been pulled off their original foundations during the demolition of the building was negatived by the fact that in the last instance the older base was covered with a couple of courses of roughly laid flat sandstones, in all eight and a half inches deep, which came to the level of the edge of the splay of the stone base, and which must have formed part of the paving of the ambulatory (Plate IX., Fig. 3). It is extremely important to note these details, as they furnish evidence of one at least of the changes which the building had undergone, a change which must have taken place when it was last reconstructed.
Small Chamber
The floor of the courtyard had been covered with gravel; at the entrance the gravelled road leading into the building was very distinct. Standing within the courtyard, immediately beyond the entrance, was the foundation of what appeared to have been a small chamber (2), (Plate X., Fig. 1). It measured internally eleven feet two inches square, and the wall of red sandstone was two feet five inches thick. It was carefully built with hammer-dressed stones about one foot long by six inches deep, of which the first course and a single stone of a second remained. The north, south, and east sides lay on cobbles, the west wall on hard impacted gravel, perhaps an old road. Gravel lay above the wall, and it seemed possible that the building had been pulled down and its foundations covered over in the last period of occupation. The plans of forts in Britain do not furnish any parallel to this chamber. Something of the same kind, however, is to be seen at the Saalburg, where a square foundation occupies a Site against the ambulatory in the outer courtyard. A similar foundation occurs at Butzbach,[1] but there also the building stands at the side against the ambulatory. In neither of these cases did excavation give any detail which enabled the purpose of the building to be inferred. At Newstead it was carefully cleared out, but beyond some fragments of melted lead no remains were found within. The position of this small building in the outer courtyard appears to be unique. It may have formed part of an older Principia that looked west. But there is also the possibility that it may have been a shrine.[2] According to Hyginus, an altar appears to have stood in a similar position in front of the general's quarters in a field encampment.
The Well and its Contents
To the right of the small chamber was a deep pit. This occupied a
1 Der Obergermanisch-Raetische Limes, Lief. I, Kastell Butzbach, p. 7.
2 Professor Bosanquet makes the interesting suggestion that the building may have served as a guard-house.
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