the white may be oolite, and the blue, probably, are lias. If artificial, the white may have been made of either macerated oolite, or of a species of fuller's earth called walker's clay *,' which is found in some places in this county; but I am at a loss to guess of what material the blue may have been made, unless it were macerated lias.

"There were red sandstone foundations of a building at the spot, which appeared to have been of considerable extent, but we did not discover any Roman bricks. A small piece of the transparent talc (said to be the lapis specularis of the Romans) was found amongst these remains; but whether, as it has been conjectured, it was used in the windows of the building in question, in the same manner as we now use glass, I cannot pretend to decide. I am informed that, at a short distance from these foundations, a layer of human bones, in a state of crumbling decay, was discovered. Various relics, such as iron spear-heads, a fibula, key, bronze pins, fragments of tile scored with lines, and of pottery of various kinds, usually found near sites of Roman occupation, including a portion of Samian' ware, ornamented in relief, were found near these remains t. Amongst the earthenware may be noticed a fragment of one of those singular flat vessels, formed of whitish clay, with a broad recurved margin, and a spout, frequently discovered with Roman remains; also red pottery, ornamented with chevrons, circles, and dots of white clay, in relief. A portion of a small vessel of red ware was found, resembling one preserved in the Museum at Worcester, which was found in one of the cists in the Roman burial-ground at Kempsey (see the woodcut, p. 56, No. 6). Another speci

"A walker, (Walcher, Dutch,) a fuller."-Bailey's Dict.

A considerable number of these remains, with specimens of the tesselated pavement, were sent by the Rev. William Lea, of Droitwich, and myself, for the inspection of the Archæological Institute; and those that belonged to me I presented to their museum.

These vessels are usually marked with a stamp near the spout. Representations of some, found in London, may be seen in the "Archæologia,” Vol. viii, pl. x.; vol. xii., pl. li.; and of one found in Eckington in p. 74 of this work.

men, in my possession, was found with Ronian reriains, during the formation of the Severn navigation lock, at Diglis, hear Worcester. An ornamental bronze pin, double-pointed, like the hock of an arrow, and perforated at the other extremity, was found in the earth where the pavement lay*. A bronze pin was found amongst Roman relics, during the demolition of the Castle Hill at Worcester, resembling this in its bifid point; but the head, which is not perforated, is formed of stone, or vitrified paste f.

"A large number of Roman brass coins have been found all along the line at Droitwich, some previously to, and others during the cuttings, particularly in Bay's Meadow,' and in that part called The Vines,' which is a high ridge on the northern. side of the river Salwarp, well exposed to the sun, and very suitable for a vineyard; possibly it may have been so used even by the Romans, or in later times by the brethren of the Friary of St. Augustine, in Wich, or Doderhill, or by the prior and convent of Worcester, who possessed considerable property there §.

"The Roman coins which have been found at Droitwich amount to a considerable number. I have seen about fifty in the hands of different persons; and among them were brass coins of Hadrian, Gallienus, Claudius II., several of Carausius and Constantius. I have also examined a collection belonging to a gentleman, late of Droitwich, now resident at Worcester, which includes coins of Maximian, Carausius, Constantius, Licinius,

This may possibly have been the acus of some kind of fibula; but see below, note +.

+ See woodcut of the Castle Hill relic, p. 18, and an account of its probable use, pp. 21, 22.

It is stated that formerly it had several terraces running along it, one above another.

§ There are a great many fields, and other places in Worcestershire, called by the name of " Vineyard;" and it has been supposed by some writers that the Romans planted vineyards in Britain. See the general account of the Vineyards. Also Dr. Nash's notice of the above-mentioned place, called "The Vines," in his "History of Worcestershire," Vol. i., p. 307. The subject of the culture of the vine in Britain is discussed at length in the papers by Pegge and Daines Barrington, "Archæologia," Vol. i., p. 321; Vol. iii., p. 67.

Constantine, Crispüs, Magnentius, Valens, and Gratian, and about sixteen others, which I cannot decipher. He states that most of them were from time to time found at The Vines, when that part was used as gardens. And it may be remarked, that on the side of an elevation, called Pigeon-house Hill,' by Longbridge, at the north end of Bromsgrove Lickey, which is on or near the supposed line of the Upper Saltway from Droitwich to Birmingham, seventeen Roman coins were found, now in the possession of the same gentleman; and I have identified the following:-Claudius II., Dioclesian, Maximian, Constantius, Constantine, and one on which may be read Constantinopolis.'

