The sites thereof, are verifications of the words applied by Camden to Richborough, in the reign of the Virgin Queen, "to teach us that cities die as well as men, it is at this day a corn-field, wherein, when the corn is grown up, one may observe the draughts of streets crossing one another, for where they have gone, the corn is thinner." The etymon of this Roman city, we greatly fear, is a mystery, that will ever remain enshrouded in the mantle of oblivion, and we can do little else than hazard conjectural theories. The ingenious Dr. Thorpe imagined it to have been VAGNIACE, from a fancied apparent similitude in the pronunciation of "Barquefields" or "Ware's town"; as the lands in the parish of Southfleet, are indiscriminately termed to this day by the rustic population, where the Roman foundations have been discovered. This hypothesis, for many reasons, we are confident is untenable; and but few antiquaries have been, at any time, converts to the opinion. We diffidently throw out a suggestion, based likewise upon tradition*, throne was occupied by Amunoph I, (as the name is spelt according to the original monument), or Amosis or Thetmosis, (the orthography according to antient writers) and the sway of Remerri in 1476, B.C. That is to say, about the period when Britain was visited by the primal colonists. s Dr. Giles the last editor of Richard of Cirencester's Description of Britain, has servilely copied Hatcher's Commentary, published in 1809, and as a matter of course, included the errors that erudite gentleman had fallen into, through not having perambulated the county of Kent. Dover Chron. 1844-5, art. Chron. of Kent. 4 It is the ascertained and acknowledged characteristic of all antient tradition, that it preserves the substance, but alters and a mean often found to furnish true solutions of puzzling etymologies; even after ponderous tomes and massy essays have been devoted by learned writers to the elucidation of a subject. In fact, we are inclined to pay very great respect to oral tradition of names of places, transmitted, as such cognomens have been, from generation to generation; for, we are convinced, such terms were not idly invented, but have been the appellations of the localities; subject simply to the corruptions of an ignorant and uncultivated peasantry's pronunciation; we therefore take the word Sole, as the nucleus for a name to this town. But being perfectly aware that we can produce no authorities in confirmation, we throw ourselves entirely upon the mercy of the Archaeological Court, and trust we may not be too severely dealt with. In the modern German confounds the circumstances of historical truth. Foster's Hist. Geog. Arab. i., 22. In the Itineraries which have descended to our time, the namė of Sul Mago is given as a Roman station near London. Mago translated, means city. The foundations in Sole-field, are considered to be the remains of a temple dedicated to the Sun. Dr. Henry says, "all our antiquaries agree in placing Sullionace at Brockley Hills, where many Roman antiquities have been found. Mr. Baxter and some others, think that this was the capital of the famous Cassivelaunus, which was taken by Julius Cæsar."—Hist. G. Brit. ii, 423. The town of Caswallon was on the heights near Dartford, and a recent writer has contended, that the present town of Dartford stands on the site of the station of Noviomagus. Dunkin's Hist. Dartford, xxii. Dr. Giles ap. Hatcher, says Sul Mago is on the site of Mr. Napier's house at Brockley Hill. Rich. Ciren. appx. C. R. Smith, esq., F.A.S., and other archaeologists, have however repeatedly scrutinized this reputed site of Sul Mago, and after most careful examinations, have been unable to trace any Roman remains whatever. It is moreover the opinion of Mr. S., that Sul Mago was not on Brockley Hill. dictionaries, we find the word Sole rendered salt water," or salt spring; and when the tide flowed up, we are confident the waters of Springhead would hsve been rendered brackish. Edward Cresy, esq., of South Darenth, observes, in answer to a paper by Mr. A. J. Dunkin, which had appeared in "The Dover Chronicle," "that much might be said upon the etymology of the Roman city at Springhead;" a further communication has been received from that gentleman, which we have great pleasure in presenting to our readers. My dear Sir, South Darenth, 7th June, 1845. I have no doubt that the word "Sole" is derived from the word solium. Vitruvius, lib. 9, cap. 3. uses it for the basin or bath containing the water: and Pliny, in his 32nd lib. cap. 18, as the vessel in which the bathers were seated, " In solium addi," &c. In the 35th lib., cap. 46, the same