sætan, to plant, the ancient swine pastures being enclosed by thorn fences, nothing else being capable of arresting the migratory impulses of the "porkers ;" and to this day we call a hawthorn hedge a "quickset" fence, showing the vitality of these old words, and how much genuine history is silently locked up in their almost forgotten meaning. There is Rothwell Haigh near Leeds, Haye Park at Knaresborough, Horsehay near Coalbrookdale. The Hague was originally a hunting-seat of the Counts of Holland. In Dutch haag" is an enclosure; in old High German "hag" is a town; in German" 'hagen," to hedge; in French "haie," a hedge. The word park, which is of kindred meaning, seems to have been adopted by the Saxons from the Celtic "parwg, parwg," an enclosed field.1

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Another possible derivation of Highgate has been found2 from the posed Saxon word "heah," high, and "gat," way, the "Highway," being in contrast to the Holloway.' The obvious objection to this etymology is, that the way" as a public road did not exist in Saxon or even in Norman times, it being extremely unlikely that a high road would be allowed to run through the centre of the Bishop's hunting-ground! And as a matter of fact the north road was not cut through the wood until Queen Elizabeth's time, whilst the name Highgate is used in a paviage grant of 37 Edward III., Anno 1364, referring to the highway between Highgat and Smithefelde "-so that the balance of probability is largely in favour of the previous suggestion.

An old writer observes, with very obvious sagacity, that although the position of the hills and vales is the same, yet so many of them were covered with woods that the whole island was described as "horrida sylvis." This latter statement is confirmed by Cæsar's letters, which state that "the Romans had great difficulty in making their way through the woods and guarding themselves against the sallies of the Britons from the dense cover of the forest." This enforced the necessity of making their great military roads sufficiently broad to guard against such danger. The ground adjoining those clearances which would be kept free from buildings would doubtless, from the protection afforded by the constant

passage of troops, soon be devoted to agricultural purposes. The width of this tract of land on either side of the road when cut through the forest was probably determined by the distance of the flight of an arrow; the line of building for obvious reasons being fixed beyond that area.1 In these clearings we may possibly trace the origin of the " strays or commons by the sides of the road, which in later days became of so much importance, affording as they did grazing ground for cattle travelling to the metropolis or the other great centres of population, and which have only lately disappeared under the provisions of the various Enclosure Acts.

These old "strays were very numerous about Highgate, the northern entrance to the metropolis, and may yet be traced along the lines of some of the roads by rows of fine old trees, from twenty to sixty feet inside the modern hedge. There is a good example on the left-hand side of the road from Muswell Hill to Friern Barnet.

It is much to be regretted that these public lands have been so completely absorbed, as they would not only have provided open spaces for exercise and recreation, but would have prevented our modern roads becoming the painfully straight lines of "macadam," correctly kerbed and channelled, they now are; and if judiciously planted these old strays would have added breadth, beauty, and diversity to our suburbs, which might have rivalled the charming boulevards of Paris; but the opportunity has now gone for ever.

Of the period preceding that of the Norman appropriation of the land, we have scarcely anything that can be strictly called historic record; but a few facts, if placed side by side, afford fair room for conjecture, which, when supported by collateral evidence that may yet be gleaned, are full of interest.

This part of Middlesex appears to have been well known to, and appreciated by, the Romans during their long occupation of Britain. At Harrow, Cassevellan, the protégé of Cæsar, is said to have resided. At St. Pancras and White Conduit Fields were traces of Roman works. The latter is conjectured to have been the camp of Suetonius Paulinus, to which he retreated after his evacuation of London, and from which he sallied forth and defeated Boadicea at Battle Bridge. The capital town of the patriotic Queen of the Iceni was probably Norwich, known as Venta Icenorum; and as the Trinobantes took part in that terrible insurrection so justly provoked by the rapacity and insolence of the Roman legionaries, the war spread rapidly over Essex. Camulodunum (Colchester) was sacked and burnt, and the Ninth Legion cut to

1 Edward I. caused the underwood to be cut away for two hundred feet on each side of the road.-Palgrave.

2 The helmet of a centurion of the Ninth Legion is to be seen at Colchester Castle,

pieces. In London, all who could not escape were annihilated; and the inhabitants of Verulamium suffered the same fate,' so that probably enough both Hampstead and Highgate saw something of that frightful outbreak, something of the slaughters, and gibbets, and flames, and crosses, for which, as we learn from Tacitus, the indignant Briton was then fiercely eager. For there are indications of Roman occupation in both places, Hampstead and Highgate, as well as Fortis Green and Muswell Hill, having yielded spoils to the antiquary.

The most important "find at Highgate was made in the grounds of the Priory, Shepherd's Hill Road (Colonel Stedall's), at the time the house was being erected, by Dr. Wilmer. While the excavations were being made at some ten feet below the surface, a vase was discovered, containing many coins of Probus (A 276) and Caracalla (A 311), and amongst other articles a fine bronze sword-handle.

The spot where the defeat of Boadicea took place in A.D. 61 is very uncertain, and various sites have been assigned. It was certainly not far from London, and most probably on the northern side of the metropolis. The fact of the existence of the remains of an entrenched Roman camp at Barnsbury, in a field which was called the Reed Moat field, to the northwest of Islington workhouse, strengthens the general tradition that the fight took place near Battle Bridge.

COIN OF BUDICCA (BOADICEA).

