ROMANO-BRITISH LEICESTERSHIRE 



SUOBNI. O. TITTICI. O. VIDUCUS. F. 



SVRDILLUS. F. TITURONIS. C. VIDA. 



TEDDI. Of TEDEDEI. TITURONIS. OF. OF. VITAL. 



TIBERI. M. TITVS. FEC. VITALIS. M. S. F. 

 TITI. M. 



Some fragments of a rare black glazed pottery occasionally found on 

 Romano-British sites are recorded ; 88 one piece is said to have been ornamented 

 with a trellis pattern with bosses at the intersections in relief. 



Probably in consequence of the nearness of the kilns, Castor ware is 

 found in considerable quantities. Among other pieces is a good specimen 

 discovered under 45, High Street, ornamented with a scroll in white slip and 

 having the following six letters : M E x r . . . v i. 83 A piece of Castor ware 

 was found on the site of the Three Crowns Hotel, being of an unusual dull 

 brick-red colour and having the usual scroll pattern in white slip. 84 



Very little New Forest ware has been recorded as found on the site of 

 Ratae, but the ordinary black Upchurch ware is of frequent occurrence. A 

 portion of a lamp said to be of this kind was found on the site of Lloyds 

 Bank in High Street, 86 and two feet, part of a child's toy, at the Jewry Wall. 86 

 A bowl found in Horsefair Street has the letters OVIN scratched on it. 87 



Some few pieces of painted Salopian ware as it is called, covered with 

 the usual red pigment and ornamented with a female mask or face have been 

 found in South Bond Street, West Bond Street, and Pocklington's Walk, and 

 are now in the Leicester Museum. 88 As in all Roman sites, great quantities 

 of the common Romano-British ware have appeared, much of which was 

 probably made in local kilns. These consist of the usual household patterns, 

 urns, vessels for liquids of all kinds, mortars, bowls, lamps, etc. Attention 

 may be called to one ornamented with a head in a medallion found near 

 Wyggeston School in i893, 89 to a mortar bearing the stamp of the potter 

 CEMNi.F, 90 and to a large amphora with the mark FOR. p. M. H. on the handle. 91 



Some elaborately ornamented wall tiles have been found, which probably 

 decorated the walls of the bathrooms of some building. These are stamped 

 with reed-like lines forming patterns of diamond and other shaped diapers ; 

 a rarer type has a design imprinted in very low relief. 92 A hollow flue tile 

 1 7 in. long by 7 in. wide, having scratched upon it the words PRIMUS FECIT, 

 was found in the grounds of Wyggeston School, which may be evidence of 

 the Latin language having been commonly in use in Britain. 93 



Glass. Fragments of Roman glass are not uncommon ; the most inter- 

 esting is that of a cup of bluish green glass 3 in. in diameter bearing military 

 figures roughly modelled and an inscription in relief. The figures are about i in. 

 in height, and resemble the designs on Samian ware. Two are entire, and 

 show the Roman soldier's equipment of helmet, shield, and short sword. The 

 inscription seems to read . . . vs SPICVLVS COLVMBVS CALM . . which it has 

 been suggested may be the names of gladiators represented below (plate VI). 94 

 Two other specimens of bluish green glass, ribbed, were found in North 



M Lett. Arch. Sue. viii, 29 ; Throsby, Hist. Leu. 



" Leie. Arch. Soc. iv, 2. 84 Ibid, iv, 185. 



85 Assoc. Arch. Sac. xxvi, 461. " Leu, Arch. Soc. v, 185. 



87 Catakgue Leic. Mut. 1874. M Leie. Arch. Soc. vi, 113 ; Antiy. xxx, 214, 220. 



89 Leie. Arch. Soc. viii, 29. * Ibid, vi, 96. " Ibid, vii, 131. 



81 Fox, Arch. Journ. xlvi, 51. * Leie, Arch. Soc. vi, 96. " Ibid iv, 308. 



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