ROMANO-BRITISH WORCESTERSHIRE well belong to the first century. There were also some foundations and a quoined well which, being beneath the mound, may be of Roman date. A few Roman objects seem also to have occurred in the earth of the mound itself, and were doubtless scraped up with that earth when the mound was built.^ The accompanying illustration (fig. 3) shows some of the remains. (8) South of this but near it, 200 yards west of the Porcelain ■ Works and near the Severn bank in Diglis, Samian and other coarser pottery, two bronze coins of Domitian, a bronze armilla, fluetiles, a structure taken to be a kiln, and some burnt bones which were thought not to be human, were found in i860. At the same date Samian and other sherds, amphorae, pelves and the like, and some bits of glass were noted in the course of some repairs at the Cathedral south of the Lady chapel. Samian and other fragments have also been found at St. Alban's Home in the same vicinity.^ Mr. AlHes also mentions an urn with thirty coins of Carausius as found near this in Upper Deal. (9) A little further south, Roman pottery, a coin of Marcus and animals' bones were discovered at a depth of 30 feet, when the Severn Navigation Canal lock was constructed at Diglis in 1843. Presumably the spot had in Roman days been water or soft marsh and had since silted up.^ (10) Finally a puzzling find was made on the south-east side of the town, beside the London road and opposite Fort Royal, in 1843. This was an underground chamber, roughly 10 feet square, dug out of solid marl, faced or walled with bricks and tiles in alternate courses, and paved with brick. The covering of the structure had fallen in long before it was unearthed, and the interior was filled with tile and brick debris. The walls and floor show distinct marks of heat and smoke, and the whole was taken to be a hypocaust, but if one may judge from the accounts which have been preserved, neither the age nor the character of the remains is quite clear. A little way off a few coins of the third century were found at the same time (Severus Alexander — Tetricus), and near by though quite distinct a bronze coin of Domitian was found at Lark Hill Crescent." This is not altogether a satisfactory list. We cannot feel sure that all its items date from the Roman period, and even if we assume that, we cannot point out in it one single recognizable trace of any definite kind of building public or private. Still the number and character of the certain and probable items is significant, and we seem to be justified in assuming that some small country town or village occupied the site of Worcester in Roman times. The comparative frequency of first and second-century coins suggests further that this town or village was 1 Allies, p. 15 ; Gentleman's Magazine, 1834, '• 9^ ; Dunkin's Re/iort of the British Anhaol. Assoc. Meeting at Worcester, p. 35 ; remains in Worcester Museum. 2 R. W. Binns, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, i. (i860) 148, and A Century of Potting in Worcester, p. 184 ; remains in the Porcelain Works Museum and from St. Alban's Home in the Worcester Museum ; Catalogue of the Museum, Archasol. Institute Meeting at Worcester, 1 862, p. 7. 3 Allies, p. 28. * Allies, p. 23, and for the coin of Domitian, p. 5. 207
