The Book of the Axe: containing a Piscatorial Description of that stream, and a history of all the Parishes and remarkable spots upon its banks

Part I. February

PRICE ONE SHILLING. THE M OF Till AH; CONTAINING A PISCATORIAL DESCRIPTION OF THAT BEAUTIFUL STREAM, AND SKETCHES OE THE HISTORY OF ALL THE TOWNS, VILLAGES, AND BEMAKKABLE PLACES UPON ITS BANKS, WITH SEVERAL ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP OF . THE RIVFR AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. BY GEORGE P. R. PULMAN, AT/THOK OF ' EDSTIC SKETCHES,' 'THE VADE MECTJ1I OE FLY- PISHING FOE TROUT,' &C. &C. " Twined with my boyhood, wreathed on the dream Of early endearments — beautiful stream ! The lisp of thy waters is music to me, Hours buried are buried in thee." Stoddaet. LONDON : LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 1853. THIRD AND GREATLY ENLARGED EDITION. f$j§T Persons desirous of becoming subscribers to this work are requested to forward their names to Mr. G. P. R. Polman, Crewkerne, or to Mr. W. Pulman, Axminster. t^p° The Second Part of this Work, to be published on March 1st, will contain, amongst other matter, A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF CHEDDINGTON, BEAMINSTER, AND MOS TERTON, and be Illustrated with a LITHOGRAPH DRAWING OF CLAPTON BRIDGE, and a WOODCUT OF MOSTERTON BRIDGE.

In the Part for April will be given the HISTORY OF BROAD WINSOR AND SEABOROUGH, and the commencement of the HISTORY OF CREWKERNE, to be finished in Part 4, for May. The 3rd Part will be Illustrated with a LITHOGRAPH DRAW ING OF THE TOWN OF CREWKERNE, at a distance, and with WOODCUTS OF THE TOWN SEAL and the RUINS OF CREWKERNE 'ABBEY.' Part 5 will contain the HISTORY OF FORD ABBEY, with an ILLUSTRATION, and the commencement of the HISTORY OF THE TOWN AND BOROUGH OF CHARD. THE BOOK OF THE AXE : CONTAINING A PISCATORIAL DESCRIPTION OF THAT STREAM, AND A HISTORY OF ALL THE PARISHES AND REMARKABLE SPOTS UPON ITS BANKS; WITH SEVERAL ILLUSTRATIONS, AND A MAP. BY GEORGE P. R. PULMAN, AUTHOR OF 'RUSTIC SKETCHES,' ' THE YADE MECUM OF FLY-FISHINO FOR TROUT,' ETC. ETC. LONDON : 10NGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 1854. Crewkerne : Printed by G. P. E. Pulman, Market-place.

Preface

. What may be called an outline of this work was published about ten years since, when two editions were rapidly sold off ; and the work has for at least eight years been out of print. As the demand for copies continued, and as a large amount of new materials had been collected, the author was induced to reconstruct the work ; and he now presents it in a form so altered that the title alone is almost the only original feature. It has been his object to trace the Axe from rise to mouth, and to describe both the piscatorial attractions of that far-famed stream, and the most striking scenery in the lovely valley through which it flows ; — to wander, in fact, with rod in hand, along its ' mazy margin ;' — to discourse, as pleasantly as may be, upon its famous spots ;— to keep time, in merriness, with the music of its rippling ' stickles,' and to moralise,

PREFACE.

. IV in a graver fashion, with its solemn depths, as each mio-ht successively create the emotion ; — to step aside at every interesting place and learn its history; — to plunge into the depths of antiquity, among the musty records of the Past, calling up the scenes and beings which have long since disappeared ; — and anon to ramble on again in what is hoped may prove the profitable enjoyment of the Present. Angling forms a perfectly natural association with the description of a river ; but care has been taken, in spite of almost irresistible temptation, to make it not so prominent a feature of the work as to be otherwise than a vehicle for the historical and topo graphical information — a relief, in short, to the ' dryness,' as it is sometimes called, of antiquarian subjects. The author, indeed, has been anxious to prove the correctness of Walton's idea, that ' Of recreation there is none So free as fishing is alone ; All other pastimes do no less Than mind and body both possess : My hand alone my work can do, So I can fish and study too.' And he has not been unmindful of the opinion of Lord Bacon, that ' It is good in discourse and

PREFACE.

