Who Should Live in Castor

25/01/1913

Information

At the monthly meeting of the Peterborough Rural District Council on this Saturday there was a deep debate recorded by the Peterborough Citizen the following Tuesday under the headline 'Castor invasion by Peterborough house hunters - What Castor Expects.' Peterborough was expanding and new houses were desperately needed, leading to what we now call 'Not in my backyard' syndrome rearing its head. Castor parish council did not think it was desirable to erect the proposed houses and suggested a different type of house, each having a rood of land and being more suitable for widows and retired men. Cllr Goodyer argued that the new houses should be for working men, as there were already more cottages for the elderly than workers in Castor. Cllr Kemp commented that there were already plenty of cottages for widows and old men. It was workmen's cottages that were needed now. Cllr Lee responded that he did not think that, as agricultural people, they would not be able to pay the rent. The clerk, having heard these comments, concluded that it would be impossible for people to pay 4s 6d and rates. The meeting moved on with no decision recorded.

Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.

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Sennianus Fired a Mortarium

175-199

Information

A fabulous fragment of Roman pottery was discovered in Water Newton. It is a piece of a mortarium, which is kitchen ware used for grinding and pounding food. This piece is remarkable because of the painted text near the rim of the pottery.

The text was likely to have been painted by the potter who made the pot. His name was Sennianus and he lived in Durobrivae. We know this because he painted 'Sennianus Durobrivis Urit', which is Latin for 'Sennianus of Durobrivae fired this.' This is a very valuable piece of pottery because there are very few references to the name Durobrivae. This is the only British example of the name Sennianus, but a German funerary stela also bares the name. The stone object was discovered in Cologne in 1650, is mid third century, and can be seen in the link provided.

The height of the pottery making industry at Durobriave was in the late 2nd century (175-199AD). Pottery created around Durobrivae is known as Nene Valley Ware. The most common type of Nene Valley Ware is colour-coated ware, which has distinctive white decoration on a black coloured pot. However, the mortarium that Sennianus created was a light brown colour. It was designed to be used in the kitchen, so did not require elaborate decoration.