Nocton Hall - Revelations of an Imp - Chapter 2

Nocton at the time of Roman Britain

Many historians have found evidence that Nocton had an established community during the first 100 years of the Roman occupation and one particular Roman General was to associate himself with Nocton history.

It so happened that a favourite doll in my early childhood days at Nocton, was called Queen Bodicea. One Christmas, I had extracted this beautiful little lady from my stocking. It was love at first sight. Even at the age of two, emotions of love were beginning to crystallise. Her very appearance suggested Royalty, so was named after the famous Queen. I had no idea who Bodicea might be, but my doll looked so beautiful, and at such a tender age, I found Bodicea easy to say. Having concluded her Christening, she remained ever after bearing her regal name. I had no idea that the real Bodicea had led an uprising of East Anglian tribes, so near to Nocton, against the Romans or that she had defeated the Roman units sent to quell what at first was considered a small revolution, until the fall of London. Thereafter, Queen Bodicea's army grew as more and more tribes united under her, but alas, in the Midlands came her eventual crushing defeat.

During this Roman campaign to re-establish their unquestioned rule, a certain Julius Agricola, a Junior Officer in the Legion had shown qualities of leadership and great courage during the final battle and defeat of my dolly Queen. This was about 47A.D. and by 70A.D. Julius Agricola had risen to high rank in the army under Governor Julius Frontinus when his future as a general was assured.

Frontinus is recorded in Roman history as an engineer, lawyer and administrator - qualities and professional abilities ideal to lead the Roman Legions stationed in Britain and to restore law and order.

Peace was essential before the Roman occupation could get to grips with the modernisation of the Roman occupied territories. In Julius Agricola, Frontinus had a younger man of great intelligence, like himself, an engineer and administrator as well as an able soldier and quite capable of creating good communications with waterways and roads. Lincoln, only 7 miles north west of Nocton, was an ideal site to develop, firstly as a garrison town, and later as a trading and recreational centre after the Roman Legions had thrust north to York. As York developed as a military town so Lincoln developed rapidly as a commercial centre.

East of Nocton, perhaps two miles, is to be seen one of the greatest engineering feats ever accomplished in the days of the Roman Empire. This is the Car Dyke, the work of Agricola. Today, anyone in a car would pass over a bridge across the dyke and never know of its existence. The dimensions of the original canal are impressive. 30 feet deep, 60 feet wide, and cut out of the Lincolnshire countryside over a distance of 45 miles. The purpose of this major engineering achievement was to link the Wash with Lincoln and make it possible to bring in ships to Lincoln from Roman Europe.

Agricola cut another canal to join the Witham, Trent and Ouse to ship heavy goods further north, thus making it possible by an inland waterway, to provision his York Garrison and so supply the Legions for yet a further thrust towards Caledonia.

Sextus Julius Frontinus realised that heavy loads must be transported on water and Julius Agricola needed no persuasion to set about the construction of these essential waterways. The Car Dyke became the first link in this system which ran from Washingborough in the north to Market Deeping near Peterborough where, through lock gates, the canal entered the River Welland.

Seven Forts were strategically placed to give a lookout a wide view over the countryside and fen lands far beyond the River Witham which bounded the Nocton estate to the east. A fort guarded the lock system at Washingborough, and three miles south of Nocton, a second Fort was built at Linwood. The remaining five Forts came at regular intervals going south along the canal.

Queen Bodicea's uprising remained a painful memory to all Romans. Agricola was aware of the unstable relationship between the Romans and the tribes. Scars of revolution only recover slowly and he was determined to keep a careful guard over the canal traffic. The seizure of a shipment of wine would have been a most acceptable prize, so a watch was maintained on all ships carrying their loads of hides, food supplies, cattle, sheep and horses.

Peterborough was developing as an industrial centre so the transportation of all goods increased steadily up and down the Car Dyke. Already Lincoln was being supported by the gradual development of agriculture in the surrounding countryside, and as the trade increased, so did the shipping up and down the canal, making Lincoln the centre of a rapidly increasing population, both in the city and surrounding villages.

Roman militia, on their retirement, settled in this quieter Nocton and Potterhanworth area which was forming a cross section of society, so desirable for the growth of urban life. The earlier friction between the Roman administration and the local inhabitants began to die away as the prosperity increased to provide a more comfortable life.

Both the country areas around Nocton and Potterhanworth became development villages and even today, coins dating back to the earliest days of the Roman occupation are to be found in the fields near these villages.

In the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Archaeology Society notes on Nocton, it is recorded that in 1811, workmen found two ancient boats or canoes in the Car Dyke. A further discovery revealed clay moulds for casting false coins of Constantine the Great and his Mother, Helena, circa 327A.D. These interesting finds were presented to the British Museum.

It is also worth recording that in 1811, the Fourth Earl of Buckinghamshire (1710-1816) was living at Nocton. Robert Hobart was born in 1760 and later in life joined the army as a Lieutenant in the 7th Regiment of Foot (Royal Fusiliers). His military background stimulated his great interest in the Car Dyke, illustrating the respect of one soldier's ideas for another, although a period of 1700 years divided the two serving Officers, Agricola the Roman General and Robert Buckinghamshire, later an Officer in the Light Dragoons. So often in the Nocton history, a second common bond existed - both men served overseas - Agricola in England and Scotland, Hobart in the disastrous American War of Independence during the reign of George III (1760-1820).

Before concluding the Roman period, one must pay tribute to the men who manually 'dug out' this canal. Agricola had assessed the benefits of the undertaking. He realised that when the canal was finally cut through, it would also act as a regulator and prevent the fenland west of the Witham, from flooding and so give a large acreage of fertile land for an increased farming community. A social and friendly gesture, for he gave his returning soldiers the opportunity to take up this livelihood on what had been a marsh, instead of forcefully pushing out the Britons on small farms on the higher ground.

The canal construction was a major success and a combined operation of local labour with Roman expertise. We can only imagine the physical hardship for those workers notching up north from the Welland to meet those struggling to clear this mammoth ditch, working south from Washingborough. Mud, cold and wet, primitive tools, what a contrast with what we would use today in the modern engineering world, bulldozers and excavators. These small early Britons performed one of the greatest feats of Roman times by sheer guts. What a tragedy their privations and endurance to achieve such a 'spectacular' was so short lived. After the Roman exodus, this Roman Grand Canal declined and began to fill in as nature took over. The Car Dyke today is no more than a field ditch in many parts. On the Nocton Fen, near Wasps' Nest, one can stand on a road bridge to see this Roman achievement. Here the Dyke is still nearly 60 feet wide and 30 feet deep, but the water level is so low it would be impossible for navigation other than ducks and waterfowl. Here one should pause to give warning. Do not venture on to Nocton Fen with a metal detector or a bucket and spade. The estate is owned by an Insurance Company and the Head Keeper, if he follows an older tradition, will have a shot gun with cartridges charged with corn. Your General Practitioner may not have the harvest equipment required to take the crop of seed from your backside. A painful job extracting grain from soft flesh! At £100 per ton, it isn't worth the trouble!

Nocton settled down as a quiet farming area and from 400-800A.D. the way of life, regulated by the Fen farms, was in danger as the Car Dyke rapidly filled with sediment brought down by the streams from the higher uncultivated heath land and this fertile ground steadily returned to marsh. The Fen farmers retreated and found dry farms elsewhere.

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