. V speech of conversation to vary and intermingle speech of the present occasion with arguments, tales with reasons, asking of questions with telling of opinions, and jest with earnest; for it is a dull thing to tire, and, as we say now, to jade a thing too far.' The following are the principal places of which a sketch of their history and present condition will be found in these pages : — in Dorsetshire — Chedding ton, Beaminster, Mosterton, Broadwinsor, Thorn combe (including Ford Abbey), Hawkchurch, and Chardstoek ; in Somersetshire — Crewkerne, Way ford, Seaborough, Winsham, Chard, and Cricket Saint Thomas; and in Devonshire — Axminster (including Newenham Abbey), Kilmington, Mus bury (including Ashe House), Shute and Whitford, Colyton (including Colyford), Seaton and Beer, and Axmouth.

It would be affectation to deny that the treatment of so extensive a subject has proved, in some degree, laborious. The labor, however, has been one of love ; for the author has felt, while the work was growing beneath his hand, that he was, in one sense, engaged in the payment of a grateful tribute to the lovely river which has been the scene of so many of

PREFACE.

. VI his happiest hours, and ' the lisp of whose waters ' has lost none of its fascinations. His warmest thanks are offered to those for whose friendly assistance, in the contribution of information on many subjects, he is so much indebted;— to those, also, who have supplied the illustrations ; — and lastly, but not in the least degree, to those whose names compose a subscription-list of which he may justly be proud, and whose encouragement and support have stimulated him to exertion. ' And so,' in the words of a famous old author, ' he craves a favorable accep tation of this tedious travail, with a toleration of all such faults as haply therein lie hidden, and which, by diligent reading, may soon be espied.' Crewkerne, Lady-day, 1854. LIST OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS, ETC. PAGE MAP OF THE RIVER (by Mr. Moss)— to face the Title SEABOROUGH HOUSE— Initial Letter 1 SOURCE OF THE AXE (from an original sketch) 31 THE TOWN OF CREWKERNE (from an original sketch by Mr. Smith) 106 CREWKERNE COINS (engraved by Mr. Dorrington) ... 113 & 115 WEST FRONT OF CREWKERNE CHURCH (engraved by the Brothers Dalziel) 137 TABLE OF CREWKERNE CHARITIES, &c 148 CREWKERNE SEAL 151 CLAPTON BRIDGE (from an original sketch) 161 FORD ABBEY (from an original sketch) 189 RUINS OF OLDITCH COURT (engraved by the Brothers Dalziel) 218 AXMINSTER (from a sketch by Mr. Newbery) 289 AXMINSTER in 1669 (from Cosmo's Travels) 335 AXMINSTER CHURCH (engraved by Mr. Orlando Jewitt) ... 352 RUINS OF NEWENHAM ABBEY (by Mr. Newbery) 370 ASHE HOUSE (ditto) 394 AUTOGRAPH OF THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH ... 410 GATEHOUSE OF OLD SHUTE (by Mr. Newbery) 416 THE TOWN OF COLYTON (by Mr. Spreat) 423 MOUTH OF THE RIVER (by Mr. Newbery) THE BOOK OF THE AXE etc. etc.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. HE Axe is one of the most beautiful and interesting of the numerous sparkling trout streams which contribute so much to the character of Devonshire as the Arcadia of England. Notwithstanding that the river rises in Dorsetshire and flows for some distance along the edge of Somersetshire, its claims to be regarded as a Devonshire stream must remain unaffected, when it is re membered that not only is the most beautiful part of its course within the last named county, which u OUR OBJECT. supplies its principal tributaries, but also that it possesses the prevailing characteristics of those delightful streams and their associations for which that charming county is peculiarly celebrated. ' We propose to describe the Axe as an angling stream — tracing it minutely from rise to mouth, with fly-rod in hand, and with an imaginary angler by our side ; and also to treat of it with reference to the various objects of interest — antiquarian, scenic, and otherwise, — which occur so frequently in the valley through which it winds.

