A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



Several earth-walled ' camps ' are scattered about the county, the majority 

 being in the Sherwood Forest district, its highest part. The hst ot those 

 which for one or other reason have been considered to be Roman is given 

 below ; but in hardly any case can the supposition be upheld, either on 

 account of form or the discovery of Roman remains. The majority appear 

 to be hill-fortresses or defences "> of an earlier date, constructed and utilized 

 by the native Britons. They are here classified in accordance with the 

 system laid down by the Congress of Archaeological Societies" and adopted 

 in the article ' Earthworks ' in the previous volume of this work. 



Type A.— Promontory Fortress Type C— Rectangular Camps 



Farnsfield (Combs). Roman remains ^^^^^j^ East. Roman station of Margidunum 



Type B.-HiLL Fortress Harworth' 



Blidworth Oxton (Lonely Grange) 



Farnsfield (Hexgrave) Southwell (oval form) 

 Grove 



Mansfield Woodhouse Type X.— Uncertain 



Oxton (Oldox) •' 



Scaftworth (Everton) Barton in Fabis (British) 



In this list Margidunum is the only one of which we can safely state 

 that it was inhabited in Roman times. It was indeed a Romano-British 

 village. Combs also has yielded Roman remains, but not such as to prove 

 very definite occupation. 



Lastly, a few words may be said on the traces of Roman roads in the 

 county. The subject is. treated in full detail in the succeeding section, 

 where the literary evidence, mainly derived from the Itinerarium Antonini, the 

 Roman 'road-book,' is compared and combined with such archaeological 

 evidence as is available. The latter is supplied chiefly by actual remains, such 

 as milestones or traces of ancient metalling, or by the straightness of the 

 existing tracts between known Roman sites. The Itinerary, which in the 

 form in which we have it may date from the early part of the 3rd century, 

 is a source of evidence which — like the straightness of roads — must be used 

 with caution, owing to its lack of accuracy and mistakes in the manuscripts. 

 Even the mileage, which is invariably given between the stations, is qualified 

 by the formula M.P.M., millia plus minus, though this probably means in the 

 first place that fractions are omitted. But in default of detailed topographi- 

 cal descriptions by contemporary ancient writers, its information has been 

 and always will be invaluable. Three of its routes passed through the 

 county ; the fifth along Ermine Street or one of its branches, the sixth along 

 the Fosse Way, while the eighth combines the two. 



Roads 



(l) THE fosse way 



This road is one of the best known and best authenticated Roman roads 

 in this country, and is mentioned in numerous ancient charters, some of them 

 older than the Conquest. An outline of its course as one of the four royal 



'» Roman camps, it should be remembered, were not necessarily placed on high ground like those of 

 earlier times. " ^'f^''' '" ^""^"^ Earthworks, 1903 ; cf. r.C.H. Notts, i, 29+, fF. 



