Cattepittes was the name given to the site of the villa on old medieval manorial maps of Sherwood. After the Romans left Northfield c360AD, the decaying site would have eventually developed deep holes in the limestone where the original wooden post holes had rotted through, leaving holes around 3 feet deep and 2 feet wide. The old Iron-Age style pit dwellings & storage pits had probably also left deep depressions in the ground making the area unsuitable for ploughing, susequently, separating the area from farmland and recorded thus. Pittes was the middle English spelling of pits. The name had evolved from the Anglo-Saxon Catthoyle seen on very early maps of Sherwood. Hoyle was the northern Anglo-Saxon spelling of hole and was comonly used to describe topography that contained depressions. Catt and catte were the old spellings for cat.
The cat part though is more difficult to associate with the villa site. We know that Rooke excavated the grave of a cat that had been buried in a wooden box in a hole cut through the bedrock. He found the skeleton encircled by nails. The Romans introduced domesticated cats to Britain from Egypt around 300AD. However, although the Egyptians regarded them as sacred creatures they are not thought to be associated with the Roman Gods. The intoduction of the domestic cat by Roman administrators is considered to be associated with rising rodent levels in grain stores.
Maybe they just hung around after the Romans vacated the site around 360AD and interbred with the wild cats that were at that time common across the higher land of Britain. Maybe when farmers returned to the region, finding cats living in the holes, they named the area after them and the name stuck.
Pagan religions though held that witches turned into black cats, subsequently they were blamed for everything from souring the beer to spreading disease. It was commonly believed that their teeth contained venom and that their breath caused disease and infection. Any cat that was seen in the company of an old woman was assumed to be a witch's associate. Hundreds of unfortunate cats were burned alive by people who believed they did the work of the devil. The Catthoyles and Cattepittes naming on the medieval maps may be associated with the paranoia of the time.
I copied this sketch from David J Bradbury's excellent 'Wd'Hus and the wolf-hunters'.
His original drawing is copied from a 14th century map held at Belvoir Castle.