ROMANO-BRITISH HEREFORDSHIRE In 1829 a small bronze figurine of Hermes was found during excavations in the town {TVoolhope Club Trans. 1882, p. 248 ; Liverpool Timei, 24 March, 1 829; Jrch. Journ. xxxiv, 357]. This, like the following, is probably 'a waif from Kenchester.' In 1821 a Roman altar was discovered in excavations in St. John Street, and is now in the Free Library Museum (fig. 9). It is described as a monolith, in good preservation, and measures 3ft. 4^in. in height, width 16 in. to 1 7^ in., depth 10^ in. to 1 2 in. The stone is chiselled at the top, in front, and at the sides, but is rough at the back, as if originally prepared to stand against some other structure. The capi- tal and pedestal are fairly perfect, but a small piece is broken off one angle of the shaft, and the fracture is worn and rounded by time and exposure. It seems to have borne an inscription, now almost completely defaced ; the late Prebendary Scarth thought he could trace the letters Niiv, which he suggested might read min[ervae], and a few other letters have also been DEO MIN read, the total result being : ; but this is all somewhat conjectural [Arch. Journ. xxxiv, II 357; xxxv, 68; xxxvii, 147; Woolhope Club Trans. 1879, p. 165; 1882, p. 247, with plate ; Antiq. xxvi, 243 ; Arch. Surv. Index ; Wright, JVanderings, 33 ; Ephem. Epigr. vii, 287, 868 ; Minutes of Free Library]. A supposed small Roman altar was found some thirty or forty y^ars ago in the moat of the Castle green and is now in the Hereford Museum, but it has no Roman characteristics, and appears to be an object of mediaeval date [Woolhope Club Trans. 1882, p. 248, with plate (inaccurate) ; Antiq. xxvi, 245 ; Arch. Surv. Index]. HuMBER. — The ' overwhelming reasons ' which have been given for regarding Risbury Camp in this parish as Roman [JVoolhope Club Trans. 1885, p. 335] are not convincing. [See p. 169, and art. ' Earthworks']. Kenchester. — 5^^ pp. 175 flF". Ledbury. — Roman bronze coins, found with worked flints and British or Romano-British pottery, within the area of the British Camp on Wall Hills, a mile or two to the west of Ledbury ; probably only the coins are Roman [Arch. Surv. 1 1 ; Woolhope Club Trans. 1883, p. 26 ; Arch. Journ. xxxiv, 361]. Though the camp is British, it may possibly have been occupied temporarily by the Romans. Leintwardine. — 5ij(r above, p. 184. Letton in Leintwardine. Su^p. 187. Llancillo. — Roman coin found here, undecipherable, now in Hereford Museum [Arch. Surv. Index]. Peterstow. — Remains of smelting works have been found here in a field, about 5 miles from the site of Ariconium, and large quantities of iron cinders imperfectly smelted have been dug up, from which the remaining ore has been extracted. The most remarkable deposit was at Cinders Grove, from which many hundreds of tons were subsequently removed [Duncumb, Hist, of Herefs. i, 29 ; Wright, Wandering of an Antiq. 15 ; Arch, journ. xxxiv, 364 ; Arch. Surv., Index]. ' Hand-blomeries ' {seep. 171) have also been found on Peterstow Common, and Roman coins and pottery are found in the beds of cinders, which are in some places from 12 ft. to 20 ft. thick [Arch. Journ. loc. cit.]. One coin of Philip (a.d. 244-9) is recorded [Wright, loc. cit.]. PuTLEY. — In 1876 a large collection of Roman remains was exhibited, found shortly before in excava- ting the foundation of the north wall of Putley Church. It was conjectured that they were removed from the site of a Roman villa when the church was built. They consisted of a lump of burnt clay, and several flue-roof and flanged tiles ; some of these tiles showed the impressions of a cat's feet, others thumb-markings, others the print of a sandal, and others again the marks of woven cloth. The marks on the last-named, seen distinctly on one specimen, gave rise to a theory advanced at the time by Mr. Grover that it was the custom to wrap a corpse in cloth and pour plaster-of-Paris round it ; portions of plaster with the marks of the strands of the linen have been occasionally found on Roman sites, and similar marks of woven cloth are said to have been found at York [Journ. Brit. Arch. Assoc, xxxii, 250 ; Duncumb, op. cit. iii, 97 ; Arch. Surv. Index ; Arch. Journ. xxxiv, 363 ; Woolhope Club Trans. 1882, p. 258]. In 1877 Mr. Riley found a wall, roof-tiles, and pottery on his estate, which probably confirm the theory of a villa ; but its exact site has not been discovered [Arch. Journ. xxxiv, 364]. Ross. — A copper coin of Trajan ' in excellent preservation and of considerable beauty ' was found in 1804 ; on the reverse was a horseman striking down his foe. Other coins found here seem to have come from Ariconium [Brayley and Britton, Beauties of Engl, and Wales, vi 508 ; Arch. Surv. Index]. I 193 25
