"Situation of the pots when discovered.-The pots stood upon stone of eight inches in depth, in a stratum of clay of eighteen inches; over the pots was placed stone of four inches in depth, and above that the natural soil, sixteen inches deep from the surface."

Mr. Rudge then fully detailed the inscriptions which were upon the coins. The names of the emperors are as follow:

GOLD COINS.

Valentinianus I.

Gratianus.

Valentinianus, jun.

Theodosius I.

SILVER COINS.

Constantius.

Julianus.

Valentinianus I.

Gratianus.

Mag. Maximus.

Theodosius I.

Mr. Rudge also communicated the particulars to the Society of Antiquaries*, and added that the coins were found on the site of a Roman road leading from Camden to Alcesterf.

Mr. May, in his "History of Evesham," published in 1834, states that the spot where the coins were found lies "a very few yards west of the existing road, at its entrance into Cleeve from Middle Littleton," and mentions a coin of Constantine as one of the number; he also suggested, that they "might possibly have been secreted by some Roman commander prior to an encounter, in which his forces were routed, and himself slain."

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In the "Companion to Greenwood's Map" it is stated that a goldsmith of London "offered the finder three hundred pounds for them, which he refused." The discovery is also noticed in the "Worcester Journal" for the 31st of October, 1811, where it is stated, that counterfeits were discovered among them, executed in a most excellent manner, being copper plated with gold. The silver coins were not in so good preservation as the gold. The execution of these coins is of course not very good, the art of cutting the dies being at that period very much upon the decline. The man has acknowledged that he found one hundred of the gold coins; the silver most probably greatly exceeded that number."

* Vide "Archæologia," Vol. xvii., pp. 329, 330.

+ See further relative to that road in the account of the Rycknield Street.

The Rev. R. D. Stillingfleet, Vicar of Cleeve Prior, in answer to some inquiries I made respecting the coins, stated that Thomas Sheppey, the man who found them in the first instance, conveyed them secretly to his own house; that he afterwards took them to the Dean and Chapter of Worcester, (the Lords of the Manor), who, after reserving a few of the coins, returned him the remainder. Mr. Stillingfleet further added, that "there was a discovery made near the village, in the year 1824, of a number of human skeletons, on a bank immediately above the river Avon, and not very remote from the field in which the coins were found."

I have seen several of these coins in the possession of the Rev. Allen Wheeler, of Worcester, and the Rev. Wm. Brown, of Bredicot; in addition to some of the above, they have coins of Valens, Valerian, D.N. Fl. Victor, and Gordianus Pius.

Sheppey stated that a goat's head was found in the excavation, which was perhaps a votive offering made upon depositing the coins.

After writing the above, I went to Cleeve Prior, and saw at the Rev. Mr. Stillingfleet's, in addition to those previously mentioned, a gold coin of Arcadius, and two silver coins, one of Vespasian, and another which I could not decipher. T. Sheppey, the finder of the urns and coins, informed me that the quantity of gold coins found in one of the urns (which would hold about two quarts) amounted to about six pounds in weight; that there were about three thousand silver coins in the other urn, which would contain about a gallon; that the goat's head was found four or five yards from the urns, about four feet deep, in a cavity made in the quarry, which cavity was of the shape of a basin at the bottom; that he was offered seven hundred pounds for the coins, which he refused; that he considered they were altogether worth about one thousand pounds, but could not tell the total amount received for them, they having been sold in parcels at various times.

I also examined the spot where the coins were found near the village, and where the bones and skeletons were discovered on Cleeve Terrace, and saw an iron arrow-head in Mr. Stillingfleet's possession, which was found with the skeletons. A large hewn stone called by the inhabitants Batowen, stands at the place and

it is most probably the base of an ancient cross.

The Avon flows at the foot of the Terrace, and there is a ford and Cleeve Mill at the spot. Perhaps the skeletons may be those of some of the soldiers who fell in this part of the line between. Kenilworth and Evesham, in the battles between the barons and Henry III.

In conclusion it is as well to remark, that the late Rev. Mr. Digby, Canon of Worcester Cathedral, informed me that one of the urns also contained gold coins of Valens, Magnus Maximus, and Arcadius, and he gave me an account of 255 of the gold coins, and of 832 of the silver coins.

CROWLE.

