A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE size and wealth and perhaps the residence of the chief authorities who controlled taxes and customs dues. The usual route to the continent for passengers and for goods was from the Kentish harbours to Gessoriacum (Boulogne), but the discovery of a pig of Mendip lead at the mouth of the Somme suggests occasionally longer voyages. Finally, let us sketch the roads. We may distinguish four groups, all commencing from one centre, London. One road ran south-east to Canterbury and the Kentish ports. A second ran west and south-west, first due west from London to Silchester, and thence by ramifications to Winchester and Exeter, Bath, Gloucester and South Wales. A third, Watling Street, ran north-west across the Midlands to Wroxeter, and thence to the military districts of the north-west : it also gave access to Leicester and the north. A fourth ran to Colchester and the eastern counties, and also to Lincoln and York and the military districts of the north-east. In Northamptonshire we shall be concerned with the third and fourth of these routes and with branches from them. To these must be added a long single road, the only important one which had no con- nection with London. This is the Foss, which cuts obliquely across from north-east to south-west, joining Lincoln, Leicester, Bath and Exeter. These roads must be understood as being only the main roads, divested, for the sake of clearness, of many branches and intricacies ; and, understood as such, they may be taken to represent a reasonable supply of internal communications for the province. After the Roman occupa- tion had ceased, they were largely utilized by the English, but they do not much resemble the roads of mediasval England in their grouping and economic significance. One might better compare them to the railways of to-day, which equally radiate from London. Such was Roman Britain, so far as it was not military — a land of small country towns and large rural estates ; permeated by the simpler forms of Roman civilization, but lacking the higher developments ; not devoid of natural resources, but not rich ; a comfortable country perhaps, but an unimportant fraction of the Empire. With these general features of the province, or rather of its southern portion, we have now to compare the details of Roman Northampton- shire. The comparison will both illustrate the preceding sketch and at the same time show the proper significance of the Roman remains found in the county. Let us briefly anticipate the results. Our detailed survey will show us a district that closely resembles the larger part of southern non-military Britain, both in the abundance and in the character of its remains, but which does not lack one or two features of special interest. There were, in the area which is now Northamptonshire, one considerable town and three small ones. There were numerous villas and rural dweUings. There were roads ; and two of these roads were specially important in the road system of the province. There were industries of some small local moment — probably ironstone diggings, certainly extensive manufactures of earthenware at Castor — and the latter, the Castor potteries, merit special notice, because they preserved in 164
