The Roman military site at Longthorpe, west of Peterborough, was discovered by observation from the air in 1961: no traces now remain on the surface. Excavations between IQ6J and 1973 have shown that a 27-acre fortress with timber buildings, accommodating a legionary vexillation together with auxiliary troops, was succeeded by an 1 i-acrefort. The period of occupation extended from c. 44/8 to c. 62. Crop marks observed from the air at Orton Stanch, 400 m. southeast of the fortress, have led to the discovery of a native farmstead. Excavations there by Messrs. A. Challands, G. B. Dannell and Dr. J. P. Wild have shown that agricultural activities were intermitted for the period of the occupation of the fortress, the settlement being replaced by a large industrial establishment or worksdepot involved in pottery manufacture and possibly in bronze-working with clear military connections. The present report describes the excavation of the fortress : the industrial site is to be published in a future volume of Britannia. Communications (FIG. I) The fortress is situated c. 2-8 miles (4-5 km) east of the junction of the early Roman military roads now known as Ermine Street and King Street in the parish of Ailsworth, north of the Nene, but itself lies on no known Roman road. It may however be significant that an alignment of Ermine Street further south near Norman Cross, if projected northwards, would approach the neighbourhood of the fortress via a comparatively straight parish boundary on the east side of Orton Waterville. The surviving traces of Margary's road 25, running southeast from King Street in Upton parish to the Fen Causeway has an alignment in the north part of Castor parish which if projected would pass close to the north of the fortress: 5 this road, however, or at least its eastern extension, the Fen Causeway, leading to Icenian territory, is likely to have been constructed after the period of the fortress's occupation. 6 Certainly the fortress must have been served by roads during its brief occupation of some 20 years, but the absence of clear traces of them suggests that consolidation of the road-system took place later. The River Nene, which flows past the site, is navigable to light traffic. Geographical and historical setting Excavation has suggested that the site was occupied from soon after A.D. 43 (and perhaps in 48) to c. 61 or 62. Considered in relation to the military history of this period, the fortress appears to have a dual role. First the Fosse Way, only some 34 miles distant at the nearest point in the neighbourhood of Leicester, could be reached by easy routes, so that Longthorpe is well placed to reinforce the early frontier (FIG. 3); secondly, it could control traffic between the Iceni and their northwestern neighbours and could also supervise the region west of the Fens, where the expanded frontier of the Catuvellauni marched with that of the Coritani. After 49, which saw the foundation of the colonia at Camulodunum, 70 miles to the southeast , and the transfer of Legion XX to the borders...

Department of the Environment revealed an extensive Iron Age settlement and traces of widespread Roman agricultural and industrial activity at Wakerley, Northamptonshire (FIG. 2). The settlement was situated in Wakerley parish, immediately to the south of the road running between the villages of Wakerley and Harringworth and nine miles north-northeast of Corby 3 (FIG. 3). It was sited on sloping ground, overlooking the valley of the River Welland, and some \ mile from the river itself. From the site there are extensive views of the river valley to the north and west and of the hills and dales of Rutland that lie beyond. A deep natural gully occurs in the hillside, just to the west of the settlement and, as a result, the site is in an open position and fully exposed to the westerly winds. The settlement was located between the 250 and 300 ft. contours on a wide expanse of Lower Lincolnshire Limestone. Clays of the Lower Estuarine Series and outcrops of Northampton Sand and Ironstone occur on the lower slopes of the valley below the site and in the adjacent gully to the west. It is likely that a convenient supply of water would have been available in this gully in earlier periods, but this has been piped away in modern times. Some 150 m to the southwest , on the opposite side of the gully, an Anglo-Saxon cemetery was excavated by D. A. Jackson during 1968 and 1970 (report forthcoming). A small number of burials of Saxon date were found within the area of the excavation described below. Further to the southwest , some 600 m from the Iron Age and Roman site, the stone foundations of a Roman aisled barn, measuring 30 by 14 m, have also been excavated. The barn overlay earlier buildings and it is hoped that further work on this site will be possible in the future. Extensive quarrying southwest of the settlement has revealed isolated Iron 1 T. M. Ambrose has described the small finds and shared in the general preparation of this report. 2 A. L. Pacitto directed the excavation of an unusual concentration of iron-smelting furnaces, and his report is incorporated in the section on iron-working. P. J. Woods (with the assistance of R. E. Turland) excavated the three Romano-British pottery kilns and has described the results in this report. With the help of R. E. Turland he also carried out all the post-excavation work on the Romano-British pottery and has described and discussed the pottery in relation to the site as a whole. Grateful thanks are due to Miss S. A. Butcher for her report on the brooches and to Alison Cook for her report on the Anglo-Saxon grave-goods. Mr L. Biek and Dr R. F. Tylecote contributed to the section on iron-working, and thanks are due to them for visiting the site and making valuable suggestions during the excavations. Other specialist contributions are gratefully acknowledged from F.