As an angling stream the merits of the Axe are indisputable. Its pellucid waters flow along their gravelly bed in an uninterrupted alternation of stickle and range.2 Its banks are remarkably free from en cumbering bushes, and at convenient intervals they are broken into sandy beaches shelving to the water's edge. These are satisfactory recommendations, and as we proceed we shall have to enumerate others which are equally so, especially when we come, presently, to speak of the piscatory productions of which the stream is so prolific. 1 There is a river of the same name, but of a very, different character, in the heart of Somersetshire. It rises among the Mendip Hills — one branch at Wookey Hole, near Wells, and another at^he far-famed Cheddar Cliffs. The united sti-eam slows by Axbridgc, Wear, and Blcadon, and falls into the Bristol Channel near Brean Down. 2 In the West of England, the rough and shallow parts of rivers, called elsewhere 'scours' and 'runs,' are characteristically denominated ' stickles; in contradistinction to the deep and smoother parts, which bear the name of 'ranges.' THE VALLEY.

And not less to the tourist than to the angler does the Axe commend itself. It flows through one of those luxuriant and delightful valleys to be found in Devonshire alone — a valley so full of fertility that it seems incapable of being contained within the un dulating hills by which it is enclosed — so diversified and beautiful that the eye never tires of beholding it. The elm-crowned hedge rows trace it everywhere, like lines upon a map. Narrow winding lanes, half buried between their flower covered banks, conduct to its picturesque recesses, where, away from the busy haunts of men, the honeysuckled cottage excites the wanderer's admiration, embosomed as it is in poetry and peace, and where the primitive farm house holds out to him its old fashioned openhearted hospitality. Anon some crumbling ruin, or some majestic ancient pile, arrests his eager footsteps, and with a silence more eloquent than words, may preach to him a solemn lesson.

Directing his gaze along the glorious landscape, he detects the tiny river, like a vein of virgin silver, threading its early course among the distant meadows which the wild flowers are ' painting with delight.' Further down he beholds it approach ing some pleasant little village, half hidden by orchards, where the blacksmith rings out joyful music, and where the school children are gamboling upon the green. Again it stretches away and glistens in the sunshine among the quiet velvet meadows yon der, in which the famous ' great red cows of Devon ' THE VALLEY. are quietly pasturing. And now, still flowing on wards, and gradually augmenting, it winds about a pleasant country town, which rises picturesquely from its banks along the hill side, and forms a pleasing object in the distant landscape.

A little further down, where man and his habitations for a while are left again, a sparkling tributary renders up to it the liquid treasures of a charming little valley, into the umbrageous recesses of which the gazer's eye can linger with delight. And returning to the stream which he has traced so far, he beholds it widening as it flows along, and sobering like the life of an aged man which is passing solemnly away. He remarks that towards the bottom of the valley the hills recede to form a more expanded plain for the stately river to roll itself along, and also that the craggy cliffs with which those hills are abruptly terminated in the sea beyond, form not unfitting portals for the glorious exit. And then arises the spontaneous reflec tion, that like as the stream is received into the ocean which is rolling yonder like the breathings of a troubled bosom, even so is the river of the Present perpetually swallowed up by the ocean of the Future — even so are the fleeting things of Time borne away for ever into the mysterious unfathomableness of the Eternity beyond !

But before setting out upon our imaginary wanderings through the valley into which we have thus taken a kind of bird's eye glance, in anticipation of GEOLOGY. the beauties which we shall have to explore, it will be necessary to clear the way by the disposal of sundry miscellaneous topics which cannot be more appro priately discussed than in an introductory chapter : — And in order to ' begin at the beginning,' it will be desirable to take a rapid survey of the geological formation of the valley. Sir Henry De La Beche, in his invaluable ' Geological Report of Cornwall, Devon, and West Somerset,' describes the process by which, in common with other geologists, he supposes the valleys in this particular part of the district were originally formed. Grounding the theory upon the remarkable fact that nearly all the ranges of green sand hills which extend for a great distance along the verge of Devon, Somerset, and Dorset, are of about a uniform height, and that in most cases the strata of the hills on one side of a valley are found to cor respond in arrangement and direction with the strata of the hills on the opposite side, it is concluded that there was a time when those hills were united, or rather, when what are now valleys were parts of one and the same level range of table land, in which the action of running water upon the soft and yielding soil, operating for countless centuries, scooped out by degrees the numerous valleys which now diversify and adorn the landscape.

