A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE accompanying plan, Fig. il) inclosing a space of fourteen acres surrounded by a fosse, with entrances on the east side (towards the road) and at the south- west corner (towards the river). This earthwork, forming as it has the subject of much discussion, can- not be lightly dismissed, as it involves the position of the Roman station of Bravinium, or Brannogenium, which Ptolemy ' gives as one of the two towns of the Ordovices. In the twelfth Iter of Antoninus Bravinium or Bravonium is mentioned as situated 24 miles from Magna and 27 from Viroconium, and moreover it must have been on the Watling Street. Until quite recently Brandon Camp, 2 miles to the south of Leintwardine, seems to have been accepted as the Roman Bravinium, owing to the apparent absence of remains elsewhere in this district. This view was accepted by Hartshorne,' by James Davies,* and by antiquaries of a previous generation, such as Aubrey, Britton, and Camden.' But the site at Leintwardine is much more suitable because (i) it exactly fits the distances in the Itinerary ; (2) it is situated on the Roman road ; (3) it is essential to have a Roman station at this point to con- firm the Itinerary ; (4) Roman remains have been found here, which is not the case at Brandon Camp ; (5) Brandon Camp is considerably farther from the Roman road than Leintwardine ; (6) the Leintwardine site is much better protected [a) on the west and south sides by the Rivers Clun and Teme, {b) by the range of hills from Mock Tree Hill to Totteredge Hill, while the site of Brandon Camp is considerably exposed ; (7) Leintwardine is at a considerably lower elevation than Brandon ; (8) Brandon Camp is surrounded by tumuli or barrows of British origin, which points to that camp being the work of an earlier age. The site has also been variously fixed by Horsley at Ludlow, by Gale * at 'Rusberry' (Rushbury), between Wenlock and Church Stretton ; by Williams at Blackwardine near Leominster (see Stoke Prior) ; by Mannert at Bromfield near Ludlow.^ Watkin, however, quotes Pointer as saying : ' In Dindar parish near Hereford is a camp called Oyster Hill ; another at Leint- wardine between this country and Shropshire ; another at Ledbury,' and points out that he was the first to indicate the true solution.* This view is further supported by Longueville Jones in his map of Britannia Secunda, by Thomas Wright and by Mr. Banks." Wright states that Bravinium was probably situated in the immediate neighbourhood of Ludlow, perhaps at or near Leintwardine, but, he adds, ' the last traces of Bravinium have long since disappeared.' Banks satisfied himself by personal inspection that the site was here. There seems therefore to remain little opening for hesitation in identifying Leintwardine with Bravinium, and if more evidence is needed, it is amply supplied by existing remains.*" The village of Leintwardine is situated on the northern bank of the River Teme at its junction with the Clun, and occupies rising gro'und. The ' Geog. ii, 3, 99 (Didot). ' Solopia Antiqua, 58. * Arch. Cambr. (Ser. 2), v, 100 ; cf. iv, 320. ' Brayley and Britton, Beauties of Engl, and Wales, vi, 551 ; Camden, Brit. (ed. Gough, 1806), iii, 78 ; Duncumb, Hist. ofHerefs. i, 27 ; R. H. Clive, Papers Relating to Hist. 0/ Ludlow, 82, 85 ; Roy, Military Antiquities, 172 ; Hartshorne, Salopia Antiqua, 133.
- I tin. Ant. Brit. 127.
' Horsley, Brit. Rom. ,^.66 ; Williams, Hist, of Radnorshire, 49 ; Mannert, Geografhie, ii (Britannia), 140. ° Arch. Joum. xxxlv, 350 ; Pointer, Brit. Rom. (1724), p. 54. ° Wright, Wanderings of an Antiquary, 3 ; Arch. Cambr. (Ser. 4), v, 164. '" See generally Woolhope Club Trans. 1882, p. 251 ; Arch. Joum. xxxiv, 349 ; Arch. Survey, 4. 184
