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 ROMANO-BRITISH WORCESTERSHIRE' I. Introductory. 2. Places of Settled Occupation: Worcester. 3. Other Settled Sites: Droitwich, etc. 4. Roads. 5. Miscellaneous : the Cleeve Prior Hoard. 6. Index. 1. Introductory Sketch THE expression Romano-British Worcestershire is, speaking strictly, a contradiction in terms. When the Romans ruled our island, neither Worcestershire nor any other of our counties was yet in existence, nor was the province of Britain divided up into any districts geographically coinciding with them. Neither the boundaries of the Celtic tribes nor those of the Roman administrative areas, so far as we know them, agree with our existing county boundaries, and students of the Roman remains found in any one county have to deal with a division of land which for their purposes is accidental and arbitrary. Worcestershire therefore, to the archsologist concerned with the Roman period, is merely a meaningless area devoid of unity. He can describe it but he must not attempt, and he is not able to write anything like a real history of it. This fact makes it desirable in the following paragraphs to diverge a little from the plan followed by most county historians in dealing with the Roman antiquities of the county described. Hitherto it has been customary to give a narrative of the chief events recorded by ancient writers as having occurred in Britain, and to point out which of these events took place, or may be imagined to have taken place, within the county. The result is always to give an impression that somehow the county had in Roman times some sort of local individuality and local history. We shall here adopt a different plan, suggested by the recent developments of topographical research. Utilizing the abundant archaeo- logical evidence, which is now far better known and appreciated than it was a hundred years ago, we shall try first to sketch briefly the general character of the Roman province in Britain, its military, social and economic features. We shall then point out in some detail how far the 1 For the following article I have searched most of the literature and, so far as I could, have visited the chief museums and sites. I am especially indebted to a volume on the Antiquilies of Worcestershire, by Mr. Jabez Allies (ed. 2, 1852) though I cannot invariably accept his conclusions. I have also to thank various helpers : Mr. W. H. Stevenson, Mr. R. P. L. Booker, Mr. John Amphlett of Clent, Mr. R. F. Tomes, the Rev. J. H. Bloom of Whitchurch, Dr. Cuthbertson of Droitwich, Mr. W. H. Edwards of Worcester Museum, Mr. J. W. Willis-Bund, and others named below. I have further consulted Prattinton's MSS. preserved by the Society of Antiquaries in London, but without much profit 199