Caveat emptor

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Verulamium’s theater was finally built about twenty years after this story is set, and its remains can still be seen. The site of the Great Hall lies just across the road, but its foundations are buried deep beneath Saint Michael’s Church, and with them the putative location of the strong room. Sadly, no details of the town Council’s business-unruly or otherwise-survive. The more respectable of the proceedings here are based on bronze tablets recording the constitution of the Roman town of Irni in Seville.

Anyone who shares my delight in obscure facts will be pleased to know that there really was a crackdown on abuses of the transport system in the early years of Hadrian’s reign, including a survey of British milestones, although the name of the procurator who would have been in charge of them is not known. Nor is the location of his office, but it seemed reasonable to place such an important man in one of the grandest buildings in town.

A couple of good books for anyone wanting more detailed background are:

Verulamium: The Roman City of St Albans by Rosalind Niblett

The Coinage of Roman Britain by Richard Reece.

Many readers will already have had the pleasure of visiting Verulamium Museum and park, the British Museum, and the Museum of London. For those who cannot make the trip, all have good Web sites, and at the time of writing, the Museum of London’s Online Collections include a fascinating microsite exploring Roman London at: http://www. museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Collections/OnlineResources/Londinium/.

Finally, for anyone lucky enough to stumble across something our ancestors left behind, or who wants to see what others have found, www.finds.org.uk is the place to look.