48-79
48-79.
Manchester
The
first glimpse of historical Manchester is as a Roman military
station. The castrum was situated on a
tongue of land formed by a curve of the
river Medlock, which approached nearest to the fortress at the southern angle of
the latter, from which it was distant about 85ft., forming a defence on the
south-western side, a partial one on the south-eastern, and a more distant one
on the north-western. The river Irwell, running north and south, approaches
nearest to the castrum opposite its
western angle, from which it is distant about 528 yards, the junction of the
Medlock with it occurring some 130 yards lower down. This proximity of the
Irwell, and the intervention of a morass between it and the
castrum, proved a second line of
defence to the latter on its north-western side. The fortress occupied a
slightly-elevated plateau, which had a gentle slope towards the south.
In shape it was a parallelogram, the angles of which almost exactly faced
the cardinal points. The north-eastern and south-western sides measured 490ft.
in length, and the north-western and south-eastern sides 440ft., thus giving an
area of about five acres. Whether a
British post occupied the site previously to the advent of the Romans is a
problem which can hardly now be solved." Such is the description given by Mr.
W. Thompson Watkin in his Roman
Loncashire. The Rev. John Whitaker 'unhesitatingly asserts
that there was a British fortress, to which he gives the name of Mancenion, but
there is no certain evidence either of the place or the name before the Roman
conquest. The date of the foundation of Manchester is also uncertain, but it can
be fixed within comparatively narrow limits. The Brigantes - the tribe to whom this district would belong
- were subjugated by the Pro-praetor Petilius Cerealis, A.D. 71-75. It is known the
lead mines of North Wales were worked as early an A.D. 74, and that Chester and
the roads to it from Manchester, by Northwich, and to Warrington, by Frodsham,
&c., were then in existence. Mr.
Watkin observes, "As the former of these roads would scarcely be made to
Northwich only, we may safely assume that it was continued on to Manchester and
thus that Mancunium was in existence in A.D. 74. Indeed, it is possible that
Ostorius, who in A.D.
48 subdued the Cangi and put down a revolt of the Brigantes, may have
founded Manchester at this juncture.
The recorded inscriptions show that the First Cohort of the Frisiavones,
who are regarded as the auxiliaries of the Twentieth Legion, were engaged in the
construction of the castrurn. The Frisii
came from the district now known as Friesland, and from the north and west of
the Zuyder Zee. An ingenious attempt has been made in recent years to show that
the language of these Roman auxiliaries has had a permanent effect on the
dialect of South Lancashire. The Third Bracarian Cohort is also believed to have
been stationed at Manchester. A
fragment of the Roman wall still remains, and, by the care of the late Lord
Francis Egerton, was covered with a wooden shed at the foot of one of the
large piers of the Altrincham Railway Viaduct.
Its preservation is provided for by deed. There was an altar to
Fortuna Conservatrix - "Fortune the
Preserver." (Hollinworth, p.
16.) Another altar shows that at
one time the garrison consisted of a vexillation of Rhaetii and Norici-Swiss and
Tyrolese. A fine miniature statue of Jupiter Stator, a small cross, perhaps an
indication of early Christianity, and a variety of smaller objects and coins,
have from time to time been unearthed.
These evidences of Roman occupation are fully described and discussed by
Mr. Thompson Watkin in his Roman
Lancashire where many of them are illustrated. It will be seen that there is
a probability that Manchester came under the Roman power by the agency of
Petilius Cerealis, but it may not have been until the later campaigns of
Agricola, whose progress by the woods and estuaries - special characteristics
of Lancashire - is expressly mentioned by Tacitus in his narrative ot the
march by which the great general alarmed and terrified the Brigantes, and
subdued such communities as had still preserved their independence.
The building of Mancunium would not therefore be later than A.D.
79, whilst it may have been as early as A.D.
48. Agricola, if we may trust Tacitus, had the wisdom of a statesman
as well as the valour of a soldier. The winter after his conquest he began the
task of civilising the conquered tribes, by teaching them the art of
constructing houses and temples, by imparting to the sons of the native
chieftains an acquaintance with liberal sciences and a knowledge of the Latin
tongue. Thus they learned to imitate the manners, speech, and dress of the
dominant race.