esterfield
is thus most interesting: for here we have two Roman Stations, each of
which must once have had two alternative names; but in the one case the
old Roman name has ultimately prevailed, and in the other case the
modern English one.

The second best example of a Caster, perhaps, is Lancaster. In all
probability this is the station which appears in the _Notitia Imperii_
as Longovico, an oblique case which it might be hazardous to put in the
nominative, seeing that it seems rather to mean the town on the Lune or
Loan than the Long Village. Here, as in many other cases, the formative
element, vicus, is exchanged for Ceaster, and we get something like
Lon-ceaster or finally Lancaster. Other remarkable Casters are
Brancaster in Norfolk, once Branadunum (where the British termination
_dun_ has been similarly dropped); Ancaster in Lincolnshire, whose
Roman name is not certainly known; and Caistor, near Norwich, once
Venta Icenorum, a case which may best be considered under the head of
Winchester. On the other hand, Tadcaster gives us an instance where the
Roman prefix has apparently been entirely altered, for it appears in
the Antonine Itinerary (according to the best identification) as
Calcaria, so that we might reasonably expect it to be modernised as
Calcaster. Even here, however, we might well suspect an earlier
alternative title, of which we shall get plenty when we come to examine
the Chesters; and in fact, in Baeda, it still bears its old name in a
slightly disguised form as Kaelca ceaster.

First among the softer forms, let us examine the interesting group to
which Chester itself belongs. Its Roman name was, beyond doubt, Diva,
the station on the Dee--as Doncaster is the station on the Don, and
Lancaster the station on the Lune. Its proper modern form ought,
therefore, to be Deechester. But it would seem that in certain places
the neighbouring rustics knew the great Roman town of their district,
not by its official title, but as the legion's Camp--Castra Legionis.
At least three such cases undoubtedly occur--one at Deva or Chester;
one at Ratae or Leicester; and one at Isca Silurum or Caerleon-upon-Usk.
In each case the modernisation has taken a very different form. Diva
was captured by the heathen English king, AEthelfrith of Northumbria, in
a battle rendered famous by Baeda, who calls the place 'The City of
Legions.' The Latin compilation by some Welsh writer, ascribed to
Nennius, calls it Cair Legion, whic