Contents. ... ... BYGONE ESSEX. bhistoric Esser. BY THOMAS FROST. ESSEX, owing to its geographical position, with its eastern coast facing the North Sea, beyond which was the land of the roving Norsemen, and its southern shore washed by the estuary of the Thames, became, at an early period of English history, the scene of the struggles of successive invading races for possession of its fertile plains. Julius Cæsar, in whose relation of his wars we have the earliest information concerning the aboriginal inhabitants of our country, found it occupied by the Trinobantes, whose king, Cassibelaunus, was chosen as generalissimo of the confederated British tribes that opposed the Roman invasion. The Britons being defeated, the Trinobantes agreed to pay tribute to the conqueror, but, in other respects, they remained B independent for nearly a century afterwards. In the year 43 of the Christian era, a Roman army crossed the Thames, routed the Trinobantes, and marched on to Camulodunum, the site of the present town of Colchester, where the Emperor Claudius established a garrison, and appointed a governor. Roads were made from that town to London, then called Londinium, and to Bishop's Stortford, and thence to Verulamium, now St. Albans. A palace was built for the governor, and a temple and an amphitheatre soon rose near it. It is no wonder, therefore, that remains of Roman buildings have been found in the neighbourhood, as well as Roman coins and fragments of ancient pottery. In the itinerary of Antoninus, two of the great Roman roads are said to have passed through Essex, and, besides Camulodunum, Cæsaromagus, supposed to be Chelmsford, Canonium (Kelvedon), Durositum (near Brentwood), and Sturium (Stratford) are mentioned as Roman colonies and military stations. There were probably others, for there appears to have been a military road from Tilbury to Ongar, with a fort at Great Binstead to protect it; and at Audley End are the indications of a camp, with traces of a road thence to Chesterford. Under the Roman occupation of our island, the Britons became, to a considerable extent, Romanised; but the revolt of the Iceni, the tribe occupying the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk, for a time arrested the progress of civilisation, and made a wreck of Camulodunum. The garrisons appear to have become demoralised by the reports that reached them of the victorious march of the rebels, and they made only a faint resistance when the Iceni swarmed over the wooded hills, and were joined by thousands of the Trinobantes. Camulodunum was taken by assault, and reduced to ashes, while all the Roman colonists were massacred, without distinction of sex or age. Led by the heroic Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, the victors swept onward, and the scenes of blood and fire which Colchester had witnessed were re-enacted at Coggeshall, Rayne, and Dunmow. Suetonius Paulinus, the pro-prætor, who was then engaged in his Welsh expedition, made a forced march across the country on hearing of this formidable rising, and encountered the rebels somewhere between Epping and Waltham. They fell back upon an entrenched camp in the forest, the remains of which may be traced near Epping, |