A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



throuf^hout the walls, but if anything it is associated with the tile courses. At the broken 

 west end of the north wall, where the high land slopes to the water meadows, there are some 

 indications of a stepped line in the tile courses to meet the last of those in the west or river 

 wall. Where the wall is fractured there is a drop in the tile courses which shows in the 

 section. The west wall, that next the river, was founded on piling, the piles being i ft. 

 apart, and the interspaces filled with clay and chalk stones strongly rammed down. If all the 

 bastions of the station had foundations like that of the tower on the south side it would 

 appear that they were founded on a bed of timber planking. The tower referred to has fallen 

 over, and on its base could be seen, in 1774, the imprint in the mortar of the planking on 

 which it had been built. The best and most complete account of the station is that given by 

 Harrod [Norf. Arch, v, 146 et seq. ; see also Proc. Sac. Jntiq. iii, 227]. 



With respect to the supposed cemetery of the station, Ives says [Garian., 34-5], 

 'The field adjoining the eastern wall of Gariannonum was the place allotted for depositing 

 the ashes of the dead. . . . Here a great number of Roman urns have been found. . . . 

 They are made of a coarse blue clay brought from the neighbouring village of Bradwell ; ill- 

 formed, brittle, and porous. In the year 1756 a space of 5 yds. square was opened in this 

 field, and about 2 ft. below the surface a great many fragments of urns were discovered, which 

 appeared to have been broken by ploughs and carts passing over them. These and the oyster 

 shells, bones of cattle, burnt coals, and other remains found with them, plainly discovered this 

 to have been the Ustrina of the garrison. One of these urns, when the pieces were united, 

 contained more than a peck and a half of corn, and had a large thick stone operculum on the 

 top of it ; within was a considerable number of bones and ashes, several fair pieces of Con- 

 stantine, and the head of a Roman spear.' The illustrations given by Ives [Garian., 34] 

 show the head of a spear, a Roman /ibu/a, and two urns which are Anglian, not Roman [see 

 also MS. Min. Soc. Antiq. i, 195 (1726-7)]. Two cinerary urns were found in the same 

 field, called Brick Kiln Piece, in December 1843, ^^ ^ depth of 2 ft. They were partly filled 

 with bones, and one contained four iron nails [Suckling, Hist. Suff. 333 ; SufF. Illus. 

 (Fitch Coll.), vol. iii]. A vase of dark brown Durobrivian ware, decorated with white scrolls 

 in slip and with a female mask at the mouth, was found between the station and the church in 

 1 85 1 [Norf. Arch, iii, 415 ; Dawson Turner Coll. B.M. Add. MSS. 23062, fol. 95]. In a 

 field, the position of which is not specified, a number of circular pieces of stone (?) were 

 discovered ' flat on one side and slightly convex on the reverse ; of a dingy black colour inter- 

 spersed with dull red spots.' These were possibly spindle-whorls of pottery [Suckling, Hist. 

 Suff. 333]. According to Ives [Garian, 30-1] no coins were found earlier than these of 

 Domitian (a.d. 81-96), and most of them much later, of the Lower Empire. Few were of 

 any other metal than bronze, though Ives had a silver one of Gratian (a.d. 375-83). It was 

 said that a considerable number of silver, as well as two of gold, had once been ploughed up. 

 The coins, which were in the possession of the late Sir Francis G. M. Boileau, bart., F.S.A., 

 the owner of the site, range from Gallienus (a.d. 253-68) to Arcadius (a.d. 383-408). There 

 is one silver piece of Arcadius. 



Other objects from this station in the possession of the late Sir Francis G. M. Boileau 

 in 1889 were: — Fragments of iron nails, one with a flat square head and 4 in. of shank 

 remaining, together with pieces of flat iron bands found within the east gate, in 1847 ; a small 

 flat square of bronze with a man's head on it in low relief within a circle ; a harp-shaped yf^«/(7 

 of bronze i^ in. long, with remains of blue enamel about the head and a sinking for the setting 

 of stones, found in 1847 '■> * ^^■'7 small fragment of a thin glass vessel, one fragment of 

 so-called Samian ware with ornament in white painted on it, found in 1850 ; other pieces all 

 plain, one showing a flanged rim ; a small globular bottle of bufF-coloured ware, 2 in. high, 

 with a very small neck ; one perfect urn and fragments of another, of coarse grey ware, found 

 in 1848 ; a pan of the same coarse ware ; pieces of flue and roof tiles, and horns of deer with 

 portions sawn off them. In the Museum at Norwich are fragments of a vase found in 1852, 

 presented by Mr. G. J. Chester, and fragments of bronze buckles and other small objects, 

 presented by Mr. W. Squire. One of these so-called bronze buckles is a portion of a Saxon 

 fibula. In the British Museum are a bronze ball and a small hollow cylinder of the same 

 metal from Burgh [O.S. Norf. 6-in. 11, NW. ; 25-in. 5 and 9, Ixxviii ; descriptions of the 

 place are also given in Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxxvi, 98-9 ; Proc. Suff". Arch. Inst, xi, 31 1]. 

 Bury St. Edmunds. — A ' glass unguentarium ' was found near a skeleton on the site of Mr. Farrow's 

 house in the churchyard [Proc. Suff. Arch. Inst, i, 343]. There are several Roman coins from 

 the Botanic Garden [ibid, ii, 28], and the head of a one-handled vase of red ware covered with 

 a cream-coloured slip was found in 1848 [Acton Coll. SufF. Illus. (Fitch Coll.), vol. xvii]. 

 Two coins of Carausius (a.d. 286-93) and AUectus (a.d. 293-6) were also found here 

 [Numis. Journ. i, 264]. 



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