ROMANO-BRITISH LEICESTERSHIRE SUOBNI. O. TITTICI. O. VIDUCUS. F. SVRDILLUS. F. TITURONIS. C. VIDA. TEDDI. Of TEDEDEI. TITURONIS. OF. OF. VITAL. TIBERI. M. TITVS. FEC. VITALIS. M. S. F. TITI. M. Some fragments of a rare black glazed pottery occasionally found on Romano-British sites are recorded ; 88 one piece is said to have been ornamented with a trellis pattern with bosses at the intersections in relief. Probably in consequence of the nearness of the kilns, Castor ware is found in considerable quantities. Among other pieces is a good specimen discovered under 45, High Street, ornamented with a scroll in white slip and having the following six letters : M E x r . . . v i. 83 A piece of Castor ware was found on the site of the Three Crowns Hotel, being of an unusual dull brick-red colour and having the usual scroll pattern in white slip. 84 Very little New Forest ware has been recorded as found on the site of Ratae, but the ordinary black Upchurch ware is of frequent occurrence. A portion of a lamp said to be of this kind was found on the site of Lloyds Bank in High Street, 86 and two feet, part of a child's toy, at the Jewry Wall. 86 A bowl found in Horsefair Street has the letters OVIN scratched on it. 87 Some few pieces of painted Salopian ware as it is called, covered with the usual red pigment and ornamented with a female mask or face have been found in South Bond Street, West Bond Street, and Pocklington's Walk, and are now in the Leicester Museum. 88 As in all Roman sites, great quantities of the common Romano-British ware have appeared, much of which was probably made in local kilns. These consist of the usual household patterns, urns, vessels for liquids of all kinds, mortars, bowls, lamps, etc. Attention may be called to one ornamented with a head in a medallion found near Wyggeston School in i893, 89 to a mortar bearing the stamp of the potter CEMNi.F, 90 and to a large amphora with the mark FOR. p. M. H. on the handle. 91 Some elaborately ornamented wall tiles have been found, which probably decorated the walls of the bathrooms of some building. These are stamped with reed-like lines forming patterns of diamond and other shaped diapers ; a rarer type has a design imprinted in very low relief. 92 A hollow flue tile 1 7 in. long by 7 in. wide, having scratched upon it the words PRIMUS FECIT, was found in the grounds of Wyggeston School, which may be evidence of the Latin language having been commonly in use in Britain. 93 Glass. Fragments of Roman glass are not uncommon ; the most inter- esting is that of a cup of bluish green glass 3 in. in diameter bearing military figures roughly modelled and an inscription in relief. The figures are about i in. in height, and resemble the designs on Samian ware. Two are entire, and show the Roman soldier's equipment of helmet, shield, and short sword. The inscription seems to read . . . vs SPICVLVS COLVMBVS CALM . . which it has been suggested may be the names of gladiators represented below (plate VI). 94 Two other specimens of bluish green glass, ribbed, were found in North M Lett. Arch. Sue. viii, 29 ; Throsby, Hist. Leu. " Leie. Arch. Soc. iv, 2. 84 Ibid, iv, 185. 85 Assoc. Arch. Sac. xxvi, 461. " Leu, Arch. Soc. v, 185. 87 Catakgue Leic. Mut. 1874. M Leie. Arch. Soc. vi, 113 ; Antiy. xxx, 214, 220. 89 Leie. Arch. Soc. viii, 29. * Ibid, vi, 96. " Ibid, vii, 131. 81 Fox, Arch. Journ. xlvi, 51. * Leie, Arch. Soc. vi, 96. " Ibid iv, 308. 203
