CELTIC AND ROMANO-BRITISH HERTFORDSHIRE 



' polished wood ' armilla 4 in. in diameter, all found near the skeletons. Coins were also 

 turned up near here. [Clutterbuck, Hist, of Herts. (1815-27), iii, 483 n. ; Cussans, Hist, of 

 Herts. Odsey Hund. (1873), 23]. Lastly, a gold coin of Trajan (perhaps one of the above) is 

 recorded from here by Sir J. Evans \Arch. liii, 253]. A Roman burial was found 1879 at 

 Guilden Morden, Cambridgeshire, a mile east of Ashwell. 



Ayot St. Lawrence. — ^There seems no reason for describing as Roman the stone coffin mentioned 

 by Cussans, Hist, of Herts. Broadwater Hund. (1876), 241, and apparently so considered in 

 Arch, liii, 253. For the hoard in Prior's Wood, see Kimpton. 



Baldock. — Several Samian saucers, one stamped ' tascillim ' (which is also found in the Low 

 Countries, London and Colchester), and a coin of the Urbs Roma type (ex. p.l.n.) were found 

 some years before 1742. The same authority also mentions a coin of Constantine (a.d. 306-37), 

 ashes, bones of men, horses and fowls from a barrow opened about the same time, but which 

 probably belong to a post-Roman burial. An iron object — a hippo sandal or lampholder — 

 8 in. long and 4 J in. at its greatest width, was discovered some time before 1865 near Icknield 

 Street, which runs through the town. [MS. Letter from the Rev. George North, vicar of 

 Codicote, to Ducarel, 4 November 1742, at p. 147 of Cough's copy of Salmon's Hist, now in 

 the Bodleian (Gough, Herts. i8) ; Journ. Arch. Inst, xxii, 84]. For Wilbury Hill, see Norton ; 

 see also Letchworth. 



Barkway. — A curious and interesting find of bronze and silver objects, now preserved in the 

 British Museum, was made in digging a chalk-pit in Rokey or Rookey Wood, three-quarters of 

 a mile west of Barkway and a mile east of Ermine Street, about 1743. These objects were : 

 (l) a bronze figure of Mars, nude and helmeted, with his right hand up, probably holding a 

 spear, and left down, probably for a shield, but both hands and feet were broken off ; it was 

 about 3 in. long (pi. x). (2) A round and moulded handle of a knife or vessel. (3) Seven thin plates 

 of silver, leaf-shaped, three of them having inscriptions pricked or punched on them 

 (pi. x). They measured 3 in. to 8 in. long and 2 in. to 4J in. wide. On four of them was 

 carved a figure of Mars, helmeted, with spear and shield, standing before a temple. Two bore 

 a figure of Vulcan with his attributes, also before a temple. The seventh, which was much 

 larger, measuring 21 in. by 4 in., had only the following inscription in five lines: 'marti 

 TOVTATi, ti(berivs) clavdivs primvs, attii liber(tvs), v(otvm) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito).' 

 * To Mars Toutatis (or Toutates) Titus Claudius Primus, the freedman of Attius, pays his vow.' 

 The Ceitic god Mars Toutates is sufficiently well known. ' Toutates ' occurs among 

 other names for Mars in an inscription found in Norica [Corp. Inscr. Latin, iii, 5320] and 

 on another at Rome [ibid, vi, 31 182]. Less certain ones have been found in England at 

 Chesterton [ibid, vii, 79], Old Carlisle \Efhem. Epigr. iii, 128] and at York [ibid. 313, 

 no. 181 J]. It seems to be another form of Teutates (or Tutates), the Celtic deity wor- 

 shipped by human sacrifice mentioned by Lucan [i, 444-5] and Lactantius [Divin. Inst. 

 i, 21] and whom Holder connects with Mars rather than with Mercury [Alt-Celtischer Sprach- 

 schatz : it is derived from teuta, people or state ; cf. Old Irish tuath]. The freedman's name, 

 the arrangement of which is unusual, suggests an early date. The nomen ' Attius ' occurs 

 more than once on inscriptions in England [Corp. Inscr. Latin, vii, 386, 390, 394 ; Haver- 

 field, Cat. of Chester Mus. (1900), no. 20] and is also used as a cognomen [Corp. Inscr. 

 Latin, vii, 27 ; cf. also Ephem. Epigr. vii, 844]. 



(2) The second inscription, which was punched on a plate measuring 8 in. by 4 in. below 

 a representation of Mars before a temple, ran ' d(eo) marti alatori, dum(?nonivs) 

 CENsoRiNVS, gemelli :fil(ivs), v(otvm) s(olvit) l(ibens) m(erito).' ' To the God Mars 

 Alator. ? Dumnonius Censorinus, the son of Gemellus, pays his vow.' 



An altar to Mars Alator was found at South Shields [Ephem. Epigr. vii, 999] and is 

 evidently a local deity. Holder suggests the same interpretation of the word ' alator ' as 

 occurs in mediaeval Latin— that is, a huntsman with particular duties [see Ducange]. 

 ' Dum ' is expanded into Dumnonius by Hiibner, and this reading is accepted by Holder. It 

 is hitherto unknown, but it is possible that a provincial (not, of course, a Roman citizen, 

 but one desirous of appearing Roman) might make a nomen for himself from the name of his 

 tribe, in this case the Dumnonii, who dwelt in south-west Britain. ' Censorinus ' occurs as 

 a cognomen as well as a nomen. 



(3) The third inscription is only a fragment punched on a plate measuring 6| in. by 

 3 in. below a figure of Vulcan in front of a temple : nv vlco— perhaps numini Vulcono, ' to 

 the God Vulcan.' ' Numen Volcanus ' is to be found on an altar at Maryport [Corp. Inscr. 

 Latin, vii, 398], and apparently ' numen Aesculapius ' on another in Galha Narbonensis 

 [ibid, xii, 354]. 



It is difficult to assign a use to these fragments of metal. Lysons' idea that they are 

 parts of legionary standards is not borne out by the pictures of standards nor by the inscrip- 



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