A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



Among the smaller finds on this site were various fragments of pottery, a small Gaulish 

 bowl stamped ALBVS [Arch. Journ. xxxv, 289], bricks and tiles with impressions of animals' 

 feet, part of a large stag's horn, an ivory pin, parts of a fibula, and another ornament, and 

 fragments of hand-mills. In a room which he calls the apodyterium, Major Rooke found a 

 kind of ' rubber ' of pale grey colour, a fibula, fragments of a floor of pounded tile and lime, 

 and the altar-capital above mentioned [Arch, ix, 203 ff., pi. 12]. 



When Major Rooke reported these discoveries to the Society of Antiquaries, he expressed 

 the opinion that this villa, though unquestionably Roman, was not connected with any station. 

 Twelve years previously an urn filled with denarii had been found, from which he had seen 

 two coins of Antoninus (A.D. 138-61), and the vicinity of an ancient road (see p. 10) 

 may also indicate Roman occupation in the neighbourhood. But the camp at Winny Hill in 

 this parish, described by Rooke as Roman, forming one of a chain between Southwell and 

 Chesterfield, is classed by Mr. Stevenson among the hill-forts (type B) of circular form, and of 

 British origin, and though the Romans may have made use of it, they cannot be claimed as 

 its originators [Arch, ix, 193 ff, pi. 10 ; Dickinson, op. cit. Introd. 3 ; Beauties of Engl. and 

 Wales, xii, (l), 399 ; Arch. Journ. xliii, 41 ; V.C.H. Notts, i, 296]. 



MISTERTON. In this parish are the remains of the old Bycar Dyke, said to have been a Roman 

 canal connecting the Trent with the Idle [Stevenson, Bygone Notts, i]. 



NEWARK. Roman urns are said to have been found here from time to time by the side of the 

 Fosse Way, the date of the first recorded discovery being 1722, when four were found lying in 

 a straight line and at equal distances. Burnt bones and ashes, and what seemed to be part of a 

 bronze fibula were found in one, in another was ' a small brass bar about an inch and a half 

 long ' ; others contained square clay beads supposed to be British. A pot of Roman coins is 

 said to have been dug up near them [MS. Min. Antiq. Soc. i, 68 ; Dickinson, Antiq. in Notts. 

 ii, 2 ff. ; Stukeley, Itin. Cur. 104; Arch. Journ. xliii, 41, quoting Gough (op. cit. ii, 403), 

 who probably only relies on Stukeley]. Watkin relates that six more urns were found in 1826 

 in digging the foundations of a house ; and a much larger number, between thirty and forty 

 of which were complete, were unearthed on the left side of the Fosse, just outside the town, in 

 1836-7. They were placed upright in the ground, and contained calcined human bones ; 

 Bateman, however, showed that these were all of Saxon type [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc. viii, 

 184, 189 ff. with pi. 27 ; Arch. Journ. xliii, 41 ; V.C.H. Notts, i, 20i]. 



Stukeley endeavoured to prove that Newark was the site of a Roman city called Eltavona, 

 and an entry in his diary also records the finding of urns, probably those mentioned above. 

 He saw many fine coins ranging in date from B.C. 2 to A.D. 353, and mentions in particular a 

 fine large brass of Trajan with a trophy and captive, 7 found on the river bank ; the commoner 

 kinds were so abundant as to be current in the town as half-pence [Family Memoirs (Surtees 

 Soc.), iii, 150 ; see also Dickinson, loc. cit.]. Horsley says that Newark arose out of the ruins 

 of Ad Pontem and Crococolana ! [Brit. Rom. 439]. Dickinson enlarges on these and other 

 discoveries, with the view of establishing the Roman origin of Newark, deriving the imaginary 

 name Eltavona from the River Tavon or Devon, and refers in particular to the roads supposed 

 to run from Newark to Southwell and Mansfield, and southward towards Stamford [see 

 V.C.H. Rut. i, 87]. Of coins, he had in his possession one of L. Piso, master of the mint to 

 Augustus, dated B.C. 2, and others of Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, L. Verus (A.D. 98-163), 

 and Magnentius (A.D. 350-3), the latter with the monogram of Christ. He also mentions 

 silver coins of Domitian (A.D. 81-96), Volusenus (A.D. 251-4) and Postumus (A.D. 258-68), 

 a brass of Faustina (A.D. 138-41), and a coin of Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-61), with 

 Britannia on the rev. Another collection belonging to Mr. John Herring included specimens 

 of Nero (A.D. 54-68), Trajan (A.D. 98117), Faustina (A.D. 138-41), and 3rd-century 

 emperors [Antiq. in Notts, i, 105 ; ii, 2-1 6 ; Expl. Obs. 6]. Apart from the finds of coins, 

 which may be accounted for by the proximity of the Fosse Way, there does not appear to be 

 the slightest evidence for regarding Newark as a Roman station, or as having any existence 

 in pre-Saxon times. Stukeley's Eltavona is, of course, as great an absurdity as Dickinson's 

 Sidnaceaster. 



NEWSTEAD. A bronze key found in making a road through Sherwood Forest was thought by 

 Major Rooke from its shape and patina to be of Roman workmanship, but this seems doubtful ; 

 it resembles that found at Mansfield (see p. 28) [Sketch of Sherwood Forest, 25, pi. 4, no. 3 ; 

 Arch, x, pi. 34, p. 380]. 



NOTTINGHAM. A hoard of Roman coins was ploughed up near the town in 1698. Throsby, who 

 obtained some specimens, described them as common, and mostly of Tetricus (A.D. 268-73), 

 though there were others of Gallienus (A.D. 253-68), Victorinus (A.D. 265-7), anc * Claudius 

 Gothicus (A.D. 268-70) [Philos. Trans, xx, 208]. 



' Gold coins of this type were struck by Trajan in A.D. 1 16-17, in commemoration of Parthia capta. 



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