ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
objects, and perhaps a faint trace or two of buildings (tiles, iron hinge), have alone been as yet discovered.' It will be noticed that this site, like all the neighbourhood of Castor, seems to have been early oc- cupied.
(2) Thorpe or Longthorpe, till 1850 in the parish of St. John Baptist, Peterborough, between that town and Castor. Here Stukeley says that a mosaic was found in 1720 on the land of Sir Francis St. John, and coins are attested by other writers — one Republican, some of Augustus, Claudius ('first bronze'), Aelius Verus, etc. One could wish that one had some further authority for the mosaic than Stukeley, but, as he gives place and date, it may be rash to reject his testimony.^
(3) Helpstone. Here in a field called Pail Grounds, near Oxey Wood and Wood Lane, about a mile south of the village, a mosaic, with a geometrical design in red, white, dark blue and yellow, was discovered in December, 1827, and copied (fig. 16) ; but the house to which it must have belonged was not explored, or if explored no record seems to exist. The Roman pavement in the chancel of Helpstone church, mentioned by Bridges and therefore found probably before 1700, may have come from this site ; but the villa in Ashton Lawn V/ood is equally near.^
(4) Ashton, 4 miles north of Castor, on the east side of the Roman road called King Street. Here ' the foundations of a square structure supposed to be Roman once existed, and perhaps are still visible, in a little wood called Ashton Lawn' in the south of the parish.^ It is im- possible to assert confidently that these foundations belonged to a villa, especially as a noteworthy tile of the Twentieth Legion was found a quarter of a mile south, in Hilly Wood (p. 214). But it seems best to include them in this list provisionally.
(5) Bedford Purlieus, 2 miles west of Wansford Bridge, in Thorn- haugh parish and partly in a detached portion of Wansford parish. Here traces of permanent occupation have been noted in the large covers known as Bedford Purlieus, between the existing roads from Wansford Bridge to Uppingham and to Kingscliffe. Artis marks on his map ' an extensive Roman building of the second class,' some other buildings and some ' iron works ' along the eastern edge of the wood facing Cooke's Hole, but he gives no details except a picture of an ' iron furnace,'
' J.W. '&odigQ.r,JoHfrtiilof the Brithh Aickxological Association, xliii. 372, xlvi. 87, xlviii. 167, 1. 57 ; Dr. W.ilker, ibid, new ser. v. 58 ; fifteen coins in Peterborough Museum from v.irious p.irts of the town ; priv.ite collections of Dr. Walker and Mr. J. W. Bodger ; sketches by Mr. Jas. T. Irvine in the Bodlei.in Library {Korthants, iv., vi.). The carved pill.ir, inscribed fr.igmcnt and plinth found in the cathednd in 1888-9 probably came from Castor (p. I 76). 2 Stukeley, Itin. Cuii'isum, p. 84 (hence Gough, JJ./. to Cmn.lt-ii, ii. 287 ; Reynolds, p. 466). For the coins see Morton, p. 515 ; S]r. of /infiju/irics' Minutes (October 24, 1722), i. 69 ; Gough, ii. 287. 3 Artis, pi. xxiv. ; Bridges, ii. 515 corrected by Gibson, Ciss.'cr, p. 62 ; Evans and Britton, p. 228. The vicar of Etton and Helpstone, the Rev. J. Thomas, informs nie that the pavement is still there ; when the chancel was recently repavcd the mosaic was rearranged.
- Trollope, j^ssociiiteJ j^rrMt. Soc. Reports, ix. (1868) 156. Since 1887 Ashton has been included
in Bainton parish, but I have preferred to mention the old boundaries, which arc on most of the maps now in use. 189
