Page:VCH Northamptonshire 1.djvu/230

 A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE church or somewhere else near them cannot be decided, and for the moment does not matter. In any case the mileage was counted from Castor, not ' the Castles,' and Castor must have been the chief place at some time or other, either when the mileage was first calculated or when the milestone was erected in a.d. 276. But the relation of Castor to the walled enclosure on the other bank of the Nene is not at all clear, and indeed can only be determined by excavation. At present we know of the southern settlement that it was walled and contained dwelling houses, but we know very little about those houses ; while of the northern settlement we know much about the houses but we do not know whether it was walled. Our evidence leads us however to believe that in character of civilization the two were substantially the same. The inhabitants of the district were ordinary civilians, strangers to Roman official and military life. Their chief employment probably and their chief source of wealth lay in the pottery works so often men- tioned in the preceding paragraph.' These works were very extensive ; they produced a remarkable ware which was in origin native or Celtic, though in detail it shows Roman influences. Its peculiar features may more fitly be described in a separate section (p. 207) ; here we are con- cerned with it only as illustrating the economic character of the place. It is interesting to note the occupation of the dwellers round this imperfectly constituted town ; it is no less interesting to note that in a place where Celtic and Roman systems of habitation seem to meet we can also trace a fusion of Celtic and Roman ceramic traditions. But in general the population was doubtless Romanized thoroughly. Mosaics and hypocausts show the usual Italian types ; Samian pottery was freely used ; the Roman gods were worshipped. On this Romano-British site we can trace more native elements than on many similar sites. But the Roman element has triumphed over them. {b) IRCHESTER Irchester is a village and parish two miles east-south-east from Wellingborough on the south bank of the Nene. Here, half a mile from the village, is a large arable field called Burrow Field, which slopes gently northwards to the river's edge ; immediately east of it are the buildings of Chester House. The Roman 'camp' occupies Burrow Field and a little more, and Roman remains found outside it stretch away eastwards past Chester House. The Roman name of the site is unknown — no serious student has even ventured to guess at it. The English name affords no clue ; the first half of it probably embodies an English personal ' Two other industries have been alleged, (i) Artis thought that he had discovered iron works, especially near Wansford and beyond it towards Bedford Purlieus (p. 189), and he figures one of the iron furnaces (pi. xxv.). But Mr. William Gowland tells me that this furnace is certainly not an iron furnace ; it may be connected with pottery works. Until further evidence is obtained therefore Artis' iron works must be considered doubtful, (z) Stukeley had a wild idea about a service of cornboats down the Nene, which still finds credence with some writers. No manner of evidence for it exists and there is no special probability in it. I doubt whether in Roman days the Nene is likely to have had at the end of the corn harvest a sufficiency of continuously deep water for the purpose. 178