Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/469

Rh There were likewise examples of all the prelatical coins of Edward I. and II., and of the first and second coinage of Henry III., and of the most early of Edward II. "On the whole," says a contemporary writer, "a finer museum of early English, Scotch, and Irish coins was never before, under any circumstance, opened to the inspection of the antiquary."

The nature of this numismatic conglomerate is seen in this small specimen, which I have fortunately rescued from destruction. It contains two silver coins of Edward I., so exposed as to show part of the effigy and superscription of the obverse.

The history of this accumulation of money, and consequently the age of the conglomerate, is clearly made out. In the reign of Edward II. (A.D. 1322), the forces of the Earl of Lancaster, then in open rebellion, being compelled to retreat from the royal army, crossed the Dove, which at that time was scarcely fordable, and in the haste and panic that prevailed, the military oak-chest, banded with iron, was sunk in the river. On the decay of the wooden chest, the coins it contained became intermingled with the gravel and sand; and the iron bands decomposing, supplied the cement by which the loose materials were converted into a ferruginous breccia, as hard and durable as the ancient conglomerates which contain the teeth and bones of species of animals that have long since been obliterated from the face of the earth.

In the Thames, beneath the superficial mud and silt, a layer of breccia or conglomerate, in which Roman coins and pottery are imbedded, is spread over many parts of the river channel. This concrete is composed of pebbles, sand and mud, consolidated by ferruginous infiltration. In this example, for which I am indebted to the liberality of Mr. Roach Smith, there are exposed the half of a denarius of Severus or Caracalla, and a small brass of Tetricus. I have also specimens