A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE bowl and a pewter patera 5I inches in diameter ; a bronze head which had once belonged to the handle of a bronze-mounted bucket ; ornaments in Kimmeridge clay from far away Dorsetshire ; enamelled objects {Jibula, a ' sealbox,' etc.), some with classical and some with Late Celtic patterns ; pottery with Late Celtic affinities, and other pottery which might be called 'black Samian ' (one piece stamped avllios). The coins included four or five British and a fairly continuous series from Claudius to Honorius, but the earlier coins were all much worn, and only those of 280—400 a.d. were really common. A well excavated in November, 1870, yielded also a crucible and a 'pint of earthen coin moulds,' intended for casting folks (large copper) of the Emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Chlorus and Galerius — probably to be assigned to the opening of the fourth century. Whether any buildings were discovered is not quite clear. Mr. Sharp, writing in 1862, records the discovery in that year of ' numerous black and white tessera?,' and con- cludes that ' undoubtedly near this spot stood a Roman house.' In 1870 he stated that ' no tessera or foundations of houses ' had been met with at all. I will not presume to decide between these assertions. But more than twenty wells were discovered on the site ; tiles were also found (though these might have been used to cover graves), and the number and character of the domestic objects and ornaments indicate inhabitants at no great distance. These inhabitants may have belonged to either or both of two dates — the commencement of the Roman period, indicated by British coins and pottery with Late Celtic affinities, or the fourth century, indicated by the vast majority of the coins. Whether these inhabitants dwelt in a ' villa ' or a village our knowledge at present does not enable us to determine. We know only their portable objects, their graves and a few imperfectly recorded traces of their houses. It is possible enough that there was a village on the site in early days and a ' villa ' later. But whether ' villa ' or village the site demands inclusion in this list.^ The singularly straight road from Duston to the Foss near Whilton Lodge (p. 203) may be connected with these remains. (21) Piddington. Here, close to Preston Wood and the London and Newport road, remains were found in 178 i — a mosaic, chiefly black and white, said to have measured 50 feet square but destroyed as soon as found, many large tiles, foundations, pottery, coins, a gold ring and a skeleton. The site has not been since explored.^ (22) Gayton. On the south-east edge of Gayton parish and close to the Blisworth boundary, traces of a building were discovered in 1840 in a field called the Warren. The foundations uncovered showed a portico with four column bases, 66 feet long, with a wall running at ' For the finds of 1 849 see Wetton's Guidebook to Northants, p. 243 ; for those of 1 854 the Proceedings of the Numismatic Society, November 23, 1854 ; for those of 1860-70 S. Sharp in Associated Archit. Soc. Reports, vi. (1862) 222 {tesserie). Numismatic Chronicle, ix. 167, xi. 28 (coin moulds), and Archteologta, xliii. 1 18-30 ; and the Sharp and Cowper Collections in Northampton Museum. '^ Reynolds, Iter Britann. p. 458, who saw himself the black and white lessertt. The other details are from F. Whellan, p. 277. 198
