Garden Survey

Over the years many artifacts have been found in people's gardens in the Ridgeway area, including a lot of Roman pottery fragments or sherds. There have also been finds of Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon pottery. It is quite possible that somewhere in this area there was once a Romano-British settlement, maybe even a villa!

Before the houses were built on Alvington Way metal detectorists were finding a number of interesting finds in the area. These included finds from the Roman and early Anglo Saxon periods up until the Medieval period. A numismatist at Oxford University thinks that as some finds were clipped coins and found individually and not in a hoard one explanation is that the area was used for trading. Because of the isolated hill top position it would probably have been an occasional fair and not a permanent market.

We are trying to gather as much evidence as possible to try to understand where the Romano-British settlement(s) were in the area and all of this will help.

On the 9th October members of the held a Collection Day at Ridgway Primary School where local residents could come and show anything they have found to the Finds Liaison Officer from Leicestershire County Council Heritage Services. Several interesting finds were brought it and we take a stall at the school's Summer Fête next year where people can come along with anything they find. If you live in either of these areas and are doing any work in your garden this Autumn/Winter keep your eyes peeled and save anything interesting.

Here are some of the finds picked up in these area:

These images are of a bronze coin from the reign of the Emperor Constantine the Great. Constantine lived from AD274 to 337 and ruled from AD306-337. He converted to Christianity and issued the edict of Milan in 313 that gave civil rights and toleration to Chrstians throughout the empire. He made it the state religion in 324. He chose Byzantium (modern day Istanbul) to be his Imperial capital and renamed it Constantinople.

This pottery was all found in the garden of a house in Ridgeway. It is all Romano-British in date. A lot of this type of pottery has been found in this area so if you see anything like it in your garden get in touch.

There are some objects, particularly those containing precious metal or over 300 years old, that must be declared under the Treasure Act. Full details may be found on the website www.culture.gov.uk.