This may seem a startling tale to those who are not familiar with the wonders which geology is continually revealing ; but any one who thoughtfully brings his mind to bear upon the GEOLOGY. facts on which the theory is founded, and remembers the peculiarities of form and direction of our own particular valley, for example,— winding as it does towards the sea, and increasing in width as it advances downwards, precisely as the volume of water must have increased — will find it easy to receive as a scientific truth, conclusions which are really by no means speculative, but have been arrived at by a process of the strictest philosophical induction. It must be remembered, however, that the formation of all valleys is not pretended to be attributed to aqueous agency, and that the theory to which we have referred is only, in this instance, of local, though of course not of exclusive, application.

The materials of the hills out of which the valley of the Axe is formed, are green-sand, as already hinted, resting upon beds of lias and new red sandstone — the whole surmounted, on some of the hills in the upper part of the valley, by a thin stratum of chalk. The inferior oolite also appears in that part of the valley, and near Hawk church and Ford Abbey. The lias shows itself near Axminster ; and the new red sandstone, in the form of marl, one of the component parts of that bed, be comes conspicuous from that town downwards, — particularly on the western side of the valley. The presence of marl is a sure indication of fertility, and the lias contains inexhaustible treasures in the fossil remains ef the plants and animals of the pre-Adamite earth. AGRICULTURE. 7 From geology to agriculture is a natural transition.

The farms in the valley of the Axe, in common with those throughout the comity of Devon, are generally small ; but they are rich in dairy produce, and while it must be confessed that the ridges of a few of the hills have a shallow flinty soil, hardly capable of supporting sheep, yet the hill-sides generally are put to excellent tillage, and the plains are very rich as grazing ground. On the marl of the lower parts are extensive and lux uriant orchards, from which large quantities of the far-famed Devonshire cider are annually produced. The name of the river is of obvious etymology. In common with the names of many other natural objects, it has descended to us from a time when a language was spoken in this country of which such names are almost the only relics — a language which has for centuries been superseded as completely as the aboriginal race itself with which it was verna cular.

The root of the word is ancient British, and signifies ivater. Of the same origin, also, are the names of Usk, Exe, and those of many other rivers, similarly modernised. In Ptolemy's ' Description of the British Island Albion,' the Axe, according to Horsley, is called Alænus — the name by which it was known to the Romans. The natives, however, at the same time, undoubtedly retained the original name, which, with a slight alteration, as already stated, has been transmitted to us through the event ful changes of succeeding centuries. AND FORTS. Among the relics of the past which every district more or less contains, those which refer to the Ro man occupation of the country, and to a more remote period, must always present indisputable claims to the attention of the modern investigator. In the remains of old mural fortifications, we can easily read the condition of the country at the pe riod to which they point, when rude and hostile tribes were incessantly engaged in the defence of their own territories and in making aggressions upon the territories of their neighbours ; and the ancient roads and trackways suggest a more pleasing train of contemplation, in the requirements of the increasing civilization which they bespeak.

Perhaps few locali ties of like extent contain more interesting remains of both these kinds than the valley which we have undertaken to describe. Of its numerous hill for tresses we shall speak in future pages, but it may be worth while, in this place, to take a hasty glance at the ancient roads which intersected it in every direc tion, for their few existing remains are rapidly disap pearing before the unsparing utilitarianism of modern times. That those ancient roads should have been numerous in this part of the country, will not excite surprise, when it is remembered that the West of England was precisely the place where they were earliest required for the natives to carry on that commercial intercourse with the Greeks and Phœni cians which commenced at a period far beyond authentic record.

The ancient British, however, in all probability, never carried the art of road-making to very great perfection. Their roads, which wound along the hills, from fortress to fortress, and from the mining districts to the coast, were little better than mere beaten trackways, over which their merchandise was earned upon pack horses. ! It is to the Romans, therefore, who adopted those trackways, and straight ened and improved them in their own peculiar and wonderful manner, that we are mainly indebted for the interesting fragments which remain, as we un doubtedly are for the principal modern roads, which have been formed upon the ancient foundations. 2 It is said, though on what authority we are not informed, that the original trackways were made by a British king named Molmutius, about the year A. M. 3527, and that Agricola gave them a more regular form and character. 3 But the greatest improvements were made by Trajan, who thoroughly repaired and leveUed them, and built bridges over the principal rivers.

