More information : Roman Cemetery - On Dec. 13th, 1923, Miss E D Henderson & Mr F Jackson, with members of the Walsall Hist. Assoc. excavated a small part of a field west of Wall. About 30 interments were found, but in all but one case, the urns had been broken. The one intact urn was of greyish clay, and contained besides bones & charcoal, coffin & sandal nails. A blue earthenware bead was also found. "The cemetery extends for a considerable distance on both sides of the road". (1)
(Area centred : SK 09300662) Interments have been found at various times on the high ground to the west of Letocetum. In 1927 an excavation was made by H R Hodgkinson in in Field 201, (OS Survey, 1923 Edn), on the N side of Watling Street. Nine graves were discovered, all of the interments after cremation. They were not arranged according to any plan, and are most numerous near the road. "In all cases the urns were in black earth containing wood charcoal and, in some cases, calcined bones. This appeared to have been deposited over or round the urns after they had been placed in position". This site has been dated from the pottery found, and the burial technique to the first or early second century. (2)
Nine cremation burials, 15 to 24 ins.below the surface were excavated in 1965 during work on the Wall By-Pass (Sited to SK 09300652 and SK 09310653 from plan in 3). The burials were dated to the latter half of the 1st century AD extending just into the 2nd century. (3)
A small rectangular ditched enclosure, perhaps associated with the Roman road and adjacent to its N side, appears to overlie the SE corner of the camp (NAR SK 00 SE 12); their relative chronology cannot be determined without excavation. An extensive area W of the forts and N of the Roman road is known to have contained cemeteries (NAR SK 00 NE 4), and it is possible that this enclosure, and a very small square cropmark with a possible central pit visible in the NE corner of the camp, may represent burials. Transcribed at 1:2500 during RCHME's Roman Camps in England Project. Plan available in the NMR Archive. (4) |