A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



church or somewhere else near them cannot be decided, and for the 

 moment does not matter. In any case the mileage was counted from 

 Castor, not ' the Castles,' and Castor must have been the chief place at 

 some time or other, either when the mileage was first calculated or when 

 the milestone was erected in a.d. 276. But the relation of Castor to 

 the walled enclosure on the other bank of the Nene is not at all clear, 

 and indeed can only be determined by excavation. At present we know 

 of the southern settlement that it was walled and contained dwelling 

 houses, but we know very little about those houses ; while of the 

 northern settlement we know much about the houses but we do not 

 know whether it was walled. Our evidence leads us however to believe 

 that in character of civilization the two were substantially the same. 



The inhabitants of the district were ordinary civilians, strangers to 

 Roman official and military life. Their chief employment probably 

 and their chief source of wealth lay in the pottery works so often men- 

 tioned in the preceding paragraph.' These works were very extensive ; 

 they produced a remarkable ware which was in origin native or Celtic, 

 though in detail it shows Roman influences. Its peculiar features may 

 more fitly be described in a separate section (p. 207) ; here we are con- 

 cerned with it only as illustrating the economic character of the place. 

 It is interesting to note the occupation of the dwellers round this 

 imperfectly constituted town ; it is no less interesting to note that in a 

 place where Celtic and Roman systems of habitation seem to meet we 

 can also trace a fusion of Celtic and Roman ceramic traditions. But in 

 general the population was doubtless Romanized thoroughly. Mosaics 

 and hypocausts show the usual Italian types ; Samian pottery was freely 

 used ; the Roman gods were worshipped. On this Romano-British site 

 we can trace more native elements than on many similar sites. But the 

 Roman element has triumphed over them. 



{b) IRCHESTER 



Irchester is a village and parish two miles east-south-east from 

 Wellingborough on the south bank of the Nene. Here, half a mile from 

 the village, is a large arable field called Burrow Field, which slopes gently 

 northwards to the river's edge ; immediately east of it are the buildings 

 of Chester House. The Roman 'camp' occupies Burrow Field and a 

 little more, and Roman remains found outside it stretch away eastwards 

 past Chester House. The Roman name of the site is unknown — no 

 serious student has even ventured to guess at it. The English name 

 affords no clue ; the first half of it probably embodies an English personal 



' Two other industries have been alleged, (i) Artis thought that he had discovered iron works, 

 especially near Wansford and beyond it towards Bedford Purlieus (p. 189), and he figures one of the 

 iron furnaces (pi. xxv.). But Mr. William Gowland tells me that this furnace is certainly not an iron 

 furnace ; it may be connected with pottery works. Until further evidence is obtained therefore Artis' 

 iron works must be considered doubtful, (z) Stukeley had a wild idea about a service of cornboats 

 down the Nene, which still finds credence with some writers. No manner of evidence for it exists 

 and there is no special probability in it. I doubt whether in Roman days the Nene is likely to have 

 had at the end of the corn harvest a sufficiency of continuously deep water for the purpose. 



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