ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Finally, in 1837, the alteration of a road from Norton to Watling 

 Street revealed great quantities of Samian and other pottery, including 

 an amphora handle stamped acirci and a pelvis (albinvs), a fibula, and 

 some ' small coins of the lower empire.' ^ Evidently the locality was 

 definitely inhabited in the Roman period, and with the evidence of the 

 Itinerary to help us we may reasonably place a ' station ' here. But we 

 must wait for further evidence before we can decide what kind of 

 'station ' stood here, whether a little town or a village, or possibly some- 

 thing that was hardly a village. 



It is possible, though it cannot be called by any means certain, that 

 Norton may possess a higher title to fame, as the early home and pre- 

 sumably the birthplace of a celebrated man in the latest Romano-British 

 days. The most ancient and trustworthy account of St. Patrick's life, 

 the ' Confessio,' which claims to have been written by himself, states 

 that he lived as a boy, and implies that he was born, at Bannavem 

 Taberniae. As it stands that name is totally unintelligible. But it is 

 easy to redivide it into Bannaventa berniae, and thus one recognizable 

 name at any rate emerges. The last three syllables unfortunately remain 

 as puzzling as before, and our suggested interpretation of the first four 

 syllables must therefore be admitted to be doubtful. But if the occur- 

 rence of the name Bannaventa is a mere accidental coincidence, it is a 

 very striking accident, and it certainly deserves a mention in this con- 

 text.^ 



The other ' station ' to which we alluded above, Tripontium, has 

 often been placed on the extreme edge of Northamptonshire at Dow- 

 bridge, where Watling Street crosses the Avon and enters Leicestershire. 

 No Roman remains however have been found here, and it is more 

 likely that the ' station ' was a mile further north, near Cave's Inn 

 farm.' 



3. Villas and Rural Dwellings 



From the country towns we pass to the country outside them. 

 The soil of Northamptonshire has revealed to us many ' villas ' and 

 vestiges of Romano-British rural life ; doubtless it still hides many 

 others for future archsologists to detect. Those which are known to 

 us, some twenty-seven in number, are distributed somewhat unevenly 

 over most parts of the county, except the central district north of 



' Morton, p. 532 (copied by Bridges, i. 541 ; Gough, AdJ. to Camden, ii. 276) ; George Baker, 

 i. 423, 425 ; Archaologia, xxxv. 392 ; M. H. Bloxam, Vnceedings of the Soc. of Antiquaries, viii. (1880) 

 325. Mr. Radburne of Thrupp Grounds showed me some twenty coins (two Hadrian, two Pius, 

 mostly Constantinian and later) found on or near his farm, and told me that he had met with founda- 

 tions, pavements and fireplaces in the fields. 



* The idea has occurred to myself (£«^yJ/A Historical Review, 1 895, p. "I i) and to others inde- 

 pendently, and has been accepted recently by Zimmer in his article ' Keltische Kirche in Britannien ' 

 in the Reakncyklopddie fUr protestantische Tkeologie, x. (ed. 3, 1 901). There appear to be palaeographical 

 and other difficulties in the way of explaining berniae as a misre.id contraction of Britanniae, nor can it 

 stand for Hiierniae. 



' Proceedings of the Soc. of Antiquivies, viii. 319-2; and reff. there given. See also the Index, /. v. 

 Lilbourne. It may be as well to add that the Brittones Triputienses, a regiment recruited in Britain 

 and quartered on the Rhine, have nothing to do with Tripontium. Their name refers to the place in 

 Germany where they were quartered. 



187 



