File:Roman Pavement Discover'd Ann. 1699 in Horsestone Medow.png

English: Tab: 14. Fig. 3.

Elsewhere on the same page is the dedication: To the R^t Hon^ble Thomas Earl of Pembroke & Montgomery, Baron Herbert of Caerdiff, &c. this plate is very humbly dedicated by J. M. m. a. & f. r. s. [i.e. John Morton, Master of Arts & Fellow of the Royal Society].

60. Of these [Pavements in Checquer Work] the most Remarkable is the Roman Pavement, discover'd Ann. 1699 in Horsestone Medow at Nether Heyford, about 1/2 a Mile from the Watlingstreet. Of this I have given an exact Draught, which it well deserves, it being indeed a most noble Piece of Art, exceeding all I have seen or read of, of the same Kind in England, very far exceeding the checquer'd Pavement in Dr. Plot’s Nat. Hist. of Oxfordsh. Tab. 15. Fig. 22. as also that describ'd in the new Edition of the Brittania p. 607. and even the famous one of Woodchaster in Glocestershire, mention'd p. 247, ibid. in the great Variety, in the Regularity, and Beauty of it. For the first Representation of this extraordinary Piece of checquer'd or tessellate Work, I am beholden to the Reverend and Worthy Mr. H. Gray of Heyford, who with great Accuracy traced out the Work, of which he drew a fair Sketch, and kindly presented it to me. The whole Work consisted of little Bricks or Tiles artificially ting'd with Colours, and as smooth as polish'd Marble: all of them Squares, somewhat bigger than common Dice, of four Colours, White, Yellow, Red, and Blue, dispos'd into various, regular Figures, which were plac'd with great Exactness. But a general Description can by no means give the Reader a just Idea of this valuable Piece of Antiquity, and therefore I refer him to the Icon, Tab. 14.

[Tab. 14: Fig. 3:]

61. That Icon exhibits as much of this ancient Pavement or Floor as has been discovered. By which, tho' only a part, we may reasonably presume the whole to have been a Square: And that the two other Sides were conformable to these. By what remains of the South side of the Pavement, we may learn that it was about 15 Feet in length from East to West. The Extent of it from North to South is not to be known with so much Certainty; the Discovery not reaching far enough for it. It lay under Ground cover'd with Mould and Rubbish, in a part of the Meadow which is every Year overflow'd with Land Floods. And yet when it was first uncover'd, it was so close and firm as to bear walking upon as well as a Stone-floor wou'd do. But having lain a while expos'd to the Night Dews, the Cement became relax'd, and the Squares easily separable. It appears to have been the Floor of a square Room in some House or other Structure, of a circular Figure, and about 20 Yards Diameter; as we may conjecture from the thin and pale Greensword in this place which is different from the rest of the Meadow, and which probably covers the Remains and Ruins of it; for whereever they dig underneath this discolour'd Greensword, they meet with Floors, Foundations of Walls, or other Remains of some ruin'd Building. The Room that had this curious Floor was in the Southern Part of the said Structure. In the Western and Northern Part of it were several lesser Rooms or Cells, about ten Feet in length and four broad. That there really were such little Rooms is plain enough from the partition Walls, the Bottoms whereof have been discover'd in digging there. The Stone of the Foundations is small and mean for a Structure so finely adorn'd as this is within. Some of the Rooms were found floor'd with a firm Plaister of Lime-morter, drawn upon Pebbles fix'd in Lime. The Borders or Sides of the Floors were painted with three strait and parallel Lines or Stripes of three different Colours, Red, Yellow, and Green: So fresh and lively that when the Floors were uncover'd by the Diggers, the Strokes of the Hairs of the painting Brush were plainly visible. No Painting appear'd in the inner Part of any of them. Upon one of these Floors were found three Urns; which were broken by the Countrey People, before any curious Person had a Sight of them. The Floors were all upon the same Level. In other Parts of the Rubbish, Mr. Gray discovered several Fragments of Urns, and of other antique Earthen Vessels; that by the Edges of the Fragments seem'd to have been broken long ago. Amongst the Pieces Mr. Gray preserv'd, was one that by its Figure and Colour I take to have been the Bottom of an Ash-colour'd Urn: Another that seems to haveen the Margin of a larger Urn, Its Colour white: Another of the same Colour which was the Margin of a lesser Urn: Another of a Bluish Cast, which seems to be a Fragment of a Libatory Vessel: Another that has the Colour and Smoothness of a pure Red Coral, and by the Figure of it appears to have been part of a Dish or Plate, perhaps of a Sacrificing Patera. And amongst the Stuff of the Ruins were many Pieces of Slates, as also of Tiles that seem to have been made use of, some of them however, in covering the Roof of the Building; they having such Holes at one End of them, as have those we now sometimes use in Covering: And likewise an Antique Hammer Head.

62. This Structure, for so I shall now call it, stood about Half a Mile Eastward of the Watlingstreet. The Situation and other Circumstances will by no means allow it to have been a Tower or other Place of Defence. Perhaps it was a Sepulchretum or Burial-Place of some Noble Roman Family that might have their Residence at Bennavenna; from which, whether we set it at Wedon, at Castle-Dikes, or at Daintry, 'tis not far distant. 'Tis well known that Interment within their Cities was not allow'd of. "Hominem mortuum in Urbe ne sepelito neve urito.

[Leg. 12. Tab. de Jure Sacrorum.]

Perhaps it was the Vill or Mannor House of some Eminent Person amongst the Romans: and that the Urns were the Sepulchres of some of his Family. For according to Servius, Of old all Men were bury'd in their Houses: "Apud majores omnes Homines in suis Domibus sepeliebantur." This is Servius’s Remark on a Passage in Virgil, Aeneid. 6. And Isidore agrees with him in that Observation.

[Vid. Isidor. Orig. Lib. 15. C. 11.]

We have a Curious Representation of many the like Kind of Sepulchral Monuments, in Bartoli’s Antichi Sepolcri, Vol. I. Of those in Bartoli, the most like to this with us at Heyford, is that of Munatius Plancus, Vol. I. Figg. 75, 76. which is still preserv'd at Gaeta. The Figure of the Structure in the Foundation and lower Part of it is round, as this of ours appears to have been. It has four Rooms within it on the first Floor, and Partition Walls between. The Rooms of the Sepulchres of this Sort were usually paved with Mosaic Work, of which the Curious may meet with many remarkable Instances in Bartoli’s Antichi Sepolcri above-quoted; where among others they will find the Wreathed Border of this Heyford Pavement very well exemplify'd in his 17th Table, which describes the Pavement of the Tenth Room of the famous Sepulchre of the Villa Corsina.