得

Water-mills, all within the compass of three Miles; befides a Ford, call Overgang, probably so named by the Scots, upon paffing this River at that Place; the Word Gang being of [] Scotifh Extraction. These numerous Communications were made for the Sake and Convenience of carrying on the Traffic of Wheat; and the no less numerous Mills (all of them to this Day Corn-mills) were erected with a View to the fame End; for it does not appear, from the oldest Records, that ever any Manufacture was established here, or any where near, fo as to make this Village a Thorough-fare.

So noted was this Place, even fince the Conqueft, that it appears to have been made a Guide or Direction to the more obfcure Villages adjacent; for in a Chartulary of the Grants to St. John's Abbey in Colchester, I find that Gefrey de Amble gave four Acres of Land at Elmfert, near (ignotum per notum) WHEATFIELD.

Neither Poft, Coach, nor Stage-Waggon, sets out from hence, nor are they in the least wanted; for the Waggons, Tumbrels, and Horfes of the Places are always fufficient to carry out the Inhabitants and their Commodities, as far as they have ever Occasion to go; and the fingle Postage of a Letter to London will amply pay a Meflenger to the ut moft Extent of their Correfpondence.

[6] Johnson's Dict.

WHEAT.

WHEATFIELD was called by the Romans, VILLA FRUMENTARIA, and fometimes, hyperbolically, SICILIA BRITANNICA, for the Excellency and Plenty of Wheat growing therein. The Saxons called it WHATEFELD, WHATE fignifying Wheat,andFELDField; which theModerns, for want of Skill in the Saxon Tongue, mistaking its Etymology, now corruptly call WHATFIELD. There are not wanting learned Men, I confefs, who adhere to the Vulgar Reading; and in fupport of it fuppofe, that the Saxons, out of Surprize and Amazement at the Fertility of the Place, cried out, What Feld! And from that Moment, according to the capricious and licentious Nomination of Men and Things of those Times, called it WHATFELD.

It appears to have been a Roman Station, from the freuent [c] Fole in many Parts of the Villa; and by the [d] Coins often plough'd up in a Field called Caftle Field, to have been in their Hands from the Beginning of Claudius to the Death of Valentinian IIId; when the Roman Eagle took its Flight from

[c] Dion. Amm. Mar.

[d] Camden tells us, that from the Time of Claudius to that of Valentinian, the Roman Coin only was current in this Nation. It is certain all the Coins found here begin and end at thofe Æra's. Upon all the Reverses are either CERES AVGVSTA or CERES FRVGIFERA, with Emblems of Wheat Ears and Cornucopiae; from which. Circumftance I collect that this particular Money was coined for the Ufe of this Village, and that its Currency probably never exceeded the Boundaries of it.

Britain

Britain. There art no remains of the Cafile; but, from the Eminence and Convenience of its Situation, it was excellently adapted to overlook the Aratores in tilling the Ground, and the Messores in reaping and gathering in the Harvest: For which reafon it was probably the [e] Caftellum of a Prefectus Annona, or Frumenti.

Not a Roman Stadium to the Weft, there is a very uncouth Declivity, and a Pit, where, no doubt, was the Fornew calcaria, to make Lime for building the Caftle; the Soil being Chalk, and the Field called to this Day, according to the Saxon Tranflation, CYLN FELD, KILN-FIELD.

Toward the Eaft ftands an Edifice emphatically called the Fornax: Here was erected a Fornax Lateraria, as appears from the Excavations in many Parts about it (now converted into Fish-ponds) and from the broken Roman Tegula and Lateres, found frequently in the adjacent Fields.

Part of the Parish Church is manifeftly Roman, but how much larger the Structure was, and for what Ufe, is not fo apparent: Perhaps, as it lies upon the [f] Via Icenorum, it was a Horreum, or Granary; which Suppofition is much strengthened by its fubfequent Ufe; for nothing could have induced the good Bifhop to fuffer a Heathen Building to be converted into a Chriftian Church, but that

[e] Rofin, Antiquit.

[f] Ant. Itin.

particular

particular Circumftance of its having been a Repofitory for Wheat; that Grain being fo often made ufe of fymbolically to signify something much better.

The Parfonage Houfe, encompaffed by a Moat, is an ancient, though not a Roman Building; but it is not without fome extraneous Ornaments of Roman Architecture, picked up perhaps from the Ruins of the [g] Temple erected to Claudius, which poffibly stood in the fame place, furrounded with [b] Water for the Convenience of Sacrificing. In a Cornice of exquifite Workmanship; there is a large Roman C, and fome imperfect Figures of the Date V. C. but the Ignorance of fome modern Inhabitant has defaced it, either by prefixing the initial Letter of his own Christian Name, or by giving a ridiculous Tail to another Roman C (infcribed perhaps C. C. Claudius Cæfar) and fo converting it into G; whom upon fearching the Parish Regifter, I take to have been the fimple Rector, one George Carter.

In a Garden of modern Difpofition belonging to the Parfonage, formerly called the Orchard, ftands a Grecian Temple, built according to the Model Andronicus Cyrceftes gave to the Athenians. It is an Octogon, fupported by eight Ionic Pillars; which Order being facred to Bacchus, Apollo, Ceres, and Diania, it was, no doubt, dedicated to one of those Deities; and most probably to Ceres, as it is furrounded by some very rich Land, and looks over a

[g] Tac. Dion.

[] Erafm. Adag.

very fertile Country; it being customary to build Temples in the Places most agreeable to the Deities. There is an Infcription upon the Entablature of one of the Pillars, that indeed puts it past all Difpute; for though defaced in fome letters, it is most easy to fill it up with the Name, &c. of that Deity, CFPEPIS SVNT OMNIA MV NVS, (i. e.) CERERIS SUNT OMNIA MUNUS [i].

Some learned Antiquaries are of opinion, that this Temple among other Spoils of Greece, was brought to Rome, and afterwards tranfported to Britain, and placed where it now ftands, by Claudius Cæfar: But there is one fatal Objection to this Account, and that is the Latin Infcription upon it; for Claudius was a Scholar, understood Greek, and valued Antiquities, and would not have been guilty of fuch an Inconfiftency as to write in Latin upon an ancient Grecian Building: It is therefore much more probable, that this Temple was built here according to the Grecian Order, and dedicated and infcribed at the fame time it was erected. It ftands upon a very high Hill, open to the [] rifing Sun, and the Frontifpiece is placed towards the Weft, according to the Cuftom of moft Nations, who worshiped upon the [/] Tops of Mountains, with their Faces to the

[i] Sunt pro fumus. I cannot but obferve the great Ingenuity of Claudius in his Choice of this Verfe from Ovid. It is not picked up, like modern Quotations, from Pafages, in all Respects but the mere Words, foreign to the Subject, but is taken from a folemn Invocation upon the very Deity to whom the Temple is dedicated.

[*] Vitruv.

[] Archbishop Porter, Lycoph. adverf. 42. Eaft