ROMANO-BRITISH BEDFORDSHIRE 



white minf RKi/l TV, .,1 r u••'^^?'' !''^*^'^ ^^^^'^ ^^'■^' '^'''^ ^^''^^^ on it in thick 

 wnite paint [ibidj. The whole of this collection is ' " 



of Hitchin. 



spear-head, keys, &c., and a small 



in the possession of Mr. W. Ransom, F.S.A., 

 Bedford— From the frequency with which Roman remains have been 



fettleil'.rr f 'T" ^'°t^^}^ '^"' '' '^^'^' '^' "^'^ °f ^ ^'"^H "'""— -omano-^ntisn 

 settlement at the ford over the Ouse, on a road possibly from ShefFord to Irchester, or, as has 

 been suggested, on a road from Sandy through Cople {Asscc. Arch. Soc. i, ciS^T 



discovered 

 uninclosed 



in the town of 

 Romano-British 



[Building News, 7 Oct., 



Boffom 



1 



BmjhT.me is unknown, and the^^ '^^rZ^r^;::;.r;^-';:i^^i^^^;^Z 

 Roman settlement [ib.d. v.ii 149 ; Brayley, Beautia of Engl, and Wales, i, 4]. That 

 in S/ f"^"'" """u 'f ^^''^tantial character existed is perhaps proved by ^he discovery 

 m 1881 of Roman bricks, fragments of flues, and tesselated work' on the south side li 



Vrs n Tu' °^*'"P',^' * P"'''"" °^*^^ "^^ °f ^^'Ifo^'l Castle [Building News, 7 



looij. 1 here are said to be remains "^^ 



of some earthworks on the north side /^"^^— . ^ "^ 



of the river which have been supposed ' "'''^ 



to be Roman [Assoc. Arch. Soc. i, 382]. 



During some excavations in a brick- 

 field on the Clapham Road remains 



were found indicative of a cemetery. 



A considerable number of graves were 



examined, and urns, burnt animal 



bones, and other objects were dis- 

 covered in a layer of charcoal and ashes 



about 3 ft. from the surface. Pottery, 



flint implements, and a bronze sword 



were among the articles preserved, but 



none of the urns was perfect [ibid. 



viii, 152]. A good specimen of a brass 



key 2 in. long was found in Home 



Lane, at a depth of about 7 ft. from 



the surface, in a layer of thick black 



mud. Near it was the blade of a knife 

 . 6 in. long, and a coin of Diocletian 



(a.d. 284). A large quantity of pottery 



was also found here at depths varying 



from 7 ft. to II ft., all more or less 



fragmentary [Proc. Soc. Antiq. (Ser. 2), 



xii, 116]. Small pieces of Samian ware 



were found in a gravel pit near the 



town in 1868 [Gent. Mag. Lib. Rom 



Brit. Remains, i, 3, 4 ; "Journ. Brit. 



Arch. Assoc, xxxviii, 103], and before 



then coarse pottery was dug up at 



various times indifferent streets, notably 



in Potter Street, and at the corner ot 



the new Market-place and High Street, 



where an urn was discovered contain- 

 ing charred bones and ashes. When 



the old bridge at Bedford was taken 



down in 1 8 1 1 several Roman coins 



were found [Assoc. Arch. Soc.'x, 382]. In 1894 a further discovery was made in the Bromham 



Road of broken pottery, tiles, pieces of charred wood, and a few animal bones and teeth, but no 

 , human remains, the whole giving evidence of having been burnt [Beds. Times, 14 April, 1894]. 

 BiDDENHAM. — Further explorations at Biddenham would probably disclose some evidence of a small 

 Romano-British settlement. In 1866 fragments of a ^a/isra and four urns of common red 

 pottery containing burnt bones, some pieces of Samian ware, and a first brass of Lucius Verus 

 (a.d. 161— 9) were found in a gravel pit, about 2 ft. from the surface. Twenty years earlier 

 fragments of urns had been discovered, and in 1857 a deep pit or well was opened, about 40 ft. 

 in depth, a hundred yards from a supposed Roman road (the Akeman Street), containing a 

 series of deposits in the following order : burnt stones, Roman pottery, a sculptured figure, 

 burnt stones again, an altar slab and the figure of a bird, thought to be a stork, which was 

 evidently part of the altar ; burnt stones, stone whorls, leather soles, logs of woods, and frag- 



5 







I = 



I ^, 







=^*.coos 



; Gravel Pit 



jBonesof-small'dog 



I 

 I 



I 



1 Bones'oflarge'dog 



.1 Bumf stones 



. J Roman tjofliery 



=. -I Human-sKeleron 



J RomAnscuIiatore 



<£!9 



gj,o £ l-Bumrstones 



I >Mta.rslabAndsf<ir1< 



=jGsS?gk =: L Bones o£horse 



= [ Bones of ox 



f" ^. Bumtstones 



■ J- Bones off ox-,ratdogetc 



f JtealtiePsoleof-shoeorsandfJ 



L" — I- Kom&npottety 



'. f-Sacmianwarc 



— j-BoarituskandnaJls 

 1 Bumtsfones 

 I VAriousbones lodsof 

 wood and fragment's 

 o£Koman|xiTOty and 

 bib of blajcktnom 



Well at Biddenham 



