A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



bowl and a pewter patera 5I inches in diameter ; a bronze head which 

 had once belonged to the handle of a bronze-mounted bucket ; ornaments 

 in Kimmeridge clay from far away Dorsetshire ; enamelled objects 

 {Jibula, a ' sealbox,' etc.), some with classical and some with Late Celtic 

 patterns ; pottery with Late Celtic affinities, and other pottery which 

 might be called 'black Samian ' (one piece stamped avllios). The 

 coins included four or five British and a fairly continuous series from 

 Claudius to Honorius, but the earlier coins were all much worn, and 

 only those of 280—400 a.d. were really common. A well excavated in 

 November, 1870, yielded also a crucible and a 'pint of earthen coin 

 moulds,' intended for casting folks (large copper) of the Emperors 

 Diocletian, Maximian, Chlorus and Galerius — probably to be assigned 

 to the opening of the fourth century. Whether any buildings were 

 discovered is not quite clear. Mr. Sharp, writing in 1862, records the 

 discovery in that year of ' numerous black and white tessera?,' and con- 

 cludes that ' undoubtedly near this spot stood a Roman house.' In 1870 

 he stated that ' no tessera or foundations of houses ' had been met with 

 at all. I will not presume to decide between these assertions. But 

 more than twenty wells were discovered on the site ; tiles were also 

 found (though these might have been used to cover graves), and the 

 number and character of the domestic objects and ornaments indicate 

 inhabitants at no great distance. These inhabitants may have belonged 

 to either or both of two dates — the commencement of the Roman 

 period, indicated by British coins and pottery with Late Celtic affinities, 

 or the fourth century, indicated by the vast majority of the coins. 

 Whether these inhabitants dwelt in a ' villa ' or a village our knowledge 

 at present does not enable us to determine. We know only their portable 

 objects, their graves and a few imperfectly recorded traces of their 

 houses. It is possible enough that there was a village on the site in 

 early days and a ' villa ' later. But whether ' villa ' or village the site 

 demands inclusion in this list.^ The singularly straight road from 

 Duston to the Foss near Whilton Lodge (p. 203) may be connected 

 with these remains. 



(21) Piddington. Here, close to Preston Wood and the London 

 and Newport road, remains were found in 178 i — a mosaic, chiefly black 

 and white, said to have measured 50 feet square but destroyed as soon as 

 found, many large tiles, foundations, pottery, coins, a gold ring and a 

 skeleton. The site has not been since explored.^ 



(22) Gayton. On the south-east edge of Gayton parish and close 

 to the Blisworth boundary, traces of a building were discovered in 1840 

 in a field called the Warren. The foundations uncovered showed a 

 portico with four column bases, 66 feet long, with a wall running at 



' For the finds of 1 849 see Wetton's Guidebook to Northants, p. 243 ; for those of 1 854 the Proceedings 

 of the Numismatic Society, November 23, 1854 ; for those of 1860-70 S. Sharp in Associated Archit. Soc. 

 Reports, vi. (1862) 222 {tesserie). Numismatic Chronicle, ix. 167, xi. 28 (coin moulds), and Archteologta, 

 xliii. 1 18-30 ; and the Sharp and Cowper Collections in Northampton Museum. 



'^ Reynolds, Iter Britann. p. 458, who saw himself the black and white lessertt. The other details 

 are from F. Whellan, p. 277. 



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