ROMANO-BRITISH BEDFORDSHIRE 



found in the same place. In 1877 a Roman lamp was found and exhibited to the British 

 Archaeological Association, and large numbers of coins, in bronze, silver, and gold, have been 

 discovered at different times near the church and on the downs, dating from Augustus (B.C. 27- 

 A.D. 14) to Dalmatius (a.d. 337) \Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxvii, 107 ; xxxiv, 134 ; W. G. 

 Smith, Dunstable : its Hist, and Surroundings, 56]. Fragments of pottery are frequently 

 dug up in the town ; a large urn inverted on a slab of sandstone was found at a depth of 

 5 ft. below the surface, in a high road to the north, but it crumbled away on exposure to the 

 air. Also, during some drainage excavations in 1901, two Roman refuse pits were opened 

 to the south of the Icknield Way and west of the Watling Street, at places called St. 

 Mary's and Little Butts, which contained numerous fragments of Samian ware, one bowl 

 with potter's mark conativs f. and another cineti m ; imitation Samian, Castor ware, 

 ware with a vitreous glaze, and other coarse pottery, bones, oyster shells, and pieces of 

 stone querns [W. G. Smith, op. cit. 54 ; information from Mr. W. G. Smith]. A narrow 

 oblong tessera of brass, with a ring at one end, was also found at Markyate Street, four miles to 



TES^ DEI^ MAK S EDI ARVM 



Tessera found near Dunstable 



the south of Dunstable, on the Watling Street, inscribed tes . dei . mar . sediarum, which it 

 has been thought should be read tessera . dei . martis . sediarum, and the suggested transla- 

 tion is ' Tablet of the God Mars of Sediae ' ; though Sediae has not been identified as a Roman 

 place-name [Hubner, Insc. Rom. Brit, vii, 1262 ; Pi>ii. Trans, xlv, 224 ; Camden, Brit. 

 (ed. Gough), ii, 56]. In 1859, in making the branch line from Dunstable to the London and 

 North- Western Railway at Sewell, a shaft was discovered on the north side of the cutting, full 

 of remains to a depth of 116 ft. The diameter was 42 in. to the depth of 70 ft. and then 

 gradually lessened till at a depth of no ft. it measured 31 in. across. At 20 ft. below the 

 surface foot-holes, or ' scotches,' appeared, and continued downwards at regular distances. The 

 railway cutting had exposed the shaft to the depth of 53 ft. and below that level, soil of a 

 darker colour, bones of small animals and fragments of burnt wood in successive layers were 

 revealed. Down to 67 ft. from the mouth of the shaft, pieces of coarse unbaked pottery, human 

 bones bones and teeth of animals, pieces of pottery and Roman tiles, also of sandstone slabs, 

 squared to look like tiles, were discovered. The sandstone had evidently been brought from a 

 distance, as the few stones outcropping from the chalk of the downs are usually flint. At 67 ft. 

 a quantity of black flints, not of the usual kind, apparently laid in a distinct course, were 

 brought to light. At 72 ft. bones of animals, fragments of rough red pottery, and a large 

 quantity of charred wood appeared. At 75 ft. were more bones, and at 81 ft. bones, charred 

 wood, and pieces of black ware. It is said that coins were also found here, but of what date is 

 not known. Similar wells or pits were found at Biddenham and Maiden Bower [Arch. Journ. 

 xxxix, 286 ; heighten Bu%%ard Reporter, 24 Jan. l86o]. A few years ago a bronze pin and a 

 small gold coin (Roman) were found at the bottom of the chalk cutting at the north end of 

 the town. They had fallen, with pieces of chalk, from the top of the cutting, at which place, 

 on the east side, the earth shows signs of disturbance at an early date [Inf. from Mr. W. G. 



Smith]. 



Edworth. A circular brass fibula, elaborately ornamented with emeralds, quartz, crystal, &c., was 



found with human remains at Toplers Hill. Sir Henry Dryden considered it to be of late 

 Romano-British manufacture, but it may be of a still later date [Dryden, ' Roman and 

 Romano-British Remains at and near ShefFord,' p. lO, FM. Camh. Antiq. Soc. (1840-6), vol. i ; 

 Arch. Journ. xii, 96]. 



Elstow. Several articles thought to be of the Roman period, among which were some good 



specimens of Samian ware, were dug up in 1851, in a field about a mile and a half from the 

 line of a supposed Roman road [Assoc. Arch. Soc. i, 382]. 



FtiTTON. In 1823 what had been apparently part of a cemetery was discovered in this parish ; 



fragments of several urns of various sizes were found there, containing calcined human bones 

 [Neiv Mag. Mar. 1823, ix, 140 ; Arch. Journ. xxxix, 219]. 



Flitwick— 170 coins of third brass of Tetricus the Younger (a.d. 268-73) were found cemented 

 together in a mass 2 ft. 6 in. below the surface at Priestley Farm in 1880. They are now in 

 the possession of the Duke of Bedford [Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. 2), vii, 272]. In 1829 an earthen 

 pot also a gold medallion and a spear-head, were found on Flitwick Moor, but there is no 

 evidence to show that these were Roman [MS. Min. Soc. Antiq. xxxvi, 57]. 



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