This was extensively excavated in the 1820s by Edmund Artis, the agent for the Fitzwilliam estate, who published a volume of illustrations about his work, which he suggested was a Praetorium.

It is suggested that in the Roman period, the Fens were a vast imperial estate and that at first Stonea was the seat of the procurator where the taxes were collected, and that after 250 this function was transferred to Castor.

The Praetorium may be connected with the town of Durobrivae (modern Water Newton) on the other side of the river Nene.

Kyneburgha married Alhfrith of Deira, co-regent of Northumbria (who attended the Synod of Whitby in 664),[6] but later founded an abbey for both monks and nuns in Castor.

[15] The route of the London and North Western Railway branch line between Northampton and Peterborough passes through the parish.

An episode of Time Team was filmed here and broadcast in 2011, revealing and confirming the huge size and height of the Roman praetorium.