The History of Castor and Ailsworth

Castor in Roman Times

In the second half of the second century a flourishing British pottery industry emerged that produced not only coarse ware but also fine pottery "Castor Ware". Of the British group of potteries producing boath coarse and fine ware the most notable was that in the Nene valley around Peterborough.

Between the Roman town of Chesterton and the medieval village of Castor there was an extraordinarily densely packed suburb of intensive industrial development. Overlooking that development was a very large villa, the fragments of which are in and around Castor churchyard.

		This was probably the headquarters of a procurator saltus overseeing the Fenland development. By the Severan period the Nene Valley potteries were in full production.
Plate from ARTIS See more of the DUROBRIVAE		Hunt Cup Vase. Roman. AD135-200, Castor Height 21.8 cms	This Hunt Cup Vase is an example of "Castor Ware" - a thriving pottery industry in Castor and the Nene Valley area which existed in Roman times.

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