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Histories of Northamptonshire
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Roman Spindle Whorl

Roman 43 - 410 CE Roman and Early Medieval

Marked with the name of the Roman woman who used it, spindle whorls were used to spin wool into yarn to make clothes.

Broken Roman chalk spindle whorl marked with name © NMAG
Broken Roman chalk spindle whorl marked with name
Composite drawing of spindle whorl showing the incised graffito © Historic England
Composite drawing of spindle whorl showing the incised graffito

This broken chalk spindle whorl offers a rare glimpse into the background and daily activities of a named woman in Roman Northamptonshire. Much like we might mark our possessions today, she has cut ‘Iulia […]uenda’ into the surface of her spindle whorl. It was found during an excavation at Stanwick in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The crudely made lines were read by an expert in Roman writing. Surface damage means the first half of the second name is partly illegible, but enough survives to speculate that although Iulia’s family were Roman citizens, they retained a Celtic surname. This object offers tangible evidence of the multi-faceted society that made up Roman Britain.

Spindle whorls are used with a wooden spindle for turning wool into yarn to make clothes. Spinning was a daily task for many Roman women, but evidence for such mundane activities can be overlooked among the more eye-catching objects from that period. Whorls are common finds but very few from Roman Britain are inscribed. Iulia’s whorl must have been important to her, and her inscription makes it important to us too. It reminds us to think carefully about the lives of the different characters who worked and lived at the Stanwick villa some 2,000 years ago.

Number 29 of the objects selected for the A History of Northamptonshire in 100 Objects exhibition 2025.

2nd Image: Roger Tomlin (Historic England) for publication in Britannia

Stanwick
Contributed by Rachel Cubitt, Historic England Finds Specialist

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