Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 November 2011
Littleborough lies on the west bank of the river Trent between Newark and Gainsborough, at the point where the Roman road from Lincoln to Doncaster crossed the river. Finds of Roman material from the site are recorded from the sixteenth century onwards and Roman tile occurs built into the small Norman church. Epigraphic and literary evidence combine to identify the site with Segelocvm, the place name apparently referring to a pool with rapid current in the river. The present paper brings together a considerable amount of new evidence from aerial photographs by J.K. St Joseph and D.N. Riley and the results of excavations by W.B. Clark in 1954–56 and by J.S. Wade in 1968–70. The combined data suggest a substantial defended settlement lying to the north of the present road from Sturton-le-Steeple to the river bank.
1 V.C.H., Victoria County History of Nottinghamshire (1910), II, 19–23.
2 RIB 2241.
3 A.L.F. Rivet and C. Smith, The Place Names of Roman Britain (1979), 453.
4 Jackson, K., ‘Romano-British names in the Antonine Itinerary,’ Britannia i (1970), 79.Google Scholar
5 op.cit. (note 1), II, 20.
6 Unpub. report, Sheffield Museum.
7 Joseph, J.K. St, JRS lxvii (1977), 129.Google Scholar
8 R. Whimster, Emerging Past. Air Photography and the Buried Landscape (1989), fig. 55.
9 W. Stukeley, Itinerarium. Curiosum (1724), 88.
10 W. Camden, Britannia (1594, ed. E. Gibson 1637).
11 cf. P. Morris, Agricultural Buildings in Roman Britain (1979). For a more recent discussion of function, see Veen, M. van der, ‘Charred grain assemblages from Roman period corn-driers in Britain,’ Arch. Journ. cxlvi (1989), 300–19.Google Scholar
12 Buckland, P.C., ‘A first-century shield from Doncaster, Yorkshire,’ Britannia ix (1978), 247–70. Buckland, See also P.C., Roman South Yorkshire: A Source Book (1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13 G. Webster, The Roman Invasion of Britain (1980).
14 Bishop, M.C. and Freeman, P.W.M., ‘Recent work at Osmanthorpe, Nottinghamshire,’ Britannia xxiv (1993), 159–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15 Joseph, J.K. St, ‘Aerial reconnaissance in Britain, 1956–66,’ JRS lix (1969), 104.Google Scholar
16 Cunliffe, B., Fifth Report on the Excavations of the Roman Fort at Richborough, Kent, Rep. Res. Comm. Soc. Antiqs. XXIII (1968).Google Scholar
17 cf. A. Johnson, Roman Forts of the First and Second Centuries A.D. in Britain and the German Provinces (1983), fig. 129.
18 B.C. Burnham and J. Wacher, The ‘Small Towns’ of Roman Britain (1990).
19 Shotton, F.W., ‘Archaeological inferences from the study of alluvium in the lower Severn-Avon valleys,’ in Evans, J.G. and Limbrey, S. (eds), The Effect of Man on the Landscape: the Lowland Zone, CBA Res. Rep. XXI (1978), 27–31.Google Scholar
20 Buckland, P.C. and Sadler, J., ‘Late Flandrian alluviation in the Humberhead Levels,’ East Midland Geographer viii (1985), 239–51.Google Scholar
21 op. cit. (note 8), 78. See also A.J. Howard and D. Knight, Archaeology and Alluvium in the Trent Valley, an Archaeological Assessment of the Floodplain and Gravel Terraces (1994).
22 C.R. Salisbury, ‘The archaeological evidence for palaeochannels in the Trent valley,’ in S. Needham and M.G. Macklin (eds), Alluvial Archaeology in Britain (1992), 155–62. See also M. Lillie and J. Grattan, ‘Geomorphological and palaeoecological investigations in the Lower Trent Valley,’ East Midland Geographer (forthcoming).
23 Cameron, A., ‘Meering and the Meering family,’ Trans. Thoroton Society Notts, lxxvii (1973), 41–51.Google Scholar
24 K. Branigan and M.J. Dearne, A Gazeteer of Romano-British Caves and their Finds (1993), 20, no. 3,2.
25 Mackreth, D., ‘Brooches from Roman Derby,’ Derbys. Arch. Journ. cv (1985), 281–99, no. 28.Google Scholar
26 N. Crummy, Colchester Archaeological Reports 2: The Roman Small Finds from Excavations in Colchester 1971–9 (1983), 12, no. 57.
27 Fowler, E., ‘The origins and development of the penannular brooch in Europe,’ PPS xxvi (1960), 149–77.Google Scholar
28 idem.
