Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/166

 11'8 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE. during the demolition of the Castle Hill at AVorcester, resembling this in its bitid point, but the head, which is not iDerlbrated, is formed of stone, or vitrified paste. " A large number of Roman brass coins have been found all along the line at Droitwich, some previously to, and others during the cuttings, parti- cularly in " Bays Meadow," and in that part called " The Vines," which is a high ridge, on the northern side of the river Salwarp, well exposed to the sun, and very suitable for a vineyards: possibly it may have been so used even by the Romans, or in later times by the brethren of the friary of St. Augustine, in Wich,or Doderhill, or by the prior and convent of Worcester, who possessed considerable property there ''. " The Roman coins which have been found at Droitwich amount to a con- siderable number. I have seen about fifty in the hands of different persons ; and among them were brass coins of Hadrian, Gallienus, Claudius H., several of Carausius, and Constantius. I have also examined a collection belonging to a gentleman, late of Droitwich, now resident at Worcester, which includes coins of Maximian, Carausius, Constantius, Licinius, Con- stantino, Crispus, Magnentius, Valens, and Gratian, and about sixteen others which I cannot decipher. He states that most of them were from time to time found at " The Vines," when that part was used as gardens. And it may be remarked, that on the side of an elevation called " Pigeon House Hill," by Longbridge, at tlie north end of Bromsgrove Lickey, which is on or near the supposed line of the Upper Saltway from Droitwich to Birmingham, seventeen Roman coins were found, now in the possession of the same gentleman, and I have identified the following: Claudius II., Dioclesian, Maximian, Constantius, Constantino, and one on which may be read, Constantinopolis. " From all these facts we now have abundant evidence of Roman occu- pation at Droitwich, which heretofore had been only matter of conjecture. Dr. Nash remarks, in his account of Droitwich, ' This town was probably known to the Romans. In the Map published by Mr. Bertram of Copen- hagen, and prefixed to the ' Britannicarum gentium historian antiquse scrip- tores,' it is noticed by the name of SaliiKe, though some imagine the Saline of the ancients means Sandy, or Salndy, in Bedfordshire, or perhaps some of the Lancashire or Cheshire Wiches'.' " The question remains for investigation, whether the salt springs at Droit- wich were known to, and worked by, the ancient Britons. Although we have not as yet found any relics in proof that they were, yet it may be Castle Hill is figured in Mr. Allies' Anti- Nash's notice of the above-mentioned quitics, p. 84'. place, called " the Vines," in his History s It is stated that formerly it had of Worcestershire, vol. i. p. 307. The several terraces running along it one subject of the culture of the vine in Britain above another. is discussed at length in the papers by ^ There are a great many fields and I'egge and Daines Barrington, Archas- other places in Worcestershire called l)y ologia, vol. i. p. .'521 ; vol. iii. p. 67. the name of " vineyard," and it has been ' History of Worcestershire, vol. i. p. supposed by some writers that the Romans 302. planted vineyards in Britain. See Dr.