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Margidunum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Felix Oswald
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Extract

Now that my excavation of Margidunum (Castle Hill, Nottinghamshire) has come to an end and the site has been filled in, it may be opportune to give a detailed account of the last three buildings I explored; for they not only furnished results throwing light on the entire history of the camp but exhibit many unusual features of general importance. They form a material addition to the plan of one of the earliest forts of the Claudian conquest situated on the eastern edge of the Trent Valley, some 25 miles SW of Lindum (Lincoln) on the Fosse Way, the first strategic frontier across Britain; and the pottery found in excavating these buildings adds materially to the chronology of Romano-British pottery over a period of 350 years.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 31 , Issue 1-2 , November 1941 , pp. 32 - 62
Copyright
Copyright © Felix Oswald 1941. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 Collingwood, , ‘The Fosse,’ JRS xiv, 252.Google Scholar

2 JRS xxiv, pl. 12.

2a For permission to reproduce the airphotograph (pl. ii) we are indebted to the Controller of H.M. Stationery Office and the Director-General, Ordnance Survey.

3 JRS xiii, pl. ix.

4 BMC R. Emp. ii, 211, no. 855 : Obv. T CAES IMP AVG F PON TR P COS VI CENSOR Head laureate r. Globe at tip of bust, the mintmark of Lyons. Rev. ROMA S C Rome standing 1., in military costume, holding a Victory in right hand and a spear in left hand.

5 Ibid. iii, 158, no. 754: Obv. IMP CAES NERVA TRAIAN AVG GERM PM Head laureate r. Rev. TR POT COS IIII PP S C Victory standing I., holding a wreath and palm.

6 CIL vii, 1169 ; and Eph. Ep. vii, 1103.

7 Koenen, Novaesium p. 173 and pl. xi.

8 Ward, The Roman Fort at Gellygae 1903, 70 and plan.

9 Winged bow, Collingwood, The Archaeology of Roman Britain, 250 : Group P. Hofheim Type 6, tinned bronze.

10 BMC R. Emp. i, 185, no. 149 : Obv. TI CLAVDIVS CAESAR AVG PM TR P IMP PP Bare head l. Rev. S C Minerva helmeted, standing r., hurling a spear and holding a shield.

11 Boy : Femur 405, Tibia and Fibula 328, Humerus 286, Radius and Ulna 254, Clavicle 140, Scapula 165, Hand 191. Lengths in millimetres. Foot and Pelvis incomplete.

12 Man : Femur 468, Tibia and Fibula 398, Humerus 342, Radius and Ulna 292, Clavicle 171, Scapula 215, Hand 203, Foot 254, Pelvis 303 wide, 266 mm. high.

13 Kilbride-Jones, H. E., ‘The evolution of penannular brooches with zoomorphic terminals in Great Britain and Ireland.” Proc. Royal Irish Acad. xliii (Section C, no. 13), 381 and 451Google Scholar.

14 Woman : Femur 354, Tibia and Fibula 286, Humerus 266, Radius and Ulna 223, Clavicle 114, Scapula 165, Foot 228, Pelvis 262 wide, 178 mm. high.

15 Tacitus, Ann. xiv, 32.

15a The objection may be raised that Margidunum is not on the direct road from Lincoln to Colchester. But it is by no means certain that this direct road through Ancaster (Causennae) and Castor (Durobrivae) was in existence at that time. It is significant that this direct road is only once (and partially) mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary as Iter 5 from London through Lincoln to Carlisle. On the other hand, Margidunum is twice mentioned, viz. on the road from London to Lincoln (Iter 6) and from York to London (Iter 8) and it would seem that originally this route by the Fosse Way and Watling Street was a military and strategic road with forts at regular intervals, and available at that period for a forced march, with the additional military advantage of reinforcements being easily obtainable.

16 ‘Pottery of a Claudian Well at Margidunum,’ JRS xiii, 116Google Scholar.

17 The coin as represented in fig. 14 (p. 57), no. 18, appears to show a misreading of ‘xviiii’ for ‘xviii’ on the obverse and of ‘iii’ for ‘iiii’ on the reverse, but the reading cannot be checked in wartime. The coin seems to be BMC Empire iv, 330, no. 1966.

17a Mr. I. A. Richmond has kindly called my attention to its significant parallel with the ‘balneum cum basilica’ mentioned in an inscription at Lanchester (CIL vii, 448) when it was restored a solo in the reign of Gordian (A.D. 238-244).

18 Arch. Cambr. 1929, 244-5.

19 Webb 128 : Obv. : IMP CARAVSIVS P F AVG Bust radiate and draped r. Rev. : PAX AVG Peace standing l. holding r. an olive branch and l. a vertical sceptre.

20 M and S, R. Imp. Coinage v, 2, 569, no. 129. Obv. : IMP C ALLECTVS P AVG Bust radiate r. with cuirass. Rev.: VIRTVS AVG Galley with 7 oars. QC in exergue.

21 Cohen, Méd. Imp. 2, no. 47 : Obv. : D N VALENS P F AVG Bust diademed and draped, r. Rev. : SECVRITAS REI PVBLICAE Victory walking l., holding a wreath and palm.

22 De Excidio Britanniae, cap. xvi and xxi.

23 Cohen, Méd. Imp. 2, no. ii . Obv.: D N EVGENIVS P F AVG Bust diademed and draped r. Rev.: VICTORIA AVGVSTORVM. TR in field. Victory walking l., holding a wreath and palm.

24 Kendrick in Anglo-Saxon Art to A.D. 900, pp. 29, 74, pl. xv, 3, remarks that the Margidunum mount illustrates ‘the maximum maltreatment of the creature [in design] in the days before it ceased to be a reasonable representation of itself and dissolved into abstract animal-ornament’ as it did in Anglo-Saxon days.