Plots 3 and 5 respectively) were excavated immediately west and east (FIG. 4) of the possible bath-house site, 8 and immediately south of the known fortlet. 9 The earliest feature was an Iron-Age type four-post structure of side 25 m on Plot 3. On Plot 5 (FIG. 5) the earliest feature was a pair of east-west military ditches which may be part of an auxiliary fort of Flavian date. Outside these was a north-south cobbled road, much disturbed, a slate-lined cistern (perhaps associated with the baths), an oven and parts of two stake-built structures. Recent activity had destroyed the relationship of the ditches to other features. The fort was apparently replaced by the fortlet (on a new alignment) in the late Trajanic period. A timber range with four or more rooms was erected, having wall-trenches carrying upright stakes. Two furnaces or smithinghearths and the large stone-lined pit were associated. The pit was 2 m deep with an arched inlet in the unlined end and a partially-preserved timber floor. It was used until c. 110-30. The building is thought to have been a fabrica and the pit used for tanning. The area was then levelled, the fort ditches finally filled with baths debris, and a stone structure c. 105 by 5 m built on the south side of the fabrica. A roughlymade road ran from east to west to the north of this structure; the road was also found in Plot 3, where a post-and sleeper-built structure c. 4 5 by 75 m lay on its south side. Occupation ceased in the early Hadrianic period. 10 (2) Llanfor (SH 938361): aerial reconnaissance 11 has revealed a fort near the confluence of the Dee and the Tryweryn and near the east end of Bala Lake, on a river terrace 2-3 m above the flood-plain. The rampart is visible as a low mound, now spread to c. 13 m wide. The area is c. 3 3 ha (just over 8 acres) over the ramparts. Parch-marks show three ditches and internal timber buildings including a granary and barrack-block. 12 (3) Pennal fort (SH 705001): aerial observation revealed a road running (probably from the south gate) towards a presumed ford across the river Dovey near Llugwy (712996). 13 Another road left the north gate, north-westwards towards Pennal village. The porta principalis dextra thus lies directly beneath the modern farm building and the principia faced west. The parch-marks indicated this to be of stone, but other internal buildings of timber. Northwest of the west gate was seen the bath-house, apparently of reihentyp plan. 14 MONTGOMERYSHIRE [POWYS] Forden Gaer (SO 208989): survey and excavation 15 150 m south of the fort, on the north bank of the Severn, has produced evidence of second-and third-century occupation, including a building with stone-footed walls, roofing tiles of local shale and a clay floor in which was a pit 1 5 m deep and 1 m in diameter. Iron slag and dross was noted in the latest levels and first-century pottery and other foundations to the west. The road south from the fort was not located. 8 Britannia vi (1975), 222 n. 3, now built over. 9 V. E. Nash-Williams, The Roman frontier in Wales...

was directed by Mr W. S. Hanson who sent details. " Britannia i (1970), 163 ff. *° W. Roy, The military antiquities of the Romans in Britain (1793), 62 f. " B.L., Map Library, K. Top. L. 79" 2a-" By the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments (Scotland). DAES 1971, 53-43 For plans of earlier work see Britannia viii (i977)> 362 f.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Society for the Promotion of RomanStudies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Britannia. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.235.251.160 on Mon, 22 Dec 2014 12:48:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions REVIEWS 5. Zosimus vi, o10, 2 (p. 53):There is a proper query before 'British cities', but it is only on p. 61 (without benefit of cross-references) that its significance is revealed, and even there the point is not made that BpE-r-ria is Greek for Bruttium and BpETrravia for Britain. This is not mere nit-picking, because the closer the attention a student pays to the actual words, the more he may be misled. The very first essay which the present reviewer read from a 'non-linguistic' course in Roman history may serve as a warning. It was an excellent essay, in the sense that its arguments were closely related to the evidence, but unfortunately one of them was based on the words used not by Tacitus but by Grant; and while Grant's translation was superficially acceptable, the conclusion drawn was one which the text of Tacitus could not possibly support. University of KeeleA. L. F. RIVET The Roman Villa: an historical introduction. By John Percival. Batsford, London, 1976. Pp. 230, 59text figures and plates. Price: ?Io. providing a stream of site names and written geographical descriptions; an atlas with quite large-scale maps was found hardly adequate for full comprehension of the text. It is a pity that many more plans and maps were not provided. A similar comment applies to the other sections. The scale of coverage is such that the focus just has to be extremely wide, and in the space available it is impossible to avoid generalizations. Promising statements (e.g. on p. 79, where the Lorraine is suggested as perhaps public or imperial lands, but no evidence is provided) are not followed up, and little detail of sites or distributions is given which might be clearly understood by the uninformed. But again, it is really the archaeology which is the crux: we are told that Montmaurin is the best-documented villa in Gaul, and that Mayen (published in 1928) is one of the best and most informative reports available for Germany. How far we have to go! P. uses geographical factors and modern farming practices, especially in Gaul, to help out the archaeology, but one has an uneasy feeling that the true picture may be not only more complex, but different in emphasis; a warning is sounded by consideration (pp. 76 f.) of the Somme Basin. There are some thought-provoking ideas in this chapter (e.g. possible slave-run establishments in Italy, p. 56; association of villas and military sites, and organized lay-out of villas along the ...