ROMANO-BRITISH LEICESTERSHIRE 



Sac. xi, 181]. In 1873 a small urn was found containing silver coins [Proc. Sac. Antiq. 

 (Ser. 2), vi, 73]. 



HIGH CROSS (Venonae). High Cross is a hamlet situated on a small hill on the borders of War- 

 wickshire and Leicestershire. The Fosse Way and Wading Street intersect one another at 

 this point, and as ' the Antonine Itinerary places Venonae at the spot where these roads cross, 

 and also assigns to Venonae distances from other places known to us Manduessedum and Banna- 

 venta which agree satisfactorily with the actual mileage, it is natural that there should have 

 been general agreement among archaeologists, since Camden, to identify Venonae and High 

 Cross' [Haverfield, F.C.H. Warw. i, 232]. No traces of Roman camp or town are now to be 

 seen, but Camden mentions that numerous coins were found, and that foundations of hewn 

 stone lay under the furrows on both sides of the road [Brit, ii, 297, ed. Gough, 1806]. 

 Burton in 1622 spoke of ' many ancient coins, great square stones and brickes and other rubbish 

 of ancient Roman building' ; and added that the coins dated from Caligula (A.D. 3741) to 

 Constantine the Great (A.D. 306-37) [Descr. Lek. 67]. Dugdale described 'large stones, 

 Roman brick, with ovens and wells, and coins of silver and brass,' and stated that the earth of 

 the site was darker and richer than elsewhere \JVarw. i, 71]. Elias Ashmole in 1657 saw a 

 foundation measuring i8ft. by 12 ft. which he thought was the site of a temple [Nichols, 

 Hist. Leic. i, p. cli ; Bibl. Topog. Brit, vii, 287]. Stukeley, Horsley, and Nichols mention further 

 discoveries of a few coins only, a denarius of Mark Antony (B.C. 44-30), another of Domitian 

 (A.D. 81-96), and copper coins of the late third and fourth centuries, down to Gratian (A.D. 

 375-83) [Stukeley, Itin. Cur. I IO (ed. 2) ; Horsley, Brit. Rom. 385, 420 ; Nichols, Hist. Leic, iv, 

 125]. Mr. Haverfield considers that it is now impossible to decide the precise position, the size, 

 or the character of the Roman station, it may have been a village, or a posting station [P.C.H. 

 Warw. i, 232]. Venonae being on the edge of several parishes, Claybrooke, Wibtoft, Copston, 

 and Wigston, has been variously described as being in one or other of them, and this has led 

 to some confusion, and a mistaken idea that the site is uncertain or disputed \_V.C.H. Warw. 

 i, 233 ; O.S. xlviii, 2]. 



HINCKLEY. Thirteen miles south-west from Leicester, near to the Watling Street, and about half- 

 way between Venonae (High Cross) and Manduessedum (Witherley and Mancetter), there are 

 remains of a rampart and fosse, and Roman relics have been found near the site, chiefly a hoard 

 of coins found in 1871 ; but the earliest evidence concerning this 'Castle Hill,' as it is called, 

 is of a mediaeval castle [post, 1 Ancient Earthworks'; Leic. Arch. Sac. ii, 305; vi, 325]. 

 In a cutting on the Hinckley branch of the Nuneaton and Ashby Railway, about i8in. 

 below the surface, a Roman vessel of brownish ware, holding rather more than a quart, full of 

 small silver coins, was discovered by some labourers who unfortunately dispersed the contents 

 before they could be examined. Some of these coins were seen by Mr. Thompson, the 

 historian of Leicester, who estimated that the jar must have held several hundreds [Assoc. Arch. 

 Soc. xi, 178]. They were described as being in good preservation, dating from Otho (A.D. 

 69) to Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (A.D. 161-80), the most numerous being those of 

 Trajan (A.D. 98-1 17) and Hadrian (A.D. 117-38). The following is a list of the numbers 

 of each type, as far as they could be ascertained : Otho (A.D. 69), two ; Vespasian (A.D. 70- 

 79), seven ; Domitian (A.D. 81-96), three ; Nerva (A.D. 967), three ; Trajan (A.D. 98-117), 

 fourteen ; Hadrian (A.D. 117-38), twelve ; Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-61), eight ; Faustina the 

 Elder (A.D. 13841), three; Faustina the Younger (A.D. 161-75), three; Lucius Verus (A.D. 

 161-8), two; Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161-83), one. Total fifty-eight [Proc. Soc. Antiq. 

 (Ser. 2), v, 282-4 > Leic. ^rch. Soc. vi, 325 ; O.S. xlii, 7]. 



HOLYOKE (Stockerston). In October, 1799, an urn was found in a ditch, in Holyoke Wood, 

 containing 250 silver coins of Julian (A.D. 355-62), Gratian (A.D. 375-83), Theodosius (A.D. 

 379-95), and Arcadius (A.D. 395-408). Many of them were said to be in good preser- 

 vation [Nichols, Hist. Leic. iii, 535]. 



HUNGERTON. There seems to be no doubt that a manorial defence, known as ' Old Ingarsby Moat,' 

 is an adaptation of a strong rectangular camp of an early period. Its proximity to Billesdon, 

 and the discovery of spearheads and other implements and Roman coins, lead to the same con- 

 clusion [post, 'Ancient Earthworks' ; O.S. xxxii, 6-n]. 



KIBWORTH HARCOURT. A large bell-shaped barrow surrounded by a ditch is in Hall Field, 

 north-west of the village and east of the Gartree Road or Via Devana. It was opened early 

 in the last century, and again in 1863, when fragments of bone and of Samian pottery were 

 found. The mound was cut through from north to south, the depth of the cutting being 

 from 8 ft. to 9 ft. About 5 ft. deep a layer of black soil, ashes, and pieces of burnt wood were 

 found, with bones and teeth, and one or two pieces of Roman pottery. On the same level a 

 pavement of large stones 4 ft. by 2 ft. was discovered, probably part of a cist, and with it a 

 bone bodkin and an iron implement (or lamp). At a depth of 8 ft. to 9 ft. there was 



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