Dr. Thomas* says, that Beortulf, King of the Mercians, gave Eadberht, Bishop of Worcester, five manses at Crohlea; and that, in the time of Canute, and of Leofsius, Bishop of Worcester, one Simund, a Dane, a soldier of Earl Leofrick's, endeavoured to dispossess the church of what they had at Crowle, for he so plagued it with suits and trespasses, that he drove away the farmers, and they were forced to grant it to him for his life, on condition that he should serve for them in the wars by sea and land, and should acknowledge the prior as his lord, by paying yearly a horse or money in lieu thereof t."

Dr. Nash, in the first volume of his "History," p. 281, says: "In a field in this parish, adjoining to Hodington, was discovered, nearly two centuries ago, a stone coffin lined with lead ‡, and containing the bones of a man, almost mouldered away, with an earthen pitcher or urn at the head of it. These were supposed to have been the remains of some Danish warrior who had fallen in battle an opinion which seems to be confirmed by the quantities of human bones frequently ploughed up around the place,

* Page A, 27 and 61 of his Survey, &c., of Worcester Cathedral. Also see Nash, Vol. i., p. 279; and, Heming's "Cartulary," pp. 345, 572.

+ Heming's "Cartulary," p. 265.

It will be observed in the account of Hadley Heath camp, in Ombersley, that a leaden chest was found there.

and the traces of fortifications till of late distinguishable, though now overgrown with woods. Dr. Thomas imagines this person was Simund the Dane. The stone of which the coffin was made so nearly resembled what is produced out of Burford quarry, in Oxfordshire, that a friend of Mr. Habingdon, a great naturalist, did not hesitate to affirm it was hewn from thence*."

BREDICOT.

As some workmen, in the summer of 1839, were excavating in the line of the Birmingham and Gloucester railroad in this parish, they found, at the depth of about two feet in the earth, under the spreading boughs of a very large and ancient pollard elm, just by Bredicot Court, a small Roman urn of red clay, four inches and one-eighth high, eleven inches and a half round the middle, six inches round the neck, and four inches round the foot. thereof here represented.) resembles a skittle, and I there were about 140 small copper coins in it, which were distributed amongst the workmen; but the urn and sixty-two of

(See woodcut

In shape it am informed

the coins having been procured for my inspection, by Henry Chamberlain, Esq., of the above court, I found, after clearing them of much oxidation, that they were all Roman, and that the heads upon fifty seven of them had the iron Those of the emperors I made out are as follow:---Seven of Gallienus; eleven of Claudius Gothicus; and one of Probus ; also one of Salonina, wife of Gallienus; and the following of the usurpers in Gaul and Britain:-one of Posthumus; nine of Victorinus; twenty-four of Tetricus; and four of Carausius.

crown.

In the 66 Universal History," the revolt of the Britons in the reign of Gallienus, and the names of the usurpers acknowledged in Britain, are stated; and it is worthy of remark that the Bredicot urn contained coins of all of them except Lollianus and

Habingdon MSS.

+ Vol. xix., pp. 161, 162.

Allectus. It is doubted whether a genuine coin of Lollianus has ever been found*.

The urn in question, which is quite a little history of those times, was probably deposited at Bredicot (which lies between two and three miles from the site of the ancient camp at Elbury Hill) in the civil wars between Carausius and Allectus, for I do not find that it contained any coins of the Constantine family, who succeeded them; however, as I have only seen part of the coins (the others having been carried away by the workmen), the evidence is not absolutely conclusive upon the subject. I procured the urn and about forty of the coins for the Worcestershire Museum. Bredicot is situated about four miles north-east of Worcester.

In 1846, a ring was found near Bredicot churchyard, and presented to me by the rector, the Rev. Wm. Godfery, which I sent for the inspection of the Archæological Institute, and which

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is figured and thus noticed in their Journal. The ring of base metal, plated with gold, and inscribed with a cabalistic or

Since the above was written, I find in the "Illustrations of the Remains of Roman Art in Cirencester," p. 142, the following, in the list of Roman coins discovered there :

"Laelianus.-An usurper in the reign of Gallienus.

Base Silver. Obv.-IMP. C. LAELIANVS. P.F. AVG.

Rev. PAX. AVG. A female holding an olive branch." Lollianus and Laelianus are supposed to mean the same person. There is still, however, a question whether this coin of Laelianus is really genuine. + Vol. iii., pp. 267, 268. Also see p. 357 of that Vol.; and p. 78. of Vol. v.