A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



in A.D. 48," and a portion of it may well have been at Leicester about the 

 same time. The evidence of this legionary tile, such as it is, does not imply 

 that Ratae was a permanent military station. Being on the road from the 

 south to Lincoln, it is quite probable that a small party of soldiers was 

 left there, and that this tile made by the legionary tile-makers was 

 utilized in some building for the accommodation of the soldiery. This 

 military occupation, however, was apparently only for a short period in the 

 early years of the conquest, and did not affect the later history of the town, 

 which was administrative and commercial. 



Ratae had not the privileges of the municipium of Verulam or the coloniae 

 of Colchester, Lincoln, Gloucester, and York, but it had a municipal organi- 

 zation of a lower kind, and was governed probably by the senate and 

 magistrates of the tribe.* No doubt it had a forum with a basilica for the 

 accommodation of magistrates, traders, and others, and possibly also baths ; 

 and in the fourth century the town was protected by a wall. In size it was 

 perhaps one of the smaller towns of its type, being about half the size of 

 Silchester and much smaller than Wroxeter and Cirencester, but almost twice 

 as large as Bath. Of its inhabitants we are practically without information. 

 From the remains hitherto found there is nothing to indicate particular 

 wealth or poverty, if anything they would point to prosperity without great 

 wealth. The only indications of the occupation of the townsmen are three 

 crucibles and bone-work which refer to trades which are common to all 

 towns. 



The references to Ratae by Ptolemy, and that on the milestone at Thur- 

 maston, show that the town was in existence in A.D. 1201 and this is 

 corroborated by the evidence of the archaeological and architectural remains. 

 The series of Roman coins begins with those of Caligula (A.D. 3741), but 

 coins are not found in any quantities till we reach those of the late part of 

 the first and the early part of the second centuries. The potters' marks on 

 the Samian ware, which have been recorded, show a predominance of 

 recognized marks of the first century (thirty-eight in number), but there are 

 also a considerable quantity of the second century (thirty in number). The 

 architectural details show more surely that probably by the time of Hadrian 

 (A.D. 11738) Ratae had buildings of some architectural pretensions. The 

 prosperity of the town apparently continued, and reached its height about 

 the time of Constantine (A.D. 30637), for it is to this period that the 

 greatest number of the coins and the greater but not the better part of the 

 architectural details belong. 



Plan and Architectural Remains. Ratae appears to have been rectangular 

 in shape, measuring from north to south 2, 780 ft. and from east to west 

 i, 740 ft., the area being between forty and fifty acres, and the circumference 

 nearly two miles. The mediaeval walls of Leicester ran along Soar Lane and 

 Sanvy Gate on the north, Church Gate and Gallow-tree Gate on the east, 

 Millstone Lane and Horsefair Street on the south, and there seems no reason 

 to doubt that they were built on the foundations of the Roman walls, if 

 indeed the Roman walls were not themselves utilized. Dr. Stukeley, writing 

 in 1772, states that the line of the Roman walls and ditch were easily to be 



3 Hflbner, Ephtm. Epfr. iv, 206. 



4 Haverfield, 'The Romanization of Roman Britain,' Proc. of Brit. Acad, ii, 23. 



182 



