In Britton's "History and Antiquities of Worcester Cathedral," it is stated that "Dr. Stukeley, who appears to have visited the city and several other places in this part of England, in 1721, and afterwards published an account of his antiquarian researches in his Itinerarium Curiosum,' says, no doubt but this was a Roman city, yet we could find no remains but a place in it called Sudbury, which seems to retain in its name some memorial of that sortt." To this Mr. Britton added, This place is now called Sidbury-evidently a corruption of Southbury, or borough. Since Camden, Stukeley, and Green wrote their respective works, a vast mound of earth-the keep of the ancient Norman castle, on the south side of the Cathedral, has been entirely taken away, and some Roman antiquities were found, in 1833, at or near its base, viz., an urn or jug of red earth, with a handle; coins of Vespasian, Caligula, Nero, Tiberius, Adrian, Antoninus Pius, &c.; and in a field near Upper Deal was discovered another Roman urn, containing twenty copper coins of Carausius.-The real extent of the ancient castle cannot now be ascertained; but the lofty mound called the keep, with its ditches, &c., occupied an area of between three and four acres. The apex of the keep mound measured more than eighty feet above the high-water mark of the Severn, which flowed close to its western base §."

The above discoveries at the Castle Hill were also noticed in the "Gentleman's Magazine," Vol. i., No. 1, new series for January 1st, 1834; and, in addition, it is therein stated that in about the same level as the coins therein mentioned, were discovered a well, curiously quoined with stone, and remains of buildings, which plainly show that the spot was occupied before its artificial elevation for the purpose of forming the donjon keep of Worcester Castle during the middle ages."

This hill was composed of sand and gravel, with sandstone foundations as outworks, and Mr. Eaton, who purchased it, and had it removed, has, from time to time, obtained a great many

Page 4. The work was published in 1835.

+ Bishop Lyttelton was also of that opinion.

Not Caligula, but Augustus.

§ It had the shape of a cone barrow.

more Roman coins and other relics out of strata of blackish earth, which lay in places principally under, but sometimes also in the hill. I have seen these coins and relics, and they clearly show that the elevation in question was thrown up (partly, at least,) either by the later Romans, upon an old Roman locality, or by the Saxons, Danes, or Normans; and that the black stratum which contained the coins was the ancient surface of the ground, which had been previously occupied by the Romans*. The hill and its ramparts and fosse are delineated in a map of the city, as it stood at the time of the great battle, in 1651.

The Roman coins collected by Mr. Eaton at this locality amount to between eighty and ninety in number. The following is a list of those made out.

* Part of the hill, probably, was formed of the materials excavated when the fosse was made, which ran from the hill to near where Edgar's Tower now stands.

And four or five caked together in a mass of oxidation. Also a silver coin with two portraits on the obverse, one partially behind the other (which is said to have arisen from a second stroke with the die). The reverse exhibits a horse galloping towards the left; it is of the latter part of the Consulate. There was also found in the same place half a Saxon silver penny of Æthelred II.†, containing the hand of Providence on the reverse. A very fine and perfect silver coin of Cnut. Obverse-The head of the king, with the sceptre legend, CNVT REX. Reverse-The Saxon cross, with the inscription, ELWINE ON WIHR, meaning that Elwine in Worcester was the mint-master. Portions of another coin of Cnut. Obverse-Head of the monarch, with CNVT RECX. Reverse-LEOFWI [N] E ON LVN () London;—and a silver coin of Eadgar.

Likewise a silver coin and half another of one of the Henrys. A silver coin of one of the Edwards, and another of Charles the First; several Irish and other copper farthings of the latter monarch, and Irish copper coins of James the Second; also coins of several other English monarchs; various tradesmens' and abbey copper tokens; also Scottish coins and Nuremberg tokens, which no doubt were brought here in the civil wars, in Charles's time. These latter coins are very frequently found in and about the City.

But to return to the Roman relics. The rest of the Roman coins found in the hill are either so decayed or so worn that I cannot decipher them; but the principal part have the iron crown. The latter coins in the list tend to show that the hill probably was thrown up, principally, at least, in the time. of the later Romans; perhaps partly by Constantius and Constantine, and partly afterwards, to strengthen the south side of the City, and to communicate with the Kempsey camp, where a memorial of Constantine has been found.

The other interesting relics which Mr. Eaton collected at the hill, he has kindly allowed me to make drawings of. The principal

In the first edition, I stated that it probably was a Greek colonial one. ♦ This was cut through, and each half doubtless passed as a halfpenny.

C

part of them are seen in the accompanying Plate I., all of the actual size, except the celt, urn, and bell.

No. 1.-An ancient British bronze celt, found in black soil within the base of the hill. It is four inches long, and one and It has four two-eighths wide, and one inch thick in the centre. parallel indents on each side. broken off, and part of the head. in the first volume of Camden, page ccvi., resemble the one in question in many respects, except that they have not any of the indents.

The greatest part of the loop is

Several of the celts engraved.

No. 2.-A Roman urn or jug. Nine inches and a half high, twenty-four inches in circumference round the middle, ten inches and a half round the foot, eight inches round the narrowest part of the neck, and eleven inches and a half round the mouth. It is in the finest state of preservation, and was found about sixteen or eighteen feet deep in the hill, and about a third of the way up it. There are several nearly resembling it in Montfaucon's work on Grecian and Roman Antiquities, Vol. iii., Part I.

Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.-Roman brass fibulæ or brooches*. Eight are of the bow shape, but of different patterns, and the other is circulart. The acus is entire to those numbered 3 and 10. Fragments of the acus of most of the others are also in the collection. The fibula, No. 3, is very large, and weighs nearly an ounce and a half. It looks something like a Roman galley, and has a single moulding round the edge, a double one along the front (which is the lower side of the drawing), and a dotted one along the middle. The front view is given of the fibula, No. 6, with the fragment of the acus appearing behind. There are several patterns of fibulæ in Montfaucon's work, but none exactly like these in question. The whole were found in the black stratum under the hill, the largest one near the outside of it.

* Vide general observations relative to fibulæ, in the account of Kempsey. + It is possible that this fibula is Anglo-Saxon, as it corresponds with types of that period. The peasantry, in my younger days, used to wear rather similar ones made of pewter as shirt brooches.

Vol. iii., Part I., p. 46, &c.