More information : (SP 886338) Excavation of a piece of ground known as the 'Bathing Station' by the Bletchley Arch, and Hist Soc in 1964 exposed a stone and timber building which had been destroyed by fire. The remains included parts of the floor and a length of footings and some walling which may have been a small apse, North of building was a cobbled floor whose surface yielded 4th century pottery. To the E of the footings were two floors, the upper yielding 4th century sherds, two coins of Constantine (306-37) and part of a 13th century jug. A shallow flat-bottomed ditch (see plan) was found 2'6" below the surface, the fill contained Ro and 11th-12th century sherds and a coin of Constans (337-50). Below the ditch were found two fragments of 2nd century. Samian ware, much 3rd-4th century material, forty bronze coins ranging from Tetricus I (270-73) to Gratian (375-83) and beads (jet and glass). Up to 1964 fourty-four burials had been discovered. Plan. (1)
Further excavations revealed three graves cut into a late Ro floor, a fourth burial and a late Ro wall, third to fourth century sherds and 25 late 3rd to 4th century coins. (2)
SP 88693381 (4) A Roman coin hoard (dated AD 360-65 by the Ashmolean Museum) was found in July 1962. There were 251 loose coins and a corroded mass of an estimated 400 coins (3). The hoard is in the possession of the Bletchley Arch Soc (4). (3-4)
Mr H Pengelly, excavator of the site indicated the findspot of the Ro building and coin hoard at SP 88723379, and the centre of the burial ground at SP 88743376. Both are about 1000m only from Magiorinium. Further excavation reports are pending.
Surveyed at 1:2500. (5)
Description of the hoard. (6) |