A Letter from Mr. Ralph Thoresby, F. R. S. to Dr. Hans Sloane, R. S. Secr. concerning Some Roman Antiquities Observed in Yorkshire

VI. A Letter from Mr. Ralph Thoresby, F.R.S., to Dr. Hans Sloane, R.S. Secr. concerning some Roman Antiquities observed in Yorkshire. Leeds, April 23, 1709. Honoured SIR, THERE have some Roman Monuments been lately found amongst the Ruins upon Adel or Echop-Moor, but having no legible Inscriptions, they are not worth troubling you with the Draughts of them, only their Size seem'd strange to me at first; that there should be Altars so small, was indeed no surprize, I having one (inserted in the New Britannia, p.782.) little different; but that any other sort of Commemorative Monuments should be so little as eighteen Inches high, and only six broad, was new to me, till I found others as small, tho' of richer Materials, being Marble, in the Noble Collections of Christopher Wren Esq; and Mr. Kempe; whereas these are of a very course Stone, as Dr. Lister has truly observed, most of those found in the North are. One of these, as appears by the Discus, has been evidently one of their portable Altars; but another instead of the Hearth, having three intire Rolls or Wreaths, 'tis certain was never design'd for that purpose. When the Vestigia of this Roman Station were first discovered, (of which see Numb. 282 of the Philosoph. Transactions) I was ready to fancy it to have been the Adellocum of the Ancients, from some remains of the Name in the present Adle or Adel, as it is writ both in the Monastic Anglic. and some ancient Charts in my possession; but when I was last at London, having by the fa- vour of Peter Le Neve Esq; Norroy King at Arms, an opportunity of perusing that Venerable Record Domeday-Book in the Exchequer, I found besides Adele and Echope beforementioned, another Place in the Neighbourhood, call'd Burgbedurum or Burgdunum, which I am now ready to conclude, was the Ancient Roman Name of this Station: That the Itinerary is silent herein, is no Argument against it; for none, I presume, do imagine that the Names of all the Towns in the Province are there recited, but only such as lie upon those Roads that are particularly mention'd; but that it has, at least, the Appearance of a Roman Name may be argued, because Burgi was the common Name whereby they called such Castles or Forts as were convenient for War, and well stored with Provisions of Corn, as appears by the Authorities quoted by Camden and Burton in their Notes upon the Roman Verterae, or Burgh under Stanemoor; and the Burgundians rec'd their Name from their inhabiting such Castles; and to me it seems probable, that the small squared Stones, wherewith the very Antique Church at Adel is built, were brought from the Ruins of such a Castle, and gave rise thereby to an old Tradition, which continues to this day, that Adel-Church once stood upon Black-hill, the place where these Roman Monuments were found; the elevated situation of which place sufficiently accounts for the termination of the Name, the Gaulish or British Dunum, which signifies a Hilly or Mountainous Place, being naturalized in the Roman Provincial Language. I shall only add, that within a Mile of it, there are two scattering Houses, that do to this Day retain the Name of Burden- (for Burgdun-) Head.