3

It is interesting to note that in excavating the site of the supposed camp for building, the skeleton of an elephant was discovered, and there is a statement that Julius Cæsar, in forcing the passage of the Thames, placed one of these animals in his front, to the terror of the Britons, who fled precipitately; although, from what we know of the Roman galleys, an elephant would have been somewhat dangerous freight!

The great difficulty in accepting the Battle Bridge site is, that it does not accord with the description of the field of battle given by Tacitus, "a spot of ground, narrow at the entrance, and sheltered in the rear by a thick forest, with an open plain before,”—which would suggest a couple of eminences protected by a wood.

As the site is so uncertain, why not suggest a more likely one, viz., the valley between the hills of Highgate and Hampstead, backed by the forest and almost on the lines of the great military roads? In support of this theory we have to the present day one, if not two, ancient British tumuli, which may either cover the remains of British chieftains

1 Professor Hales.
2 Nelson's Islington.

3 Seymour's Survey of London.

4 Polvænus.

or may have been raised as a national memorial of the eighty thousand Britons who are said by the Roman account to have fallen in that hideous slaughter.'

It is true that there is no trace of a Roman camp in the neighbourhood, but such works if thrown up on the sandy soil would soon disappear. The percolation of water alone if formed on the lower ground, as the account intimates, would soon have caused its destruction, leaving entirely out of account the vast quantity of sand that has been removed from the Heath and its neighbourhood in past years; for it has been stated that in 1811 some seven thousand loads of sand were taken off the Heath in the course of a single year! 2

There is little doubt that the neighbourhood of the Roman roads, and more especially the stations or small camps formed on commanding positions, became in course of time, from the protection afforded by the marching and countermarching of troops, what the auctioneers. would call "highly desirable sites for building or occupation," and therefore it becomes a matter of great interest to trace the line of the great Roman roads cut through the forest at the points nearest Highgate.

The principal road was the famous Watheling or Watling Street, or Royal Way." 3 Leyland calls it "Atheling " or Noble Street, running from London (if not from the coast through London) to the north of England; and whatever its exact line, which in many parts is extremely doubtful, there is not much question as to the point from which it emerged from the city of London.

As in the front of the Forum at Rome stood the famous Milliarium Aureum or golden milestone, the point to which every Roman road converged whence the old proverb, "All roads lead to Rome"--so the London Stone is supposed to have been the spot from which the great roads made by the Romans in England radiated. A portion of this old relic may still be seen inserted in the south wall of St. Swithin's Church, Cannon Street (opposite the railway station), where it was placed in 1798.

Stow in his Survey says:-" On the south side of Candlewick Street (Cannon Street), near unto the channel, is pitched upright a great stone called the London Stone, fixed in the ground very deep, and fastened with iron bars, and otherwise so strongly set that, if carts do run against it, the wheels thereof may be broken, yet the stone itself is not shaken. The cause why this stone was set there, the time when, or other memory thereof, there is none, but that the same has long continued it is manifest, for at the end of a gospel book given to Christ's Church at

1 Tacitus.

4

2 Unequal Assessments, etc., 1811.

3 Newcomb's St. Albans.
4 Stow wrote about A.D. 1560.

Canterbury, by Ethelane, King of the West Saxons, I find noted, land or rents in London belonging to the said church, whereof one parcel is described as to lie near to London Stone." And Stow alludes to "a fire which happened in the reign of King Stephen (1135) close to London Stone, beginning at the house of one Ailward, consuming all east to Aldgate and west to St. Erkenwald's shrine in Pawles Church." "These," says the worthy old chronicler, “be the eldest notes I have read thereof."

After this fire, Fitzaylwin, the first Lord Mayor of London, erected a house of stone which in consequence of its novelty, the erections hitherto being almost entirely of timber, or else from its proximity to this stone, was called "London Stone." In 1240 this house was standing, and its tenant took the name of John de London Stone. The stone is oolitic building stone, and it is suggested it may be a vestige of the house of Fitzaylwin; but if so it is somewhat remarkable that but one stone should be left in situ, protected with iron stanchions; it must surely have meant more to the citizens than a stone of an old house.

This stone, from being so well known a spot, became a place for tendering money, and in fact was to the merchants of those days what "Paul's Walk" and "the Royal Exchange" were to later generations.

But we gather the most valuable information as to the original importance of the stone from the records of the operations of clearing the ground surrounding it after the great fire, 1666. Sir Christopher Wren discovered the foundations of buildings on that spot undoubtedly Roman, so extensive that he came to the conclusion that they must have supported a very considerable monument or temple. Tesselated pavements were found to exist over a large area, and it is suggested that they might have formed portions of some eminent building, in the centre of which the stone, from which all measurements were taken, was placed, surrounded by statues of the Roman Emperors.

Mr. Loftie, a very good authority, is of opinion that the whole site surrounding the stone was a Roman fortification on the high ground commanding the river, defended on the north and east by ditches full of water, on the south by the Thames, and on the west by the rivulet rising in the fens beyond Moorgate, draining the higher lands of Islington, and discharging into Dowgate Dock, afterwards confined into very narrow limits, and known as the "walled brook" (Walbrook); and states that "within the fort, close to the western wall, and therefore overlooking Dowgate" (almost the identical spot where the stone was fixed before the last removal)" was a large hall or basilica, with a tesselated pavement, perhaps the residence of the Governor;" or, according to another authority, Loftie, History of London, 1883, vol. i., page 33.