ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



abounded. In 1780 the mosaic was taken up and used to mend the 

 roads. In 1821 the site was re-examined with no important results. 

 Baker estimated the whole area of the building ' as marked by the 

 disturbed surface and discoloured vegetation ' at no more than 100 feet.' 



(18) Harpole, south-west of the village. Here, in a field adjoin- 

 ing the Weedon and Northampton road on the north, near the Halfway 

 House (Red Lion) inn and the fourth milestone, a ' villa ' was detected 

 in 1846 and a small part uncovered in 1849. The principal discovery 

 was a mosaic floor with a geometrical design in red, white, buff and 

 black, which may have measured 12 by 18 feet when perfect (fig. 25). 

 Its central ornament, a red circle divided into eight parts by four white 

 diameters, has been taken to contain a Greek cross and hence to indicate 

 Christianity. So far however as I can judge, this central ornament, like 

 the whole pattern, is merely conventional and possesses no Christian or 

 other significance. The site was not explored beyond this mosaic, but 

 tessera of other pavements, tiles, bricks, potsherds were noticed and 

 indeed can still be seen lying around on the surface for some little 

 space. ^ 



(19) Harpole, north of the village. On the rising ground north 

 of the village, Whellan attests the discovery of an extensive villa and in 

 particular a floor of rough unornamented tessellation (p. 318). 



(20) Duston, near Northampton. Numerous remains have been 

 found here in the south-east of the parish, a little west of the western 

 suburb of Northampton called St. James' End, and for the most part 

 south of the present Daventry road. Burials and Roman pottery were 

 noticed in ' Arbourfield ' in 1849 ; a vase and some coins (a 'second 

 brass ' of Claudius, a denarius of Severus and about thirty-five of a.d. 

 250-380) were found hereabouts in 1854. But the principal discoveries 

 were made in 1860-70 when the Duston Iron Ore Company was work- 

 ing the ironstone on land once the property of Lady Palmerston (since 

 of Lord Cowper). The remains were found to be spread over eight 

 acres ; the site, south of the Daventry road and near a large artificial 

 pond, is still strewn with potsherds. No proper observations of the 

 discoveries were kept, except to a limited extent by the late Mr. Samuel 

 Sharp, but many of the objects unearthed were preserved and presented 

 by him and by Lord Cowper to the Northampton Museum. The 

 principal finds were a large number — probably more than a hundred — 

 of burials, some inhumation and some incineration ; nails, probably from 

 coffins ; a lamp ; pottery of all sorts, Samian, Castor and the rest ; tiles ; 

 many ornaments, domestic utensils and implements in iron, lead and 

 bronze ; and coins in abundance. Special mention may be made of a 

 small silver bowl ; six large plain pewter dishes, a two-handled pewter 



* Morton, p. 527 and pi. xlv. 3 (hence Bridges, i. 519 ; Gough, Add. to Camden, ii. 277, etc.) ; 

 Baker, i. 191. 



* Journal of the British Jrchtrohgical Association, ii. 364, v. 375, vi. 126 with plate; Wetton's 

 Guidebook, p. 148. Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, i. 39, accepted the mosaic as 

 Christian. 



197 



