ROMANO-BRITISH NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



About 1 840 a large number of skeletons were found between the railway station and Potter 

 Hill (see p. 12), and according to one report Roman coins with them [Wake, Hist of Colling- 

 ham, 42 •, Kelly's Dir. 1904, p. 48]. An amber and a stone bead, ' British or Roman,' were 

 found in afield near the High Street [Wake, loc. cit.]. 



CoLLiNGHAM, SouTH. — Quantities of Roman pottery, including a few fragments of Gaulish ware 

 and a mortarium, are said to have been found here [Wake, Hist, of Collingham, 43 ; Kelly's 

 Dir. 1904, p. 48]. In this parish is the station of Crococolana (see under Brough, p. 11). 

 See also Cromwell for the bridge across the Trent here. 



CoTGRATE. — Four skeletons lying in separate graves were found in the line of the Fosse Way 

 about 1B36 ; with one was a third brass of Carausius (a.d. 287-93), ^^^ '' '^ ^^''^ ^^'^^ '^^° 

 iron spears, varying in length from 16 in. to 18 in., were deposited with each interment. 

 Other Roman coins from the neighbourhood are also reported, but not in detail. Bateman 

 regarded this as a Saxon burial, but Mr. Reginald Smith considers it Roman of the 5th 

 century [yourn. Brit. Arch. Assoc, iii, 297 ; viii, 190 ; Bailey, Ann. of Notts, iv, 397 ; V.C.H. 

 Notts, i, 197]. 



At Lodge-on-the- Wolds in this parish Stukeley, in 1722, saw the Roman pavement of the 

 Fosse [Itin. Cur. io6 ; see above, p. 8]. 



Cromwell. — In this parish is the site of a Roman bridge crossing the Trent (Ordnance Survey, 

 6-in. XXV, SE.] a little way below a bank or island called the ' Oven.' Part of this bridge 

 seems to have been cleared away early in the last century to improve the navigation of the 

 river. Its piers were described by Frank Lambert, an old servant of the Trent Navigation 

 Company, who had assisted in its removal, as of ' lozenge-shape,' formed by trees laid on the 

 bed of the river, and the inclosed space filled in with Coddington stone laid edgeways. 

 Mr. Watkin, who obtained this information for his series of articles on Roman Notts., 

 thought it probable that the construction of this bridge was Roman, and compared the shape 

 of the piers with those at Chesters 



and Corbridge in Northumber- 

 land [Nott. Daily Guardian, 20 

 Feb. 1877; Arch. Journ. xliii, 26]. 

 His belief was confirmed seven or 

 eight years later, when a fresh 

 discovery was reported in October 

 1884. Two piers, apparently of 

 an ancient wooden bridge, were 

 discovered in the course of dredg- 

 ing operations between the parishes 

 of Cromwell and South Colling- 

 ham, and after some observations 

 and measurements had been made, 

 they were blown up by dynamite. 

 A photograph ' of the remains taken 

 at the time is here reproduced 

 (fig. 8). The foundations were of 

 wood set in Ancaster, or, as a later 

 correspondent reported, Yorkshire, 

 limestone mixed with Yorkshire 

 flagging, and from the quantity of 

 stones dredged up below the bridge 

 it seemed likely that the piers them- 

 selves (which must have been six 

 or seven in number, with a length 

 and a span each of 29 ft.) were of 

 masonry, 'the wooden crib form- 

 ing a foundation, and the upright 

 timbers acting as bond-timbers.' 

 Some of the timber was in very 

 good condition, and the mortar was 

 hard and adhesive. The walings 

 and balks were of hard black 

 oak, the former fastened across 



i.-l.i.-A-J,_.A_iLJ_A_i=^l_.^ 



Fig. %a. — Plan of Roman Bridge at Cromwell 



' For this photograph we are indebted to the kindness of Mr. T. Cecil S. Woolley, of South Collingham. 

 2 25 4 