"From all these facts, we now have abundant evidence of Roman occupation at Droitwich, which heretofore had been only matter of conjecture. Dr. Nash remarks, in his account of Droitwich, This town was probably known to the Romans. In the map published by Mr. Bertram of Copenhagen, and prefixed to the Britannicarum Gentium Historiæ Antiquæ Scriptores," it is noticed by the name of "Salinæ," though some imagine the "Salina" of the ancients means Sandy, or Salndy, in Bedfordshire, or perhaps some of the Lancashire or Cheshire wiches*.'

66

The question remains for investigation, whether the saltsprings at Droitwich were known to and worked by the ancient Britons. Although we have not as yet found any relics in proof that they were, yet it may be safely concluded in the affirmative, as the Upper and Lower Salt-way ran from Droitwich towards the extremities of the kingdom; and they are generally admitted to have been British ."

With respect to the substances of which tessere were made, see Illustrations of the Remains of Roman Art in Cirencester, the Site of ancient Corinium," p. 49, &c., from which it is pretty evident, that what we have before described as white, or rather cream-coloured, are oolite; and that the blue, or slate-coloured,

*

66

History of Worcestershire," Vol. i., p. 302.

+ See Mr. Hatcher's observations on the Salt-ways, in his "Cominentary on Richard of Cirencester," p. 116; and the "Introduction to the Beauties of England," p. 61

are lias. With respect to Sandy or Salndy above referred to, it is situated on the Roman or Ikenild Street, in Bedfordshire, and is supposed by some to be the Zaλnval of Ptolemy, and the salina of the geographer of Ravenna. See the "Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries," Vol. ii., 1851, No. 24, p. 109, wherein Roman relics found at Salndy are described*.

It must also be stated here, that iron nails, of somewhat peculiar form, occurred amongst the Droitwich relics; and I learned from the late Dean of Hereford (Dr. Merryweather) that nails, identical in form, had been noticed at Kentchester, supposed to have been used in Roman times, to fasten the tiles of roofing. The Dean had also found similar nails in the course of recent investigations of Roman remains in Wiltshire. They most nearly resemble what are termed "clout nails." The surface of the little chest found at Rainbow Hill, near Worcester, in railway operations, was thickly set with nails of similar form, but mostly of greater length ‡.

An ancient urn, apparently of Roman fabrication, was also discovered in excavations during the formation of the railway at Droitwich, in 1847. This vessel, as it was supposed, from the appearance of decomposition which it had suffered, had been used in early times in the manufacture of salt§. It is seven inches high and twenty-two inches round the broadest part||.—(See an engraving of it, pl. 4, No. 2, p. 98.)

A curious discovery was also made near Droitwich, the particulars of which I gave to the "Worcester Herald," and which appeared on the 27th January, 1838, as follows:

In the month of December, 1837, as the sexton was digging a grave in the recently consecrated ground of the parish of Saint Mary Witton, which lies upon a rising spot adjoining the Worcester road, near Droitwich, his spade suddenly penetrated into

* Also see the "Archæologia," Vol. xxxi., p. 254, relative to a fine Roman urn found in that parish.

+ See p. 32.

See "Archæological Institute Journal," Vol. vi., p. 404. § Ibid.

I presented it to the Museum of the Archæological Institute.

a hollow place; and upon digging further, two parallel rows of circular arches were found, which appeared to be of great antiquity, from the curious form of the bricks of which they were built, and the mouldering condition of them upon being exposed to the atmosphere.

Hearing of this, I visited the place; and finding that the excavation was filled up again to prevent depredation, by the direction of the Rev. John Topham, the rector of the parish, he, at my request, kindly promised to have the same reopened for the inspection of such archeologists and others as might wish to attend; and accordingly, on the 3rd January, 1838, several gentlemen attended the reopening at my request; among whom were Matthew Holbeche Bloxam, Esq., of Rugby, and Thomas Henry Spurrier, Esq., of Edgbaston, near Birmingham; and, upon inspecting the arches, we all agreed that they were built of the flooring of the ancient church, which formerly stood within thirty yards of the spot, and that they were not Roman or Romanized British, or early Saxon, as had been supposed.

The arches were rather flattened, and there were several of them in each row, and each of them was two feet two inches high, two feet four inches broad, and six and a half inches deep; that is the depth of the length of the bricks of which they were built; these bricks are five and a half inches broad, and one inch and three quarters thick, and are squared at the corners on the one side. The intervening space between each arch was five inches; that is the diameter of the encaustic tiles which filled up the sides between the arches to the bend of them, and which tiles were cemented horizontally upon one another with red cement. The whole resembled the skeleton of the back of a horse or an ox.

The bricks in the arches were strongly cemented together, and the edges of them and of the tiles, which were inwards, were highly vitrified, proving that strong fires had been used within the arches. The crowns of the arches were several feet deep beneath the level of the ground.

At the bottom of the archways there was a quantity of black ashes of burnt wood, and a few fragments of a burnt bone, thought