The Roman roads branching from the town were (1st) the “Ramper,” [6a] as it is still called, running north-west, and connecting it with the Roman station Lindum; from this, at Baumber, [6b] distant about 4 miles, a branch running northwards led to the Roman Castrum, now Caistor; (2nd) north-eastwards via West Ashby, being the highway to Louth, the Roman Luda; (3rd) eastwards, by High Toynton, Greetham, &c, to Waynflete, the Roman Vain-ona; (4th) southward, by Dalderby, Haltham, &c., to Leeds Gate, Chapel Hill, and there crossing the river Witham to Sleaford and Ancaster, the Roman Causennæ, situated on the great Roman Ermin Street. This also was continued to another Roman Castrum, now Castor, near Peterborough; (5th) south-west, by Thornton, &c., to Tattershall, locally supposed to have been the Roman Durobrivæ, and where traces of a Roman camp still remain.
Besides these Roman viæ and Roman coins, quite an abundance of Roman pottery has from time to time been unearthed, and fragments are continually being found in gardens in the town. A collection of these, probably cinerary urns, was preserved until quite recently in the library of the Mechanics’
Institute, where the writer has frequently seen them, [7a] they varied in height from 8 inches to 18 inches. Unfortunately, for lack of funds, that institution was broken up about 1890, the books were stowed away in a room at the workhouse, a valuable collection, and the urns were sold by the late Mr. Joseph Willson, who acted as sole trustee. Other Roman relics have been fragments of mortars of white clay, found on the site of the present union, one bearing the word “fecit,” though the maker’s name was lost. Portions also of Samian ware have been found, one stamped with a leopard and stag, another bearing part of the potter’s name, iliani; with fragments of hand-mills, fibulæ, &c. [7b] The present writer has two jars, or bottles, of buff coloured ware, of which about a dozen were dug up when the foundations of the workhouse were being laid in 1838, they are probably Samian, a friend having exactly similar vessels which she brought from Cyprus. The writer has in his possession the head of a porphyritic mallet which was found in a garden in the south of the town a few years ago, it is probably Roman; the handle, which would be of wood, had entirely disappeared; it is much “pitted” through damp and age, is 6½ inches long and weighs 3-lb. 9-oz.
A discovery of further interesting Roman relics of another kind was made in 1896. The owner of a garden near Queen Street, in the south-eastern part of the town, was digging up an apple tree when he came across a fine bed of gravel. Continuing the digging, in order to find the thickness of this deposit, his spade struck against a hard substance, which proved to be a lead coffin. After this had been examined by others invited to inspect it, without any satisfactory result, the present writer was requested to conduct further investigation. The coffin was found to be 5-ft. 2-in. in length, containing the skeleton, rather shorter, of a female. A few days later a second coffin was found, lying parallel to the first, 5-ft. 7-in. in length, the bones of the skeleton within being
larger and evidently those of a male. Subsequently fragments of decayed wood and long iron nails and clamps were found, showing that the leaden coffins had originally been enclosed in wooden cases. Both these coffins lay east and west. A description was sent to a well-known antiquarian, the late Mr. John Bellows of Gloucester, and he stated that if the lead had an admixture of tin they were Roman, if no tin, post-Roman. The lead was afterwards analysed by Professor Church, of Kew, and by the analytical chemist of Messrs. Kynoch & Co., of Birmingham, with the result that there was found to be a percentage of 1.65 of tin to 97.08 of lead and 1.3 of oxygen, “the metal slightly oxidised.” It was thus proved that the coffins were those of Romans, their “orientation” implying that they were Christian. It should be added that three similar coffins were found in the year 1872, when the foundations were being laid of the New Jerusalem Chapel in Croft Street, within some 100 yards of the two already described; and further, as confirmatory of their being Roman, a lead coffin was also found in the churchyard of Baumber, on the restoration of the church there in 1892, this being close to the Roman road (already mentioned) between the old Roman stations Banovallum and Lindum. Lead coffins have also been found in the Roman cemeteries at Colchester, York, and at other places. [8]
As another interesting case of Roman relics found in Horncastle, I give the following:—In 1894 I exhibited, at a meeting of our Archæological Society, some small clay pipes which had recently been dug up along with a copper coin of the Emperor Constantine, just within the western wall of the old castle, near the present Manor House. They were evidently very old and of peculiar make, being short in stem with small bowl set at an obtuse angle. They were said at the time to be Roman, but since tobacco was not introduced till the reign of Elizabeth that idea was rejected. In the year 1904, however, a large quantity of fragments of similar clay pipes were found in the ruins of the Roman fort of Aliso, near Halteren on the river Lippe, in Western Germany, some of rude structure, some decorated with figures and Roman characters. They were lying at a depth of 9 feet below the surface, and had evidently lain undisturbed since the time of the Roman occupation. From the marks upon them it was manifest that they had been used, and it is now known from the statements of the Roman historian Pliny, and the Greek Herodotus, that the use of narcotic fumes was not unknown to the Romans, as well as to other ancient nations; the material used was hemp seed and cypress grass. In the Berlin Ethnological Museum, also, vessels of clay are preserved, which are supposed to have been used for a like purpose. This discovery, then, at Horncastle is very interesting as adding to our Roman remains, and we may picture to ourselves the Roman sentinel taking his beat on the old castle walls and solacing himself, after the manner of his countrymen, with his pipe. (An account of this later discovery is given in a German scientific review for August, 1904, quoted Standard, August 12, 1904).
Of what may be called the close of this early historic period in connection with Horncastle there is little more to be said. The Roman forces withdrew from Britain about A.D. 408. The Britons harried by their northern neighbours, the Picts and Scots, applied for assistance to the Saxons, who, coming at first as friends, but led to stay by the attractions of the country, gradually
over-ran the land and themselves in turn over-mastered the Britons, driving them into Wales and Cornwall. The only matter of interest in connection with Horncastle, in this struggle between Saxon and Briton, is that about the end of the 5th century the Saxon King Horsa, with his brother Hengist, who had greatly improved the fort at Horncastle, were defeated in a fight at Tetford by the Britons under their leader Raengeires, and the British King caused the walls to be nearly demolished and the place rendered defenceless. (Leland’s Collectanea, vol i, pt. ii, p. 509).