The remains of some of those bridges exist to this day, especially in the form of foundations upon which subsequent bridges have been erected. ' The Romans,' says Tacitus, ' com pelled the Britons to wear out and consume their bodies and hands in repairing the roads, clearing 1 Wright's ' The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon.' 2 Ibid. 3 Phelps's 'Jlislory of Somerset! Vol. I, p. 130. C woods, and paving fens, for the passage of the troops, the conveyance of provisions, and other civil and military purposes.' Four principal roads were thus constructed by the Romans, upon the ancient British trackways. Two of these roads passed through a considerable portion of the valley of the Axe, and innumerable branches from the main roads crossed the country in different directions. Although but little of their actual re mains exist, as may be expected after the lapse of so many centuries, yet the means have not been wanting by which to trace them with minuteness and certainty.1 The names of the two roads alluded to, are ' the Ikeneld Street,' 2 or the 'Vialcenia,' which com menced on the coast of Norfolk, the country of the Iceni, and led to the Land's End, — and ' the Fosse way,' which, in the words of an old chronicler, went ' fram the south-west to north-est into Englonde's end.' The Ikeneld went from Dorchester to Eggar dun fort and Bridport, and entered the valley of the Axe near Hunter's Lodge, where it crossed the Lyme Regis and Crewkerne turnpike road, and passed down Gore lane to Axminster.

Thence it pro- 1 Among the most successful of those who have given their attention to this interesting and difficult subject, must be mentioned Mr. Davidson, of Secktor House, whose work on ' The British and Roman Remains in the Vicinity of Axminster ' displays great research, and is an invaluable record of facts and observations of local and general interest. 2 The word street, or strete, is derived from the Latin Stratum, and frequently occurs in the names of places on the line of the ancient roads. ceeded over Kilmington common to Cockroad, Mor cock's Hill, Hembury Fort, and Exeter. A branch of the same road left Morcombelake and passed through Charmouth and Lyme Regis over the hills to Colyford, Sidbury and Woodbury Castles, and Exeter — throwing off a branch at Colyford to Hem bury Fort through Colyton, where its course is indicated by the name of Ridgeway.

A branch of the Ikeneld also proceeded from Dor chester, which in those remote ages was a place of great importance, as its numerous remains attest, ' and passing very nearly along the present road to Crewkerne, through Maiden Newton and the Hore Stones (themselves a relic of the ancient road, in which they served as a boundary mark), it led over Beaminster Down and Horn Hill, through Broad winsor, to the forts on Pillesdon Pen and Lambart's Castle, — thence over Hawkchurch Common, through what are now for the most part enclosures, to Stan bury, or, as it is vulgarly called, Stammery Hill, and Secktor, to Lane Orchard, where it joined the main line. At this place, also, it threw out a short branch across the fields, where its traces still exist, to Evil 1 Maiden Castle, near Dorchester, the site of the original town, is a very extensive and interesting ancient British Fort, which was subsequently adopted by the Romans ; and the amphitheatre, near the station of the Southampton and Dorchester Railway, is one of the most perfect of its kind in the kingdom.

Barrows and forts, indeed, in this interesting locality, arrest the eye in every direction. See Savage's ' History of Dorchester.' Lane, and met the Fosseway at its entrance to Ax minster, whence a branch went on to Musbury and Hochsdun Castles, and the mouth of the Axe. What appears to be a portion of this ancient branch was distinctly visible during the last summer on the present turnpike road, near the gateway to Stedcombe House. The fact of such a road leading direct to Axmouth is sufficient proof of the importance of the place at that early period — an importance, indeed, which the voice of tradition very confidently affirms. The Fosseway, which was the great ancient road from Bath and llchester to Exeter and the West, has given considerable trouble to the antiquaries who have attempted to trace it beyond Petherton Bridge, to which point its course is sufficiently clear.

Mr. Davidson, however, appears to have set the matter at rest in a manner which admits of no dispute, and the reader who wishes to pursue the subject — since we profess to give only a rapid sketch of the course of the main lines, and of a few of their principal branches — will do well to consult his work, and to compare it with the account of those ancient roads in Lysons's ' Magna Britannia.' From the ancient ford over the Parrott at Pether ton Bridge, the Fosse appears to have proceeded, in one of its branches, to Watergore ' and Dinnington, 1 The name gore, which is applied to so many of our old muddy lanes, appears to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon gor, dirt. The propriety of its modern application is indisputable. whence it passed the higher lodge of Hinton Park, and proceeded to Chillington Down and along the hill by Windwhistle to White Down.

