Although the most famous gods and goddesses of the Roman world are those of the classical pantheon – Jupiter, Minerva, Mercury and such, the average person in Roman Lincolnshire probably called on a host of local deities for help when needed just as much, if not more, than these famous international gods. Although we do of course have evidence for the worship of imported classical gods in Lincolnshire, we have an equal amount of evidence to suggest that localised deities of specific places played just as important a role in the spiritual landscape of the county.

Many of these local deities will have been in existence from the Iron Age (if not earlier) and are lost to us as they were never depicted in a Roman manner – their names were never written on a dedicatory inscription and no attempt was made to portray them anthropomorphically. These deities, guardian spirits of woods, lakes, farmsteads and families, are now invisible to us, but may have been fundamental at the time. Sometimes, however, such local deities were recorded, giving us fleeting and difficult to interpret glimpses into their nature and function. One such deity is known from a limestone relief carving found in c.1940 at Slate House Farm, south west of Wilsford, during the digging of a dyke. It is now on loan to The Collection: Art and Archaeology in Lincolnshire from Wilsford Church.

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Hunter deity from Wilsford. Image copyright The Collection: Art and Archaeology in Lincolnshire

The carving is in local Lincolnshire oolitic limestone and is complete, the irregular stone surviving intact and demonstrating that the carving was most likely originally inserted into a structure. The carving was published in the Antiquaries Journal in 1961 by the legendary Roman archaeologist Shepherd Frere, but otherwise remains rather unknown.

The upper half of the male figure is more worn than the lower half, obscuring the attributes that might be present. The figure appears to be bare-chested but wears a short double pleated tunic, revealing a prominently carved pair of muscular legs. Such short tunics are often associated with military figures in Romano-British stone carving. The figure has short bushy hair, but sadly no facial features survive. The right arm is held down by the figure’s side and its clenched fist might be holding an item, but one which has sadly worn away and is unidentifiable. The left hand is held across the body and some lines on the left shoulder possibly suggest a cloak. Unless depicting a deity responsible for curing stomach aches, the position of this hand seems crucial for the identification of the deity and his purpose.

Frere proposed that the faint traces of an item appearing above the right shoulder might be interpreted as a bow, with a string passing vertically in front of the shoulder. The left hand reaching across the body might then conceivably be reaching to take the bow. Frere cited a parallel from Dijon depicting Apollo dressed in a pleated tunic, holding a bow on the right side of his body but in his left hand. Although lacking the attributes for us to say that this carving definitively represents Apollo, the interpretation of the figure as a local deity associated with hunting therefore seems likely.

The findspot of the carving is interesting to note, as it is very close to the small walled town of Ancaster, a site notable for the amount of stone carving found there and which might have served as a local specialised centre for such a craft. It seems likely that a carving such as the Wilsford relief was produced at Ancaster, and its findspot may represent the site of a rural shrine, perhaps at a location popular with hunting parties setting out from the town.

The suggestion that the site may represent a shrine (admittedly always shaky on the evidence of a single find) is enhanced through the discovery of a small copper alloy model of a cockerel (recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme) around 500m to the east of the carving. Such statuettes are associated with the god Mercury and might have come from a small figure group, such as seen in this wonderful example in Verulamium Museum. It would not be surprising to find different deities worshipped at the same shrine, and it is possible that the native deity might have been perceived to have shared some attributes with Mercury and the two gods even syncretised to some extent.

While the name and positive identity of this hunter god remain unknown, such localised deities represent the reality of lived daily religious activity for most people in rural Roman Britain, and we should not overlook them in favour of grand temples and statues to more the more famous Classical deities.

Update

In a comment on this post, Candia has made the very good suggestion that a potential parallel exists in the form of the relief carving believed to depict Apollo Cunomaglos from Sudeley Castle. You can read more about it here (there are a few news pieces about it but this one has my favourite picture of it being held proudly by the lovely Martin Henig). Although this figure is reaching for his bow with his right hand rather than his left and wears a conical hat or helmet, the general composition of the piece shows strong similarities. Apollo Cunomaglos was the syncretisation of the classical Apollo with the native Cunomaglos (meaning ‘lord of the hounds’) and is particularly known at the major temple at Nettleton in Wiltshire, where even curse tablets written to him have been found. Thanks Candia!

References

Frere, S. S. 1961. Some Romano-British Sculptures from Ancaster and Wilsford, Lincolnshire. Antiquaries Journal Vol 41