ROMANO-BRITISH HEREFORDSHIRE SITES OF PERMANENT OCCUPATION (i) Kenchester (Magna) About half a mile to the south-west of the village of Kenchester, four or five miles west of Hereford, is the site of a small Roman town, which the mileage of the Itinerary of Antonine permits to be identified with the ' Magni ' or ' Magna ' of the twelfth Iter/ But the wholly unmilitary character of the place prevents the possibility of expanding the name into ' Magna Castra,' as has often been suggested." Thesite^ is well defined, 200 yds. south-west of Credenhill station, and known as ' The Walls.' In shape it is an irregular hexagon, covering an area of about seventeen acres. It was surrounded by a stone wall with four gates, of which the foundations can still be traced ; a part of the exposed wall could be seen as late as 1861, when the last remaining portion was thrown down, and the lines on the east side are said to be still visible, faced with stones set in herring-bone fashion in rubbly mortar. The extent of the town is indicated by a slight eminence, from 4 ft. to 6 ft. higher than the surrounding country. At the west end, in the garden of the Post Office, the high bank which marks the line of the walls has been partly uncovered, and some of the stonework is now visible. This is probably the part excavated by Mr. Hardwick (see below, p. 180). It is also stated that the course of the main street can be traced among the crops, and that the soil thereabouts is dark, fragments of coarse pottery abounding on the surface.* The town, though small, had some pretensions to comfort and civilization, as shown by the remains found of tessellated pavements, hypocausts, drainage tiles, ornaments, glass, pottery, &c. ; and it is the only important Romano- British site in the county, even then being far inferior to Wroxeter, Silchester, and other larger Roman sites. Close by it is the British camp at Credenhill, and it may have succeeded to a British oppidum there. Suburbs appear to have lain outside, and only a mile to the west is the villa at Bishopstone.^ The principal street was 1 5 ft. wide, and ran from east to west ; it is stated that in a dry season the lines of streets and houses can still be clearly perceived by the difference of growth in the crops.* The town itself represents more probably the Romanized Briton than the genuine Roman. From the fact that the soil on the site is black, while that of the surrounding country is red, ' The distances as given are 22 miles from Gobannium (Abergavenny), 20 from Bravinium (Leint- wardine). See above, p. 172.
- In the Itinerary, as in the Ravenna Geography, we have only the form Magnh, which may be from
either nominative. The name reappears on Hadrian's Wall, at Carvoran, and is perhaps Celtic (connected, according to Sir J. Rhys, with ««ara, ' stone '). It may survive in ' Magonsetum,' t-ie oldest recorded form (a.d. 811) of the name of the English tribe of Magesaet, who settled in Herefe. and plainly took their name from some place. See Haverfield, in Arch. Surv. 4, and Woolhope Club Trans. 1896, p. 223. ' O.S. 6-ln. xxxiii, NW.
- Arch. Surv. 4 ; Arch. Joum. xxxiv, 353 ; Woolhope Club Trans. 1882, pp. 241, 244 ; 1896, p. 223 ;
Murray's Guideto Herefs. (1884), p. 310 ; Hereford Times, 14 Oct. 1882 ; Arch. Cambr. (Ser. 2), v, 98 ; Duncumb-Cooke, Hisl. of Herefs. iv, ill fF. See also art. 'Earthworks,' 222. ' See Topog. Index. ^ Arch. Surv. 4; Arch. J ount. xxyciv, 353; Hereford Times, 14 Oct. 1882; Woolhope Club Trans. 1882, p. 244. ' Arch. Surv. 4. 175
