CAISTOR (ST-EDMUND'S), a parish in the hundred
of HENSTEAD, county of NORFOLK, 3 miles (S.)
from Norwich, containing 164 inhabitants. The living
is a rectory, with that of Merkshall, or Mattishall-
Heath united, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Norwich,
rated in the king's books at £9, and in the patronage
of J. R. Dashwood, Esq. and others. Caistof,
though  at present an inconsiderable village, was anciently
one of the most flourishing cities of the Britons,
and probably the residence of the kings of the Iceni: it
was the Venta Icenorum. of the Romans, and the principal
station of that people in the territory of the Iceni, the
present city of Norwich having gradually arisen out of
its rams; the walls enclose a square area of about thirty
acres, within which foundations of buildings may be
traced. Numerous Roman coins have been discovered,
principally of Constantine, and, a few years since, a
bronze figure of a satyr, of very fine workmanship, about
eight inches in length. But the most conspicuous Roman
relic is a large fortified encampment, about a furlong
south-west of Caistor: the whole space, including
the rampart, exceeds thirty-two acres, and was capable
of containing six thousand men: the north, east, and
south sides exhibit large banks raised from a deep
fosse, and the west side has one formed on the margin
of the river Tees; in these are the vestiges of four
gates. At each corner is an artificial mount; and on
the western side the remains of a tower, thirty-three
feet in circumference, are still visible. Within the
area of the camp stands the church, the materials for
building which were evidently taken from the ruins of
the-rampart.