29 M. Henig, A Corpus of Roman Engraved Gemstones from British Sites (1978).
30 L. Allason-Jones and R. Miket, The Catalogue of Small Finds from South Shields Roman Fort (1984).
31 W.H. Manning, Catalogue of the Romano-British Iron Tools, Fittings and Weapons in the British Museum (1985).
32 Crummy, N.. ‘A chronology of Romano-British bone pins,’ Britannia x (1979), 157–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
33 Branigan, K. and Dearne, M.J. ‘The Romano-British finds from Wookey Hole: a re-appraisal,’ Proc. Somerset Arch. & Nat. Hist. Soc. cxxxiv (1991), 57–80.Google Scholar
34 Marsh, G., ‘London's samian supply and its relationship to the development of the Gallic samian industry,’ in Anderson, A.C. and Anderson, A.S. (eds), Roman Pottery in Britain and North-West Europe, BAR S123 (1981), 173–238.Google Scholar
35 Webster, G., ‘A Roman pottery at South Carlton, Lines.,’ Antiq. Journ. xxiv (1944), 130–43.Google Scholar
36 Rae, A. and Rae, V., ‘The Roman fort at Cramond, Edinburgh: excavations 1954–66,’ Britannia v (1974), fig. 20, 3.Google Scholar
37 Webster, G. and Booth, N., ‘A Romano-British pottery kiln at Swanpool, near Lincoln,’ Antiq. Journ. xxvii (1947), 61–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
38 P.C. Buckland and J.R. Magiiton, ‘Excavations on Roman pottery kiln sites in Cantley Parish, Kilns 30–44, 1956–74’ (forthcoming).
39 C.J. Young, The Roman Pottery Industry of the Oxford Region (1977).
40 Todd, M., ‘The Roman settlement at Margidunum: the excavations of 1966–8,’ Trans. Thornton Soc. Notts, lxxiii (1969), 1–104.Google Scholar
41 V. Rigby and I.M. Stead, ‘Coarse Pottery,’ in I.M. Stead, Excavations at Winterton Villa and Other Roman Sites in North Lincolnshire (1976), 134–90.
42 A. Oswald, The Roman Pottery Kilns at Little London, Torksey, Lines (1937).
43 W. Clark (pers. comm.).
44 op. cit. (note 37).
45 Todd, M., ‘“Trent Valley Ware”: a Roman coarse ware of the Middle and Lower Trent Valley,’ Trans. Thornton Soc. Notts lxxii (1968), 38–41.Google Scholar
46 Todd, M., ‘The commoner late Roman coarse wares of the East Midlands,’ Antiq. Journ. xlviii (1968), 192–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
47 op. cit. (note 41).
48 Buckland, P.C., Magilton, J.R. and Dolby, M.J., ‘The South Yorkshire Roman pottery industry: a review,’ Britannia xi (1978), 145–64.Google Scholar
49 op. cit., (note 37).
50 Wilson, M.G., ‘Catalogue of the Pottery,’ in Frere, S.S., Verulamium Excavations I (1972), 265–370.Google Scholar
51 M.J. Darling, ‘Early red-slipped ware from Lincoln,’ in A.C. Anderson and A.S. Anderson (eds), Roman Pottery Research in Britain and North-West Europe (1981), 397–416.
52 op. cit (note 45).
53 J.P. Gillam, Types of Roman Pottery in the North of England (1970).
54 op. cit. (note 48).
55 M.J. Darling, Roman Pottery from the Upper Defences, Archaeology of Lincoln 16–2 (1984), fig. 14, no. 10.
56 Hawkes, C.F.C. and Hull, M.R., Camulodunum, Rep. Res. Comm. Soc. Antiqs. XIV (1947), fig. 51, 10.Google Scholar
57 op. cit. (note 45), fig. 1,3, from Margidunum.
58 op. cit. (note 14), fig. 8, no. A8.4. See also Frere, S.S. and Joseph, J.K. St, ‘The Roman fortress at Longthorpe,’ Britannia v (1974), fig. 53, no. 91.Google Scholar
59 op. cit. (note 41).
60 op. cit. (note 41).
61 P. Corder, Roman Pottery Kiln on Lincoln Racecourse (1950); P.C. Buckland, K.F. Hartley and V. Rigby, Excavations at Rossington Bridge 1956–6l (forthcoming).
62 P.C. Buckland and J.R. Magilton, Archaeology of Doncaster. I. The Roman Civil Settlement (1986).
63 op. cit. (note 41), fig. 76, 35.
64 M.D. Howe, J.R. Perrin and D.F. Mackreth, Roman Pottery from the Nene Valley (1980), fig. 7, no. 89.
65 op. cit. (note 64), fig. 4, no. 39.
66 J. Richardson, ‘Pottery,’ in L. Miller, J. Schofield and M. Rhodes, The Roman Quay at St. Magnus House, London: Excavations at New Fresh Wharf, Lower Thames St., London 1974–78 (1986).
67 cf. op. cit. (note 64), fig. 3, no. 34, for a full profile.
68 cf. op. cit. (note 64), fig. 8, no. 95.
69 op. cit (note 38).
70 op. cit. (note 42), no. 10b.
71 N. Loughlin, ‘Dales Ware: a contribution to the study of Roman Coarse pottery,’ in D.P.S. Peacock (ed.), Pottery and Early Commerce. Characterization and Trade in Roman and Later Ceramics (1977), 85–162.
72 op. cit. (note 48), fig. 3, 19.
73 op. cit. (note 38).
74 op. cit. (note 1).
75 op. cit. (note 42).
76 op. cit. (note 39).
77 op. cit. (note 64), fig. 8, no. 96.
78 cf. op. cit. (note 37), fig. 5, no. E3.
79 op. cit. (note 46).
80 cf. op. cit. (note 37), fig. 4, no. D3.
81 cf. op. cit. (note 64), fig. 3, no. 27.
82 cf. op. cit. (note 64), fig. 3, no. 40.
83 cf. op. cit. (note 64), fig. 4, no. 29.