It probably, as in so many other places, consisted
of a few piers of massive masonry, and great beams, probably wide apart,
formed the roadway. The line of coins found in the Thames may have been
dropped as offerings to the river-god, or merely by careless passengers.
They dated back to republican times, and ended only with the last years
of the Roman occupation, long after the introduction of Christianity. It
may be mentioned here that in the catalogue of Roach Smith (1854), from
which we have borrowed some illustrations, is an account of a box which
had perished, but which had contained tiers of iron coins, plated with
silver, oxydised together in masses, being obviously base money coined
to pass current in Britain in the reign of Claudius, A.D. 41. It was
discovered in King William Street, almost the centre of the old fort.
Forged _denarii_ of lead or brass formed the larger part of those found
in the Thames. The bridge was probably in a line with Botolph Lane, the
old London Bridge of Peter of Colechurch being higher up, and the
present London Bridge higher again. The Roman Bridge, frequently
repaired, and frequently, too, broken down--as when Anlaf, the Dane,
sailed up the Thames with his fleet in 993--was finally removed in
favour of the nineteen arches and a drawbridge, which subsisted until
1831. (The site of the Roman Bridge is discussed in a paper on "Recent
Discoveries in Roman London," in volume lx. of _Archaelogia_.)

[Illustration: THE GATES OF THE CITY: ALDERSGATE AND BRIDGEGATE.]

Such, then, was Roman London during the greater part of the Roman
occupation of Britain--as it is still, a city of suburbs.

Of the date of the building of the wall we have no certainty. A recent
writer finds fault with my cautious statement in _Historic London_ that
"in 350 London had no wall," and would substitute 360. The wall was
certainly built about that time or a little later, but may have been
begun long before. It is evident that such a piece of work was not
completed in a single year, even under the Roman Emperors. Perhaps--it
is too easy to form theories--Constantine (Stow says _Helena_) projected
it and left it to be finished by his successors. It had been completed
by the reign of Theodosius, about A.D. 368.

The course of the new wall, according to Stow, was from the Tower to
Aldgate, thence to Bishopsgate, and from Bishopsgate to Aldersgate, with
a postern at Cripplegate. Next came Newgate, and Ludgate was towa