ROMANO-BRITISH HEREFORDSHIRE the Roman road has been traced from the opposite point on the further bank, which clearly points to some artificial connexion between the two sides of the river." Only two inscriptions have been found on the site, one the oculist's stamp already mentioned, the other a milliarium or milestone which can be dated a.d. 283 (Fig. 2). The latter was dug up in 1795-6 from the foundations of the north wall of the town, and seems to have been removed to a farm-yard at Old Weir, about a mile away, where it was seen by Lysons in 1800.*" It is made of the coarse local sandstone, 2 ft. high by I ft. 6 in. wide, and 5 in. thick. The bottom was broken off, and the upper part damaged. In 1800 it was in the possession of the Rev. C. Bird, F.S.A., of Mordiford, and it was presented to the Hereford Museum by his successors in 1880. The inscription on the stone" runs : — IMP • C MAR AVR NVMORIAN
Imp{er atari) C(aesare) Mar{co) Aur{elio) Num{e)rian — R P C D The first four lines can be plainly read, but the last line is not so clear. Lysons only mentions ' faint traces of letters, too indifferent to be ascertained.' Hiibner suggests p f avg, pio Jideli Augusto.*'^ The letters r p are also found in an inscription from Caermarthenshire standing for r[ei)p[ublicae),*^ and it has therefore been suggested that bono has been obliterated from the fourth line, and that the fifth read originally nato. This is supported by an inscrip- tion found at Wroxeter," and now in the Shrewsbury Museum, which has BONO REI the inscription pvblicae . Professor Haverfield however suggests that in the NATV present case we should read r p c d, standing for Respublica civitatis Dobunorum.*^ This inscription is said to be the only one in Britain with the name of the Emperor Numerianus (a.d. 282—3), and it is very rare on the Continent. The oculist's stamp is inscribed on the four sides as follows : — (0 (2) (3) (4) T • VINDAC VISTI ANICET ARIO T • VINDACI • AR OVIsf • NARD • VINDAC • ARI OVISTI • CK-ORON T • VINDAC VISTI • . . . ARIO . in . T. Vindac[i) Ario- vht't anicet{uni) T. Vindaci Ar[t- ovisti nard{tnum) T".] Vindaci Ari- ovisti chloron T. Vindacii) Ario- visti Fig. 6. — Oculist's Stamp found at Kenchester " See Woolhope Club Trans. 1882, p. 248 ; 1893, p. 59, with photograph of the spot. '° Lysons in Arch, xv, 391, pi. 27, fig. 2 ; see also Soc. Ant. MS. Min. May 1805, xxx, 425.
- ' Woolhope Club Trans. 1882, p. 247, with plate; Arch. Joum. xixiv, 356, 399 ; xxxvii, 147 ; Wright,
Wanderings of an Antiquary, p. 40, and Celt, Roman, and Saxon (6th ed.), 42 1 ; Antiq. xxvi, 245 ; Ephem. Epigr. 336, no. Iioi ; Lewis, Topog. Diet. ; Duncumb-Cooke, Hist, of Hetefs. iv, 113 ; Petrie and Sharpe, Monum. Hist. Brit, i, p. ex, no. 27 ; Arch. Surv. 4 ; Academy, I Aug. 1896, p. 86.
- ' Corp. Inscr. Lat. vii, II 65. " Arch. Joum. xxxi, 344. " V.C.H. Shrops. i, 247. " Arch. Surv. 4 n.
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