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By the time of the Roman invasion Midland Britain was inhabited by a native tribe called the Coritani
whose chief towns were Lincoln and Leicester. Little is known about the Coritani,and the type or
extent of their settlement in Nottinghamshire remains mostly a mystery.
By A.D.47 all of Eastern England up to the Humber had been brought under Roman rule; Lincoln and Leicester continued to serve as regional centres as they had done under the Coritani, a pattern reinforced when the
Romans built the Fosse Way linking the two towns. Nottinghamshire had no major Roman settlements but a chain of small military or roadside stations followed the Fosse Way and Ermine Street. As the Romans advanced northwards these stations were presumably needed to safe guard the new roads and to give a measure of security during colonisation of potentially hostile territory. Later on Romans were to be a familiar site in the area around Calverton. There was a small Roman camp at Epperstone and definite Roman evidence in the form of coin hoards has been found. The first hoard was found in 1794, dating to about 100 AD. There was a small urn, a quart measure in size, which was full of Roman Denaril. Two similar hoards were found between 1959 and 1960, during building operations. Most of the coins are in the University of Nottingham Museum and some are in the Calverton Folk Museum. Hollinwood Lane may form part of a Roman Road (from Cockpit Hill near Dorket Head
to Oxton).
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