Hunting a Roman road in England

[Urien of Rheged]

Up this morning from the deep on an old Roman road I've been focusing on recently.
The construction of this road from England's north West coast to York has been estimated to have been sometime from 70AD - 120AD
I think this sword scabbard chape is post medieval possibly Tudor or maybe even as late as the English civil war. Lancashire saw a lot of fighting in that decade long conflict and Cromwells troops are known to have come through this area from Yorkshire to do battle against a Scots royalist army in 1648 and would have undoubtedly used this old highway to get there.

 

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[Urien of Rheged]

URIEN you sure are an ASSET to this forum Thank you for sharing with us

That's very kind of you Gare. Sharing isn't a problem my friend. I come home and unless it's gold my missus doesn't want to know and my kids eyes glaze over the moment I start rambling 😆 being 52 now I'm not as social as once upon a time so there are very few I can share this kind of thing with really.
I'm glad someone...anyone takes an interest and appreciates the history of it all.

So if you find an area with a lot of small stones , small pieces of oval lead ( check for marks or lettering) , this could be an indicator group sling shot,

Thanks pal, and I'll stop you right there.
I'm fortunate to have a permission next to a Roman fort.
In the nearest field that you can legally detect in proximity to the old fort a few months ago I found what I first thought was a musket ball until I realised is was more shaped like a lemon. It crossed my mind due to where I'd found it that it could well be a lead slingshot projectile but it got put in the miscellaneous box and was forgotten about.
It's shared permission and I only hit it when my mate is around. Got a text this morning asking if I fancied a few hours so I did.
We've had plenty of Roman and medieval from that field and it keeps producing. He's had a few splendid denarius. I just keep finding the grots though bit I've had medieval hammereds
Today neither of us where finding much. Getting desperate we searched the hedge on that legal boundary, well within distance of a slingshot projectile being fired from the fort and lo and behold up came another lemon shaped looking lead ball thingy.
I told my mate I'd had one here before and told him I'm pretty sure they are slingshot. He looked at me very skeptically though.
The one I found today is on the right, still has soil ingrained. No signs of markings other than that line on the left one.
What do you think?
I'll definetly give them to the FLO to have a look but do you think they could be?

 

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[Urien of Rheged]

With regards to this Roman road for those interested, going back to what I was saying about it mysteriously vanishing toward the coast, the earlier map showing the Roman road system in the area suggests our road terminated at Kirkham fort ( constructed we assume to guard the estuary) This map shows the direction it goes leaving the fort amd where the speculative Portus Setentorum was sited.
The estuary is the mouth of the River Ribble known to the Romans as the Belisima (Beautiful stream) etymologicaly the ancient Bel element is still present in the modern name, the Ribble.
Our road is actually known as Watling street and it follows the river valley throughout Lancashire turning south toward York iver in Yorkshire maybe 20 miles from that ancient metropolis.
Theres a famous Watling street that goes from Canterbury in the south east below London and Chester in the north West. It's generally assumed that our Watling street got it's name by mistaken identity coming from York. However. I believe the etymological experts who believe watling street derives from the Germanic "Wade" some kind of travelling Germanic God, have got it wrong and the true etymology for for Watling street derives from the ancient British amd was called by them like the famous one from Canterbury, "The Irish road". The ancient British name for Ireland being "Wydellia" or "Gwydell". Ireland is still very similarly spoke in the modern Welsh language.
And "The Irish road" is exactly what our road would be. If you where heading for a Port of Englands north West coast you'd be either heading to the Isle of Man or the Emerald isle.

 

[Derbyshire Detectorist]

That's very kind of you Gare. Sharing isn't a problem my friend. I come home and unless it's gold my missus doesn't want to know and my kids eyes glaze over the moment I start rambling 😆 being 52 now I'm not as social as once upon a time so there are very few I can share this kind of thing with really.
I'm glad someone...anyone takes an interest and appreciates the history of it all.

Thanks pal, and I'll stop you right there.
I'm fortunate to have a permission next to a Roman fort.
In the nearest field that you can legally detect in proximity to the old fort a few months ago I found what I first thought was a musket ball until I realised is was more shaped like a lemon. It crossed my mind due to where I'd found it that it could well be a lead slingshot projectile but it got put in the miscellaneous box and was forgotten about.
It's shared permission and I only hit it when my mate is around. Got a text this morning asking if I fancied a few hours so I did.
We've had plenty of Roman and medieval from that field and it keeps producing. He's had a few splendid denarius. I just keep finding the grots though bit I've had medieval hammereds
Today neither of us where finding much. Getting desperate we searched the hedge on that legal boundary, well within distance of a slingshot projectile being fired from the fort and lo and behold up came another lemon shaped looking lead ball thingy.
I told my mate I'd had one here before and told him I'm pretty sure they are slingshot. He looked at me very skeptically though.
The one I found today is on the right, still has soil ingrained. No signs of markings other than that line on the left one.
What do you think?
I'll definetly give them to the FLO to have a look but do you think they could be?View attachment 2195077View attachment 2195078

Urien your welcome.
yes definately do show the Finds liason officer.
The final decision is theirs of course.
But just looking at your pictures, they are the correct shape, the lead looks to be the correct colour, and they are both uniform in design.
You have to remember that they could possibly be nearly 2000 years old with a lot of environmental damage happening within the last 100 years due to chemicals, pesticides ,acid rain etc. This could have eroded them somewhat. But I think they are slingshot. However you will need to find a lot more in the area to confirm a possible skirmish site.
you might try old fashioned paper rubbing with pencil to see do any legend or symbols appear.
please note that they may be very UNPC in nature.
very good finds , and well done for saving these for the future, another 50 to 100 years in the soil and they could be eroded beyond recognition. cheers DD

 

[invent4hir]

Urien, that coin is AMAZING! So tiny yet so historic! This and other references may help you date those buckles. Oh, I know what you mean about talking to family members about this hobby & history in general.

 

[Urien of Rheged]

Off the Roman line into the field a couple hundred yards tonthe north and things where quiet until this little copper alloy medieval heraldic horse pendant came up.