A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE high road, ' High Street,' passes through the centre of the village, rising 56 ft. with a gradual ascent. A second road, the Roman road, formerly known as East Street, now known as Watling Street, runs parallel with the first, and the two are joined in the middle of the village by Church Street, the level of which is somewhat higher than the other two. The entrenchments of the camp can still be traced except on the south side, and it will be observed that Watling Street lies outside them. They are 20 yds. broad at their greatest breadth, and are still 8 ft. or 9 ft. above the surrounding ground. They form a parallelogram 308 yds. long from north to south and 220 yds. from east to west, covering an area of 14 acres inclusive of the embank- ments. The breadth of the vallum is best seen in an orchard at the north- west corner ; it is distinct along the west side, and across the north end, and all down the east side. A wall known as ' Ditch Wall ' runs the length of the old churchyard. The southern embankment is more difficult to trace, and according to Dr. Bull ran obliquely along the river front, at about an angle of 100 deg. to the western side ; but the plan in the article 'Earth- works ' gives a dotted line parallel to the northern entrenchment. Two entrances may still be clearly traced, one entering obliquely through the western embankment just above its lower end, the other directly through the east side below Church Street. Throughout almost the whole extent the fosse still forms the demarcation of properties.'^ At a depth of 4 ft. to 5 ft. below the surface there has been frequently found a stratum of ashes and burnt materials, and from i ft. to 18 in. below this a second stratum of ashes and charcoal. Graves dug in the churchyard to a depth of 8 ft. have yielded tiles, pottery, coins, and bronze articles mixed with ashes and charcoal. Together with the charred wheat, of which much has been found, this points to the destruction of the Roman town by fire, as was evidently the case with Magna and Ariconium. In this case, however, it was again occupied at an early date. The remains discovered are insignificant, and point to the comparative unimportance of Bravinium. They include parts of a stone quern and of an ' earthenware pounding mill with lip' {} mortarium), fragments of Roman pottery, and roof tiles, a bronze ring, and a ' third brass ' of Constantine, mostly on the eastern side, but the tiles are from the south-west. Pottery and coins have been found in the churchyard. Traces of oak timbers, blackened with age and deposit, were found near the old bridge on Watling Street. In a tumulus to the north-east of the church were traces of a cremation burial, but this seems more likely to have been British than Roman." At Walford in this parish an urn was discovered in February 1736 in one of the tumuli on the right-hand side of the road leading to Brampton Bryan ; it is described as Roman, of yellow ware, with beading round middle part and base, the height being 18 in. It was broken in the hope that it contained money, but only human bones mixed with earth were found. It seems, however, to be indicated as a pre-Roman burial by Professor Haverfield.'* " Woolhope Club Trans. 1882, p. 252 (by Dr. Bull), with plan ; Arch. Joum. xxxiv, 350 ; Jrch. Cambr. (Ser. 4), V, 163. See also art. 'Earthworks,' 223, where it is pointed out that subsequent destruction has made it difficult to follow Dr. Bull's description of the entrenchments. " Woolhope Club Trans. 1882, p. 253 ; Arch. Cambr. (Ser. 4), v, 163. " Roy, Military Antiquities, pi. 40 ; Arch. Cambr. (Ser. 4), v, 1 64. '* Arch. Surv. Index, s.v. Walford. 186
