ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



These remains on the south bank, of the Nene — a small town or 

 village inside a rampart and ditch, with graveyards and potteries round 

 it — are balanced by similar remains on the north bank. The Roman 

 road which traversed the southern settlement helped to connect the two. 

 It crossed the water by a bridge of stone and wood, traces of which were 

 found and removed in 171 5; thence, while it itself pursued its north- 

 westerly course towards Stamford, one or more branches diverged to the 

 north and north-east.* These gave access to an extensive settlement, 

 stretching from Normangate (or Normanton) Field by the river up to 

 Castor and the rising ground, the distance of nearly a mile. No trace 

 has yet been detected of any rampart or ditch enclosing it or any part 

 of it,"* but the dwelling houses in it seem tp have been numerous and 

 have been more fully explored than those south of the river. Morton, 

 Stukeley, Gibson and others have recorded frequent accidental finds of 

 walls, pavements, small objects, partly in Normangate Field and still 

 more in Castor village near the parish church.' Artis largely increased 

 our knowledge by excavation. In Nor- 

 mangate Field he found houses with 

 baths, tessellated floors and gaily painted 

 walls, placed somewhat indiscriminately 

 with numerous potters' kilns in the same 

 quarter. Nearer Castor he thought to de- 

 tect regular streets, and in Castor village 

 he dug up parts of interesting houses 

 scattered over an area of about twelve 

 acres round the church. The surviving 

 records of his work do not unfortunately 

 enable us to understand precisely the 

 character of all his discoveries. A cor- 

 respondent of the Gentleman s Magazine 

 (1822, i. 484), who visited the site 

 in 1822, mentions a house with at least 

 56 rooms occupying a space of 500—600 

 feet square, but this is probably an error. 



Certainly it cannot be identified in Artis' , ,.„ . ,. ,. „ - 



plans. We can however realize that he j, „ „ 



r " 1 1 1 • 1 ^'°- 5- Bath-housb at Castor. 



found many houses, and we have his plans 



of one complete building and parts of 



three others. The complete building is a detached bath-house (fig. 5) 



situated near the Peterborough and Wansford road about a hundred yards 



south of the church ; it is 93 feet long by 58 feet at its greatest breadth, 



* These branches require further examination. Artis marks two running north-east to Castor. 

 The road due north to Lolham Bridges (p. 204) must also have diverged here. 



* Stukeley alleges foundations of a town wall (Itinerarlum Curioium, p. 82), but his account is not 

 satisfactory. Probably he saw part of a house afterwards examined by Artis. 



' Morton, p. 509; Stukeley's Leilas, ii. 213, iii. 56-9 ; Gibson's Castor, p. 86. A mosaic was 

 found in the churchyard in 1733, Minutes of the Peterborough Gentlemen's Society, Journal of the 

 British Archaoh^cal Association, new ser. v. 147. 



171 



