A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE the site of the actual inhabited town." There has been no effort made to preserve any record of discoveries, except for a description of coins and other objects by Mr. M. C. Palmer, vi^ho exhibited them to the British Archaeo- logical Association on their visit in 1870." The coins described by him include nine British, two being copper coins of Cunobelin. There were also 118 silver, billon, and copper Roman coins, ranging from Claudius (a.d. 41) to Magnentius (a.d. 353), also a silver consular coin of the Cordia family," but none seem to be particularly rare. There were also exhibited four intagli (two cornelian), glass beads, a silver ring, twenty bronze fibu- lae (see Fig. 13), rings, keys, pins, nails, buckles, and other bronze imple- ments." Dr. Bull, writ- ing in 1882, says : 'The site at the pre- sent time presents a blackened soil ex- tending over an area of nearly one hun- dred acres. It is cultivated as arable land, and still yields Roman remains to every visitor who will look for them.' " The sole trace of the town which can now be seen is a fairly steep bank under which the wall is said to be. There is also a certain length of the Roman road running past the site. But beyond this, the black soil, and the coins which are continually picked up by casual passers-by, there is absolutely nothing to assist in the identification of the Roman city, nor are there any relics from this site in the local museums. Ariconium is a conspicuous example of the utter inadequacy of the investi- gations into Roman sites hitherto carried on in Herefordshire. Fig. 13. — Fibulae from Ariconium Topographical Index Abbey Dore. — A section of the Roman road (Stoney Street) opened in 1893 ; see above, 'Roads,' p. 173. Aston Ingham. — In Combe Wood was discovered, in 1855, a hoard of coins, deposited in tvi^o chests ready for transport. They were said to number many thousands, all small bronze coins, covering the period a.d. 235-340. The emperors represented include Maximinus Daza, (a.d. 235-8) ; Maximianus (a.d. 286-310) ; Constantine the Great and his wife Fausta (a.d. 306-37); Licinius (a.d. 307-24); Crispus (a.d. 317-26) ; and Constantine II (a.d. 317-40). Arch. Surv. Index; Woolhope Club Tram. 1882, p. 258; Arch, fourn. xxxiv, " Jrtconensia, 37. Mr. H. Southall writes, however, that about sixty years ago a tessellated pavement was found by a local landowner, who destroyed it lest he should be * pestered by antiquarian visitors ' ! " Joum. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxvii, 203 ff. " Cf Cohen, M annates, pi. 14, i. " Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxvii, 210, with plate (coins fully described); 'Num. Chron. xi (1871), 155; Woolhope Club Trans. (1882), 250 ; Arch. 'Joum. xxxiv, 360. " Woolhope Club Trans, loc. cit. 190
