ROMANO-BRITISH HEREFORDSHIRE represent. There is no evidence of wealth on the part of the inhabitants, and not much to show the occupations and habits of the people. The kilns at Blackwardine and the querns which have been found here and there point only to purely local industries. There is, however, one exception which must be made to the foregoing statement. The discovery of traces of the iron industry in the south of the county must not be overlooked. That iron-mining was carried on near Ross is testified by the nature of the soil in that part, where the ploughed fields show a black cinereous soil instead of the warm red which characterizes the county. Iron scoriae and cinders may be picked up anywhere in this neighbourhood, together with imperfectly-smelted iron ore. ' Hand- blomeries ' ^' and forges have been found on Peterstow Common, and frequently in the neighbourhood of Goodrich Castle. Thomas Wright mentions scoriae as being discovered in the following parishes : Bridstow, Ganarew, Goodrich, Hentland, Llangarren, Peterstow, St. Weonards, Tretire, Walford, Weston, and Whitchurch.^" But these remains form the only sign of any settled industry in the county. In conclusion it is impossible to avoid pointing out one possible explana- tion of the barrenness of the county in Roman remains. There has been an almost total absence of any proper excavations or investigations under compe- tent direction. Even in the case of the towns and settlements we are depen- dent for all our knowledge on casual and unscientific exploration, and vague unsystematic records. Of villas and country houses we know practically nothing. With the example before our eyes of a large town practically unexplored in the adjoining county, there is perhaps some excuse for Here- , fordshire, which does not boast such a flourishing archaeological society. ^^ But it is impossible to believe that such sites as Kenchester and Ariconium would not yield under proper investigation far more fruitful results than they have done hitherto. Meanwhile this fact must be emphasized as the partial cause of a somewhat meagre and incomplete record of Roman remains in Herefordshire. A note on the Roman coins discovered in Herefordshire may not here be amiss. Their total number has been computed at some 22,000, but this is of course based on very imperfect evidence, and where definite information is frequently lacking it is wiser not to attempt any estimate. But at all events that number represents a minimum. The bulk of these coins emanate from a single hoard, discovered in 1895 at Bishopswood in the parish of Walford, and containing no less than 18,000 coins, of which 17,550 were preserved and examined. The interesting feature of this hoard is that the coins are comprised within narrow chronological limits, all except three being copper coins of the Constantine family, and therefore to be dated between the years a.d. 290 and a.d. 360. They are from various mints, but none of '^^'Bhomery.' 'The first forge in an iron-works, through which the metal passes, having been melted from the ore, and in which it is made into blooms.' {New Engl. Diet.) A ' bloom ' is a mass of iron which has undergone a first hammering (ibid) .
- • Wanderings of an Antiquary, iS. ; see also Nicholls, Ironmaking in Olden Times, 9 ; Woolhope Club-
Trans. 1882, p. 258; Arch. Journ. xxxiv, 364; Arch. Surv. 5 and map; see also Topog. Index, s.vv. Goodrich, Peterstow, Whitchurch. " The corresponding body in Herefordshire, the Woolhope Field Club, has done excellent work in other spheres, but is not primarily an archaeological society. 171
