A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



terminating at Little Brickhill ; and the last line follows the course of the 

 British way which runs in two parallel lines known as the Upper and Lower 

 Icknield Way. 



With regard to these remains there are two facts to be specially 

 noticed. There are no traces of military occupation. There are few villas, 

 and these, where they do occur, are unimportant, and lie away from the 

 track of the roads. 



The villas are insignificant in character, few in number, and, as would 

 be expected from their position in the district, show no signs of wealth or 

 luxury. They point rather to habitation by a poor people whose occupation 

 was chiefly pastoral, as would be expected in low-lying lands. The traces of 

 any local industry are extremely scanty, consisting simply of three isolated 

 relics the melting crucible and compasses at Tingewick, the steelyard weight 

 at Haversham, and the kiln at Stone and these indicate the satisfaction of 

 individual needs rather than the establishment of any general industry. 

 The villa at High Wycombe and the burial, apparently that of a woman, at 

 Weston Turville alone raise doubts concerning the theory as to the poverty of 

 the inhabitants of this district. The villa, by its size, and the burial, in the 

 costly character of some of the relics, point to wealth possessed by the owners 

 of two individual properties. Probably the valley of High Wycombe, in 

 which the villa was situated, tended to the production at least of agricultural 

 wealth. 



The one great exception to the general lack of individual interest or 

 importance is the pit at Stone. This is quite unusual in its characteristics 

 (vuk Index). The orderly nature of the remains found within it, together 

 with the shape of the pit, has led many archaeologists to the conclusion 

 that it was made especially for purposes of sepulture, and was not merely a 

 rubbish hole, as are the majority of the somewhat similar pits which have 

 now and again been described as sepulchral. It has been thought, indeed, 

 to have been a rough columbarium, resembling in its general attributes those 

 at Rome. It is compared by Akerman l with the pits at Ewell, near Epsom, 

 and others in the Isle of Thanet. 



THE ROADS 



Watling Street. Of the four great Roman roads mentioned in the Itinerary 

 of Antoninus, only one passes through Buckinghamshire. This is given in 

 the Itinerary as running from Luguvallium (Carlisle) ad portum Ritupis (Rich- 

 borough). Of this road the part between Uriconium (Wroxeter) and Rich- 

 borough is generally known as Watling Street, and the part which here 

 concerns us is that small portion running from Durocobrivae (Dunstable) to 

 Lactodurum (Towcester), across a part of Buckinghamshire which can only 

 be called its north-eastern protuberance. The Roman character of this road 

 is testified with much certainty, both by literary and archaeological evidence. 

 The distances given in the Itinerary from Lactodurum XII m.p.m., from 

 Magiovintum XVII m.p.m., from Durocobrivae XII m.p.m. coincide with 

 the distances between the modern Towcester, Little Brickhill, and Dunstable. 



1 Arch, rxxii, 451. 

 2 



