Intaglio of two mice

Angular gold finger-ring with stylized leaves engraved on the shoulders. The gemstone depicts two mice nose-to-nose, reflecting the story of the town mouse and the country mouse as told in the Satires of Horace, an important Roman writer.

The ring was found in a burial at Old Ford in 1995. This sizable Roman settlement lay beside the main London to Colchester road where it crossed the River Lea. Such settlements allowed locally-grown produce to be transported to London by road and river.

This main road to Colchester was just one of the major roads that radiated out from Londinium, leading to other towns such as York, Lincoln, Silchester and St Albans. At Old Ford, the road consisted of a three-track highway and, like most roads in the London area, it was built of compacted gravel.