ROMANO-BRITISH LEICESTERSHIRE 



WITHERLEY. Eleven miles north-west of High Cross, the remains of a rectangular earthwork lie 

 half on each side of Wading Street, in the parishes of Witherley (Leicestershire) and Mancetter 

 (Warwickshire). The name of Mancetter and the mileage of the Antonine Itinerary justify the 

 identification of the site as that of Manduessedum. The northern or Leicestershire part is 

 called the ' Old Field,' or ' Oufort Bank,' the Warwickshire side ' Castle Bank.' The earth- 

 work measures about 600 ft. by 450 ft., and encloses an area of nearly 7 acres, but it is not clear 

 whether it comprises the whole or part only of the Roman settlement. Burton, in 1622, 

 thought that it extended as far as half a mile to the west near Mancetter church, where he 

 stated that foundations were discovered [Burton's MS. quoted by Nichols, Hist. Leic. iv, 1027]. 

 He also mentioned coins found in different parts, a bronze of Nero (A.D. 54-68), and one of 

 the elder Faustina (A.D. 138-41) from Oufort Bank, Witherley ; a Carausius (A.D. 287-93) 

 also from Witherley ; and others from Mancetter and towards Atherstone. Stukeley, who 

 visited the place in 1725, heard of 'great stones and mortar-work Roman brick, iron, and 

 great numbers of coins, brass and silver, and some gold ' [I tin. Cur. i, 20]. More recent 

 writers only mention coins [Dugdale, Warw. 1076 ; Horsley, Magna Brit. 420 ; 

 Nichols, Hist. Leic. iv, 1027]. The character and extent of the permanent occupation of the 

 site is therefore uncertain, but it was probably a village or posting-station [Haverfield in V.C.H., 

 War-iv. i, 233-4 ; post, 'Ancient Earthworks']. 



WYMONDHAM. A few yards of tesselated pavement, the tesserae being J in. square, and smaller, 

 discovered in a field adjoining Wymondham House, about 4 ft. from the surface, probably 

 indicated the existence of a villa at this spot. Portions of pavement and pieces of painted 

 wall-plaster have been discovered from time to time, also human bones \_Assoc. Arch. Soc. viii, 

 Ixiii ; MS. Min. Soc. Antiq. xxxiii, 15 ; Gent. Mag. 1797, i, 75 ; O. S. xxi, 9]. 



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