writer says that Numa founded a company of potters, but that there were persons who did not like their bodies to be consumed, and their ashes to be put into vessels of pottery-" Fulilibus soliis” -but to be buried in the Pythagorean style, with their bodies entire, laid upon leaves of myrtle, olive, and black poplar, in which way M. Varro was interred. Celsus used the word solium to signify a bath, or place where bathers resorted-"Intrare et discendere in solium." The learned commentators on Vitruvius, in a note upon the passage first alluded to-" cum 6 Söhle, and without the h Sole, in modern German söle, salt water as it springs from the earth, from which salt is extracted. Heinsius: sole—sal-fluidum-wachter. Not far from the spot assumed to have been the site of the Druid temples and groves, and near the large barrow, hereafter described, on an elevated piece of ground, is a deep and never dry pond called "Sole's Pond." solium discenderet". -seem to imply it was the term made use of for the vessel or place which contained the water in which the bathers' bodies were immersed, in the same manner as the Bath, a city of Roman origin, is called " Aqua Calida," and fictile vessels contained the ashes of the bodies of the defunct. "Aqua Solis,"" and the remains of a temple were found, dedicated to the Solar Minerva, or Minerva Medica.-See Warner's History, Appendix, p. 48. The word "Sole" occurs on the map, so often in the county of Kent, that it would be worth while to trace the road or street which bears that name, and examine the various places that still retain the term. We find it first occuring near the coast at Capell Fern, or Capell Sole, near Folkestone, where a street runs in the direction of St. Radigund's, Swingfield, and other antient sites. Also in the parish of Nonington, in the hundred of Wingham, mention is made of a manor in Domesday, called Soles, Soletone, or Soltone, at West Cliff, in the hundred of Bewsborough. There seems to be some difficulty to connect all these places at present, or to trace a street through them from the coast to that point which is between Wouldham and Crundall, or near the valley of the Stour in its descent from the Wye. After this valley of the Weald was gained, a road at the foot of the downs, or chalk hills, continues almost in a straight line towards Halling; and then, by Luddesdown, to the Sole Street, in the parish of Cobham, the route is traceable enough; but the most important site is that we have already mentioned, viz. :— At Crundall, or the dale under a hill, which is a small parish north-east from Wye, containing a small number of 7 Mr. Hatcher says in a note to the author of "the Chronicles of Kent," that the name on the Bath inscription is Sulis. Speaking of Britain generally, Solinus says: "In quo spatio magna et multa flumina, fontes calidi opiparo exculti apparatu ad usus mortalium: quibus fontibus præsul est Minervæ numen, in cujus æde houses at present: it is situated on the chalk hills. In it are two streets or hamlets, one called Danewood Street, the other Sole Street, which is the principal, where is still held a fair on Whit-Monday. On Tremworth Downs, on the hill, within a mile of Crundall, some Roman remains werefound in 1678, 1703, 1713, 1757, 1759, &c.-earthenware, glass, female trinkets, a coin of Faustina (the wife of the emperor Marcus Aurelius). All the skeletons were laid with their feet to the south-west.Hasted, vol. 6, p. 369. It appears curious that a cemetery should appear near a Sole Street, at Crundall, as well as near Sole Field, at Southfleet; and from these places being used by the Romans for interment it would appear that the route called Sole Street was a very important line in those days, as they were in the habit of burying by the road side, and near to waters. Dover, Crundall, Cobham, and Southfleet, where the name of "Sole" occurs, are almost in a direct line, and Nonington may indicate a branch to Deal or Sandwich. I am satisfied that were this road examined carefully, much that is important would be elicited. Believe me, EDWARD CRESY, The present name of the River EBBSFLEET is clearly of Saxon origin, and its etymology is self-evident. Ebb-ebba, Saxon, the reflux of the tide. Fleet, fleot, flot are all derived from the Saxon Fleot, which signifies a bay or gulph, or inlet. This account is at va perpetui ignes nunquam canescunt in favillas, sed ubi ignis tabuit vertitur in globos saxeos. Solinus, cap. 22. Richard of Cirencester and later authors have applied the description to Bath. 8 From this word are derived the Kentish names of North-fleet, South-fleet and Wain-fleet in Lincolnshire. To this may be added |