A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK of coins. In the year 1812, a collection of minimi to the number of a thousand was ploughed up on land beyond the limits of the common at Bungay." As an example of manufactures carried on within the county, the potters' kilns discovered near the village of West Stow **" may be cited. Five of these have been uncovered, the first in 1879, and there is reason to believe that many more have either been destroyed or yet remain beneath the soil; in fact that there was a little community of potters settled on this spot. The kilns were sma]^ hut of the usual form. Shards of pottery lay about them, but they were empty save that in one ampullae of a buff ware had been fired. From the ashes of this last kiln two small brass coins of Constantine were turned up, an indication perhaps of the date when the kilns were in working order. Another more rare, if not unique find was made near Byng Hall, in Pettistree," in Melton, in 1846. This had the appearance of a brickfield, stacks of burnt and unburnt bricks of Roman character being brought to light. Flanged tiles also and some hundreds of others of the usual form helped to show the nature of the find. But unfortunately the excavations were not continued ; little was done, and we have only an incomplete record of what was seen. Before entering on another section of this paper, viz. the Roman roads in and through Suffolk, some mention must be made of the miscellaneous antiquities of the period. To go through any detailed list of these would occupy too much space, nor are they, for the most part, so unlike much to be found elsewhere as to need special remark. Some, however, of the more remarkable are here cited. Amongst these, the statuette in bronze dug up at Barking Hall *' before the year 1800 may well take the first place. The figure measures 22 in. in height, and is believed to represent an imperial personage in full armour. It is the details of this armour which give the figure its character and distinc- tion, for the surface of the cuirass is completely covered with fine niello work of a quality and completeness of design rare in this country. The statuette was considered so important a specimen of its kind that it was engraved and described in the fourth volume of Vetusta Monumenta of the Society of Antiquaries. It now forms one of the chief ornaments of the Romano- British collection at the British Museum. Fragments of two statuettes of a very different style from the preceding, but of equal interest archaeologically, were found at Hawkedon,** in 1880, in an amphora which had probably contained a cinerary urn. Only the heads and busts of these statuettes remained. The material of which they were composed was pipeclay. As an indication of size, it may be noted that the head of one measured i in. and of the other i in. in height. Both represented a nude type of the goddess Venus. Such figures are well known in France, but are much less common in this country. What makes their discovery worthy of notice is that they may perhaps be looked upon as objects of popular worship. The two specimens here mentioned may have had a place in the domestic shrine 19 Proc. Suff. Inst. Arch. 1863, iii, 414. " Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc. 1881, xxxvii. 152 et seq. " Davy, Suff. Coll. B.M. MSS. xxxvii, 191 13, fol. 194 a, b. See diagram of find in Topog. Index. " Vetusta Monumenta (Soc. Antiq.), iv, pi. xi, xv. *' Proc. Suff. Inst. Arch, vi, 1888-9. 296
