THE SALIBURY BALAD

IT IS PROBABLE that Caistor has been an inhabitated place for at least 7,000 years, but archaeological finds from pre-Roman periods have not been numerous and perhaps the most important link with the bronze age is to be found in the megalithic tradition, from which the legend of the Fonaby sack stone is derived. This is dealt with later.
There is no doubt that in Roman times a fortified town occupied much of the site on which the western part of Caistor is built. It was probably rectangular and surrounded by four walls, of which the eastern and western were about 500 feet long and the northern and southern about 400 feet. The north-west corner of this area, between the Grammar School and the Union Road has fallen away, but the line of the other boundaries can be traced fairly easily and there remains the solid core of a large projecting bastion at the south-east corner of the churchyard. This fortification may probably have been built about A.D. 300 and there is little doubt that Caistor and Horncastle were intended to serve as twin defence bases against barbarian raiding parties.
The place had doubtless been occupied for a considerable period when the fortifications were made and, since we know that the famous Roman Ninth Legion was stationed at Lincoln in the first century, and coins dating from the reign of Vespasian, who became Emperor in A.D.69 have been found at Caistor, we may assume that there was continuous occupation from about that date.
The most important Roman find at Caistor was a remarkable lead casket, inscribed CVNOBARRUS FECIT VIVAS, which was unearthed in three pieces when a drain was being dug beneath the road west of the churchyard in 1863. Part of this is in the British Museum and part is in the City and County Museum at Lincoln. It was evidently intended as a treasure chest and must, from the style of its decoration, be assigned