ROMANO-BRITISH NORFOLK 



dwelling-houses of a stoneless land like Norfolk may often have been 

 slight and unsubstantial, and their remains would be easily destroyed or 

 easily overlooked in aftertime. The plough, well used in Norfolk, has 

 doubtless obliterated much, and more may still await the gentler mission 

 of the spade. But for this we need hardly make greater allowance than in 

 many other counties, and while we admit that our knowledge is imperfect, 

 we must also admit that the development of Romano-British life in this 

 corner of Britain was itself imperfect. 



I, In the parish of Ashill, at a spot called Robin Hood's Garden, 

 two miles west of the Peddar's Way and now intersected by the Watton 

 and Swaffham railway (fig. 12). Here is, or was, a square enclosure of 

 10 acres surrounded by a ditch 7 feet deep and 14 feet broad, and, inside, 

 another somewhat small enclosure, 

 surrounded by a somewhat smaller 

 ditch. Between the two ditches, at 

 the point a in the annexed plan, 

 were once foundations of buildings, 

 removed (it is said) when the land 

 was long ago brought under culti- 

 vation. Nothing is recorded about 

 either the ditches or the foundations 

 which would prove their date, but 

 a striking discovery made in 1874 

 seems to justify us in assigning them 

 to the Roman period. We may con- 

 clude provisionally that the found- 

 ations at A represent the ' villa ' ; the 

 two ditches formed special enclosures 

 round it, such as are by no means 

 uncommon round Roman ' villas.' 



The discovery of 1874 is how- 

 ever noteworthy for another reason 

 than because it helps us to this con- 

 clusion ; it is indeed a very curious 

 and puzzling discovery. During 



the construction of the railway the workmen found a wooden con- 

 struction which on investigation proved to be a well or shaft, put 

 together like an 'Oxford' frame, and measuring 3I feet square and 

 40 feet deep (fig. 13). The woodwork commenced at 6 feet below the 

 present surface, and traces of paths leading to it were noticed. The 

 contents of the shaft were very remarkable. For its upper 19 feet 

 they consisted of Samian and other potsherds, painted wall plaster, bones 

 of animals including a frog or toad, the staves of a wooden bucket, bits 

 of a wickerwork basket, an iron knife, four shoes, and so forth, all lying 

 promiscuously in the earth — in short, just what one would expect in a 

 rubbish-pit. But below this, we are told, the deposits changed : they now 

 (19-34 feet vertical measure) consisted of fairly perfect urns (fig. 13), 



295 



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Fig. 12. Plan of Enclosures near Ashill. 



