A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE which ran east and west, and was from 1 2 ft. to 15 ft. wide, with a gutter down the middle, were of timber, and claimed to have discovered the plinths in which the timbers were inserted : ' the plinths had been taken out, the holes being cut about four inches square ; they measured two feet in each direc- tion, and lay two feet below the surface.' '^ The exterior walls certainly remained to a much later date. Mr. Thompson Watkin saw a fragment in 1 86 1, and described it as 6 J ft. to 7 ft. thick, partly composed of large stones and partly of herring-bone masonry. He also states in 1877 that the sites of four gates, nearly at the cardinal points, were until recently plainly visible. In the western part of the site a later discovery is reported of seven large blocks of conglomerate stone, and five Doric capitals and bases (Fig. 4), with rough diaper ornamentation, which pointed to the existence of an important building. These stones were subsequently placed in the form of a rough foundation, at some distance from the site of their discovery, but four of the capitals are now at Credenhill.'* In August 1 89 1 a well was discovered, and has been described by Dr. H. C. Moore, but although Roman tesserae were found in it, the well itself is not Roman, but mediaeval.'^ The tesserae and some tiles are now in the Hereford Museum. The accidental contents of these receptacles cannot, it has been pointed out, be taken as a proof of their origin. There is even less probability that a Roman origin is to be ascribed to the masonry which has long existed at New Weir under the name of ' Roman Bridge.' Dr. Moore says there was no bridge here, either of stone or timber, and that the site of a bridge, if there ever was one, was more than half a mile lower down, at Huff Pool.'* The masonry above mentioned, however, was found on examination to contain numerous tiles of close-textured clays mostly with flanges, which were clearly Roman. They are now in the Hereford Museum. But it has been ascertained beyond doubt that the structure is really a landing-stage for barges, not of earlier date than the end of the 1 8th century. It can therefore have no bearing on the question of a Roman bridge here.'^ The existence of a timber bridge half a mile lower down is testified to by the fact that it would here lie in the direct line of the old Roman road in Mad- ley parish, called Stoney Street ; '* and there are still standing, 20 yds. above the boundary fence between the properties of Messrs. Jones and Lee of Canon Bridge and Sir Joseph Pulley of Lower Eaton (where the water at lowest summer level is 12 ft. deep), about fourteen piles in tolerably close array, extending to a distance of 1 5 ft. from the banks. Some of these piles are vertical, but generally in an oblique direction, ' of enormous scantling.' Two of them are estimated to be a foot square. A few yards further up the river are large timber baulks lying horizontally like steps. Further proof that these form the remains of a Roman bridge is furnished by the fact that '^ Arch. Journ. xiv, 83 ; Woolhope Club Trans. 1882, p. 24.4. '* Arch. Journ. xxxiv, 353. ^ Ibid. 355. ^* Cf. Reade, Mem. of Old Heref. 5 8 . They adorn the walls of two gardens in the village street. Strictly speaking, three of them are bases, not capitals. Mr. Charles Hardwick states that a few years ago he excavated the foundations of one of the old gateways and found some large blocks of sandstone, which were left lying in situ (letter of 7 Feb. 1 908). Possibly this is the discovery recorded above ; but see above, p. 175. Antiq. xxvi (1892), 246. '" Woolhope Club Trans. 1893, p. 56. See Woolhope Club Trans. 1893, p. 56, for description and photograph of masonry. '* It is so indicated, with the line of the road, on theO.S. 6-in. map, sheet xxxiii SW. See above, p. 173. 180
