an ancient fen drainage system. It is thought to have been constructed by the Romans, possibly around 125 AD. It is the dividing line between the limestone uplands of the west and the fenlands of the east of the parish, the strip between Car Dyke and the River Witham at the eastern extreme of Nocton Parish once being known as the Witham Peat Fen. Two Roman clay coin moulds were found in 1811 in the bed of Car Dyke at the north end of Nocton Wood, close to Wasps Nest. The moulds are identified as belonging to Constantine the Great (AD307–337) and his mother Helena and copies of copper alloy folles, now located at the British Museum. Other archaeological discoveries in Nocton include a beehive quern-stone, the site of a Roman settlement and cropmark and a Roman coin hoard. A Roman road or track was thought to run South-North through Nocton. Its conjectured course starts in Metheringham and follows the course of Dunston Road to Dunston before continuing to Nocton and aligning with the western boundary of Nocton Hall's garden, then aligning with Potterhanworth Road.< Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxon era began in the fifth century with evidence of settlement in Lincolnshire dating from as early as 450. However it is considered that the area around Lincoln continued to be culturally and/or politically dominated by its former Romano-British inhabitants with their culture and institutions only gradually declining through the fifth century with the label 'Anglo-Saxon' potentially becoming more generally appropriate towards the end of the sixth century. Dr Caitlin Green proposes that the former Romano-Britons of Lincoln continued to control a large area around the city into at least the early sixth century which would likely have included the area of Nocton. There was an Anglo-Saxon settlement at Nocton whose name is derived from the Old English words 'hnoc tun', meaning 'village of the wether sheep'. From the early days of the Anglo-Saxon era Nocton was located close to the boundary between Anglian tribal confederations and in turn kingdoms. There is no specific evidence for the location of the southern frontier of the minor Anglian Kingdom of Lindsey in relation to Outer Mercia as mentioned in the seventh-century Tribal Hidage however by 678 control and overlordship of Lindsey passed to Mercia from the Kingdom of Deira. It is likely that elements of the Great Heathen Army passed through Nocton in September 870