ROMANO-BRITISH SUFFOLK 



Cavendish. — A sepulchral urn was found here [East Angl. N. and Q. ii, 29]. 



Clare. — About a mile from the town of Clare, in constructing a roadway in 1864, on the glebe 

 land where the railway leaves that land in the direction of Cavendish, the workmen came upon 

 a quantity of Roman urns about i ft. 6 in. below the surface. Seven or eight were found 

 within the space of a few yards. One only had any ornament on it ; they were of quite 

 common material, and all full of bones and ashes. Near where they were discovered is a plot 

 of broken ground called the 'Dane pits' [East Angl. N. and Q. i, 203 ; ii, 29]. This 

 discovery is noted on O.S. 6-in. Ixxi, NE., and described as having been made on the Suffolk 

 bank of the Stour where the railway (Cambridge, Haverhill and Melford line) crosses the 

 river. A small figure of a dancing boy or Mercury, in bronze, was found at Clare [yourn. 

 Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxi, 343 et seq.]. 



CoCKFiELD. — About a mile north-east of the church is Colchester Green, and near it a farm where 

 in 1834 some mounds were to be seen. Perhaps on this site, but certainly only a quarter of 

 a mile from Colchester Green, Roman tiles had been found about 2 ft. under the surface. A 

 fragment of one of these, which was preserved, showed part of a turned-up edge and a scored 

 surface, and was apparently part of a flue tile [Davy, SufF. Coll. B.M. MSS. i, 19077, fol. 

 243]. Within an encampment known as the Warbank was found a small bronze bust of a 

 woman, the hair plaited in twelve twists and fastened on the top of the head with a bow ; 

 also the bronze handle of a knife or mirror with a crowned female head at the end [Journ. 

 Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxxiii, 117]. 



CoDDENHAM. — Traccs of a Roman road Were discovered in 1823 on the property of Sir William 

 Middleton, bart., by labourers employed in draining to the west of the turnpike road from 

 Ipswich to Scole (the Pye road), nearly 7 miles from Ipswich. This ancient road was traced 

 in almost a straight course to a former ford over the River Gipping, through a field retaining 

 the name of Sharnford and by a cottage called Sharnford Cottage, and across another field 

 named Causeway Meadow, and so onwards in a southerly direction towards Great Blakenham 

 Church. When this road was cut through, it was found to consist of a very solid stratum of 

 stone and gravel about 6 or 7 yds. wide. In December 1823, to the west of this road and 

 near the River Gipping, were discovered at some 2 ft. from the surface a Roman urn of coarse 

 slate-coloured ware containing human ashes, and close to it a smaller vase of fine light red 

 ware. With the urns was turned up a small double bronze mirror 2^ in. in diameter, having 

 on one side a head of Nero and on the other a general addressing his soldiers. This was pre- 

 sented by Sir W. Middleton to the British Museum in 1838. The remains appear to have 

 been deposited in the earth uninclosed in any cist. A further search showed that the ground 

 was full of potsherds of different kinds to a depth of 3 ft. Amongst them were fragments of 

 so-called Samian ware, and pieces of brick and tile were scattered through a great part of the 

 field in which they were found, together with large oyster shells, ashes, and some slag. A 

 wall was uncovered also, about 30 yards in length and 2 ft. in thickness, running in a direction 

 nearly east and west. Probably the site was that of a villa. The coins found were : a sup- 

 posed one of Claudius (a. D. 41-54), a middle brass of Nero (a.d. 54-68), one of Vespasian 

 (a.d. 69-79) ^'^^ O"^ <^f Trajan (a.d. 98-1 17), a silver denarius of Crispina (a.d. 178-82), and 

 three small brass, one of Magnentius (a.d. 350-3), one of Valentinian (a.d. 364-75), and one 

 of Constantius I (a.d. 305-6) [Gent, Mag. 1824, pt. i, 261 ; ibid. 1825, pt. i, 291-3 ; Arch. 

 xxvii, 359, 360 ; Chart, Watling Coll. in possession of MissNina Layard]. In 1843 a denarius 

 of Postumus (a.d. 259-69) and some small brass coins of Constantius I (a.d. 291-306), Con- 

 stantine I (a.d. 306-37) and Constantius II (a.d. 337-61) were found near the river, at a place 

 called Sharnford, about a hundred yards from the previous discovery [Numis. Chron. vi, 104]. 



Combs. — A /xj/^ra of so-called Samian ware was found in 1855, with the potter's mark siginivs. 

 It is now in the Ipswich Museum, 



CovEHiTHE. — In the cliff between the Benacre road and the lane leading down to the beach from the 

 village, between 187 1 and 1876, was exposed by a fall of the earth what looked like half a square 

 well. One half of this well still remained in the cliff, the other had fallen and been washed away 

 by the sea; It was not constructed with masonry, but with boards in the usual Roman fashion, 

 the boards having ties crossing the angles, and it was filled with earth for some feet below the 

 present ground level. In April 1 890 another of these wells came to light, under the end of the 

 road which terminates abruptly at the edge of the cliff. Very little of the woodwork was visible, 

 but the beach was said to have been strewn with fragments of pottery which it had contained. 

 Some few spikes or nails and the bones of some small animal were the only other contents of 

 these wells. They were, however, never properly examined [Proc. Suff. Arch. Inst, vii, 

 303-4]. (See find of a similar well at Easton Bavents near Covehithe.) 



CowLiNGE. — A small bronze figure of Mercury, the eyes in white metal, found at Flempton Hall 

 Farm, one of Hercules, and a mask of dark grey ware [Tymm. Coll.] are all in the Museuni, 



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