ROMANO-BRITISH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE of a single ' villa,' but potsherds are easily diffused in the course of culti- vation, and are not by themselves adequate evidence to prove the extent of buildings. The name Brinavis is even more unsatisfactory. It occurs in the lists of the Ravenna Geographer, in a context w^hich gives no clue to its actual position ; thence it was borrowed by Bertram, when forging the Itineraries of ' Richard of Cirencester,' and located vaguely in the Midlands ; it rests therefore on the worst authority.' (26) Thenford. Here there appears to have been a ' villa ' half a mile east of the village in fields called Flaxlands and Stonegreen, on the top of a slope which falls away steeply westwards and immediately south of the walled garden belonging to Thenford House. The recorded remains comprise foundations, hypocausts, tessellated pavements, tiles, bricks and several coins — a denarius of Vespasian and copper of Tetricus and the Constantine period. The surface of the site is still strewn with bits of brick and pottery, and an old labourer in Thenford told me that he had ploughed along the top of a pavement and found one or two ' fireplaces.' An urn with ashes was dug up long ago in the church- yard, but I do not know whether it is Roman. Remains have also been found at Seabridge, to the west of Thenford, on the edge of Middleton Cheney parish, near the barn called Cold Harbour — skeletons, a cup, and according to local tradition some armour ; but I see no reason for class- ing these as Roman. ^ None of these sites have been explored. (27) King's Sutton. Here at a spot called Blacklands, on rising ground half a mile north of the village, a considerable patch of soil is unusually dark in colour, and foundations, pottery, including a curious colander, knife and other objects in iron, and coins of the second, third and fourth centuries — the last being the commonest — have been noted by various writers. The site has never been explored. Roman coins of 270-330 A.D. have been found also in other parts of the parish.^ 4. The Roads From our description of country towns and country we pass to the roads which provided communications. This is the natural order of subjects. It is not perhaps the usual order. In general English topo- graphers have tended to emphasize the roads at the expense of the life to which the roads subserved. The study of Roman Britain has now and again been treated as though it were merely a study of roads and of placenames connected therewith. The character of towns or villas
- Ravenna Ceogr. 428, 429. It is extremely prob;ib!e that this, like most of the names in the
Ravenna lists, is corruptly spelt. ^ Morton, p. ;2g (hence Bridges, i. 203, etc.) ; Baker, i. 717, who quite unnecess.irily thinks the site too extended for a villa ; Beesley's Banbuty, pp. 31-2 ; F. Whellan, p. 498 ; a flanged tile in Northampton Museum.
- Morton, p. 531 (coins called Blackland pence); Baker, i. 703 ; Beesley's Banbuty, p. 33;
Numhmatic Soc. PiwuJinff, 'November 23, 1843; Proceedings of the Soe. of Ani'iquarks, ser. 2, i. 323, ii. 75 ; "Journal of the Bridsh Archtcokgual AssoAation, xvii. 70 ; Worcester Congress of Arckttological Insti- tute, Catalogue of Museum, p. 1 1 . Mr. Dagley of King's Sutton has about fifty coins, found mostly at Blacklands — a denarius of Domitian, another of Hadrian, and copper of the second, third and especially fourth centuries. Fragments of Roman pottery still lie about on the surfice of the site. 201
