ROMANO-BRITISH SUFFOLK 



RoUGHAM. — Close to the highway at the junction of the roads to Hessett and Bradfield St. George, 

 is a mound called Eastlow Hill, and not far from it two mounds between 50 ft. and 60 ft. in 

 diameter. Various objects of the Roman period have been discovered in the neighbourhood 

 from time to time. The land where these mounds stood had been common land until about 

 1813. About 250 yds. east of these tumuli were discovered remains of buildings, and in the 

 middle of the field traces of a floor were uncovered, composed of a bed of pounded tile and 

 mortar, and upon that a layer of white calcareous stucco [Gent. Mag. 1843, P*- ''> ^9°) 5^8]. 

 The barrows mentioned (of which there were four, not three) were examined by Prof. Henslow 

 in 1843 ^"'^ 1844. His long and elaborate accounts are here condensed. These barrows lay in 

 a continuous line north-east and south-west, the one called Eastlow Hill being the largest. In 

 July 1843 labourers were employed in taking earth from the most northerly of the smaller 

 barrows, when they came upon a cist of tile which appears to have been a cube of 2 ft. Hollow 

 flue tiles as well as the ordinary tiles were used in its construction, and the roof was of a single 

 layer of large flat tiles. Within were found a large iron lamp with a short handle, and a square 

 urn of green glass filled with burnt human bones. The urn was Sin. square, 12 in. to the 

 shoulder, and 1 6 in. full height, and the mouth 2f in. in diameter. The cist, according to the 

 workmen, contained nothing else. The next barrow, to the south-west, was opened 

 1 5 September of the same year, by cutting a trench 4 ft. wide across the middle of it, in a 

 north-east and south-west direction. In diameter it was 54 ft. and in height from the ground 

 about 6 ft. In the centre and beneath the surface of the soil lay a cist or chamber built of 

 tiles, each 17 in. long, 12 in. broad, and 2 in. thick. The chamber measured slightly over 

 2 ft. square (2 ft. 2^ in. by 2 ft. i in.). It was 2 ft. 3 in. high from the floor to the crown of 

 the straight-sided arch covering it, formed of five courses of tiles overlapping each other till 

 they were covered by a row of single tiles at the top. Heaped above the cist was a mass of 

 broken brick rubbish, then a layer of loam somewhat rounded above the natural ground level, 

 and finally a coating of pounded brick and mortar. The cist contained the following objects : 

 (i) An urn of bluish-green glass with broad reeded handles, the body nearly spherical, and 

 about 9 in. in diameter, the neck 4 in. long and the opening of the mouth 3 in. wide. It had 

 a foot 4 in. across. It had fallen in pieces and lay heaped up with the burnt bones it had 

 contained. (2) A lachrymatory or perfume bottle of glass, in form a long neck with a small 

 flattened body, had been placed on the bones within the urn and contained a brown matter. 

 (3) A coin, apparently second brass, but illegible. (4, 5) Two small plain jars of coarse 

 black ware, the one 3 in. high and 2 in. in diameter, the other 3^ in. high and 3 in. in diameter. 

 They lay on their sides near the cinerary urn, and had perhaps been painted and gilt. (6) A 

 spherical pitcher of coarse bufF ware, 10 in. high and 8 in. in diameter, with a narrow neck 

 and one handle. (7) A similar vessel of smaller size. (8) A patera of so-called Samian ware, 

 7 in. in diameter with a potter's stamp badly impressed, the name might be eifvsa. Near this 

 were fragments of bone, perhaps the handle of a knife. (9) A very similar patera, of the 

 same diameter, with potter's mark albvci. (10) A third patera, a trifle smaller, potter's mark 

 MICCIOF. This one had in it some chopped fragments of unburnt bone and pieces of the 

 neck bone of an ox. (11) Another patera, potter's mark illiomrin. (12) An iron lamp 

 hung from a twisted iron rod driven into the south-west wall of the chamber. The lamp was 

 5 in. long and open at the top. It had remains of a wick in the nozzle. (13) Two iron 

 rods 3^ in. long, possibly handles of a small wooden chest or casket, traces of which lay in the 

 east corner of the cist. Pieces of burnt bones were found lying near patera no. 10, which 

 appeared to have been covered either with gold dust or gold leaf. The third and last of the 

 small barrows was opened 22 September. It had been so much injured by the removal of 

 earth, and by a road having been formed across it, that the exploration had but indiflFerent 

 results. Two cinerary urns containing some bones, which appeared to have been placed upon 

 the surface of the natural soil, were found and a few pieces of pottery, among them two 

 fragments of so-called Samian ware. No signs of any cist were discovered. Prof. Henslow, 

 in the following year (4 July 1 844), opened the largest and last of this group of four barrows, 

 called Eastlow Hill. A tunnel was driven into the mound towards its centre and at a distance 

 of 50 ft. from the foot a tomb was reached. This stood on the level of the natural soil upon 

 a square platform of concrete, and was a diminutive model of a roofed building. It was 

 constructed of flint rubble with rows of tile and tile quoins, and gabled at each end, the roof 

 consisting of four rows of tiles on each side, with a ridge of flue tiles. In the rectangular 

 chamber formed by this masonry was found a skeleton of a man inclosed in a leaden shell, the 

 body having been wrapped in the hide of some beast, as there was hair with the bones. Also, 

 from the mass of carbonaceous matter at the bottom of the tomb, and from the nails from 

 2 in. to 1 2 in. long, lying with it, it was clear that the leaden shell had been inclosed in a 

 wooden coffin. This shell measured 6 ft. 9 in. in length by I ft. 5 in. in breadth, and had a 



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