It then passed over Chard Common, and through the hamlets of Street and Perry Street, to Titherleigh and Strete ford, now Weycroft Bridge. Here it crossed the river and passed by Millbrook into the town of Axminster, throwing a trajectus up Stony Lane to join the Ikeneld, which it also joined in the centre of the town, at the ancient fort which is supposed to have occupied the site of the present market-place, and proceeded with the Ikeneld in the different directions already indicated. ' A Roman vicinal way, originally of British construction, appears also to have led from Neroche Castle over Buckland Hill, through White stanton, to Baaley Down, where it divided — one branch leading to Membury Castle and Axminster, and the other over Smallridge Hill, where, as well as on Baaley Down, it may be traced along the turf to Weycroft Bridge, or Streteford, where it joined the Fosse.

Weycroft also appears to have been the point of junction with a vicinal way which branched from the Fosse at Whitedown, and passing Ford Abbey, Highridge, Parkway or Portway, Sylvanus's Wood, Olditch, and Cansey wood (a corruption of Causeway wood), 2 led directly to Lambart's Castle — 1 'British and Roman Remains in the Vicinity of Axminster.' p. 34. 2 All those names are remarkably significant, and leave no doubt as (o the course of this ancient road. a branch being thrown off to Weycroft along the ridge of the hill. The Ikeneld and Fosse were connected by vicinal ways in several parts of their course. Such a con necting branch diverged from the main road at Wynniard's gap, where there are the remains of an ancient entrenchment, ' and it appears to have passed through the parishes of North Perrott, Haselbury, West Chinnock, and Chiselborough, reaching the fort on Ham Hill and joining the Fosse near Stoke.

Another, not mentioned by any previous writer, very probably passed from the road near Lambart's Castle to a junction with the Fosse near Windwhistle. Its course would seem to be distinctly indicated by certain names which are often found along the ancient roads, such as Cold Harbor, Stony Knapps, and Wayford. Cold Harbor is always a safe indication. It is derived partly from the British and partly from the Gallic. Col, in the former language, signifies an eminence, and arbhar, in the latter, an army. Hence the united words mean, undoubtedly, a statio mili taris, or resting place. 2 The term stony is simply a corruption of the ancient name of the road itself — the stone-way, from the materials with which it was 1 This in some works is called, without due consideration, a Roman fort. It is, undoubtedly, in common with nearly all the other remains of a similar character in the locality, of ancient British formation, although subsequently used by the Romans in their subjugation of the country. 2 Sec Sir Richard Colt Hoare's 'Ancient Wiltshire.' constructed. ' Wayford requires no explanation.

Among the other vicinal ways, we shall mention only that which diverged from the Ikeneld at the foot of Barrowshot Hill, between Hunter's Lodge and Axminster. It passed down Woodbury and Fairy (or Farway2) lanes, near Wick, 3 to join the road which led to Axmouth and Seaton. 1 Yitruvius has given exact directions for making* a road. They began, it appears, by making two paraUel furrows, of the intended width of the road, and then removed all the loose earth between them till they came to the hard solid ground, and they filled up this excavation with fine earth hard beaten in. This first layer was called the pavimentum. Tspon it was laid the first bed of the road, consisting of small squared stones, nicely ranged on the ground, which was sometimes left dry, but often a large quantity of fresh mortar was poured into it.

This layer was termed statumen. The next was called rudus or ruderatio, and consisted of a mass of small stones, broken to pieces and mixed with lime, in the proportion of one part of broken stones to two parts of lime. The third layer, or bed, which was termed nucleus, was formed of a mixture of lime, chalk, pounded or broken tiles, or earth, beaten together, or of gravel, or sand and lime mixed with clay. Upon this was laid the surface or pavement of the road, which was called technically summum dorsum, or summa crusta. It was composed sometimes of stones set like the paving stones in our streets, and sometimes of flag-stones cut square or polygonally, and also, probably oftener, of a firm bed of gravel and lime. The roads were thus raised higher than the surrounding grounds, and on this account the mass was termed agger.