ROMANO-BRITISH STAFFORDSHIRE 



station on the conjectured Roman road from Derby, which runs through 

 Stoke-upon-Trent and continues in a north-easterly direction. At Rocester 

 is another Roman site near the same road. Romano-British villages 

 existed at Wetton and Uttoxeter, and a settlement probably adjoined the 

 cemetery discovered at Yoxall. There are some indefinite records of settle- 

 ments at Madeley and Tettenhall, but they are too vague to enable zn^ 

 opinion to be formed regarding them. Besides these there are numerous 

 camps generally attributed to the Roman period which appear mostly to lie 

 in the valleys of the rivers. Along the western side of the River Dove below 

 Dovedale there are camps at Okeover, Rocester, and Uttoxeter ; in the 

 Trent valley, at Stoke-upon-Trent and Stone ; in the valley of the Churnet, 

 at Leek ; in the valley of the Penk, at Teddesley Hay and Shareshill ; in 

 the valley of the Stour, at Kinver and Kingswinford ; and in the valley of 

 the Smestow River at Seisdon. These may possibly have been used during 

 the early part of the Roman occupation and afterwards abandoned, or may 

 have been Romano-British villages. But most of them probably are not 

 Roman at all, and in hardly any have Roman objects been found. The 

 spade alone can decide their origin and use. 



The limestone region on the border of Derbyshire contains numerous 

 caves of various forms and sizes, which have at different times provided 

 habitations for men or beasts. The best known of these belong to pre-historic 

 ages, but a few of them have been found to contain in the upper and lower 

 strata of their floors traces of habitation dating from the Roman period.* 

 The most important of such caves in Staffordshire are ' Thor's Cave,' 10 near 

 Wetton, ' Thirse House ' at Alton, and that known locally as ' Old 

 Hannah's Cave ' near Redhurst. 11 The explanation usually offered of the 

 cave life of the Romano-British period is that fugitives took refuge in these 

 caves in the fifth or sixth century, when fleeing from the English invaders. 12 

 But, as Professor Haverfield has pointed out, the evidence of date from the 

 remains found contradicts this theory, as hardly a trace occurs of anything 

 later than the third century. The objects also in the more important caves 

 imply a tolerably long occupation, and a more plausible explanation is that 

 in some hill districts cave life formed a feature of Romano-British civiliza- 

 tion. Here, apparently, some of the poorest and wildest of the hill-men 

 lived, probably largely on robbery. Plot mentions that as late as 1680 

 Thirse House Cave at Alton or Alveton was definitely occupied, and doubt- 

 less many parallels could be cited from even later ages. 13 



Sepulchral mounds or barrows exist in great numbers over Staffordshire. 

 Many were scientifically excavated by Mr. Bateman and Mr. Carrington 

 between 1848 and 1858. In these tumuli were found numerous varieties of 

 remains, chiefly Celtic, but including a sufficient number of Roman objects 

 to show that the barrows were occasionally used, or perhaps re-used, for 

 sepulchral purposes during the Roman period. 14 



Only four hoards of coins have been recorded in the county, one at 

 Tatenhill of thirty gold coins dating from B.C. 29 to A.D. 96 ; one at Rowley 



9 y.C.H. Derb. \, 233. 10 See Wetton in Topog. Index. 



11 N. Staffs. Field Club, xxxiii, 105. " Green, Making of Engl. 67-68. 



" Haverfield in V.C.H. Derb. i, 242. Besides the caves in Derbyshire and Staffordshire others occur in 

 the limestone hills of Craven in West Yorkshire, also near Arncliffe, Settle, and Giggleswick, and two in 

 Devonshire. " Bateman, Ten Tears' Diggings, Int. xii, xiiu 



I 185 24 



