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A small domestic Roman altar was found some years since in the moat of the 
Castle Green, at Hereford, which was also probably brought from Magna. It 
consists of a single stone, the corners being carved into plain round columns, with 
simple mouldings above and below. The stone is very heavy and seems to be a 
sandstone conglomerate. It stands 17in. high, and is 7in. broad by 5in. deep. 
The small columns in strong relief are 9in. high, and those in front would seem to 
have been polished. Above the columns in front, and at the sides, are the re- 
mains of a floriated wreath. It is without an inscription. This altar has also 
been presented by Mr. Cam to the Hereford Museum, where it is now to be seen. 
One other Roman altar has been found in the county. About the year 1837 it 
was discovered by Mr. Charles Bailey, F.S.A., at Tretire; it had been cut 
into the shape of a font, and was used as a font in the parish church for many 
years. It is over 29in. in height, by 16in. in breadth, and contains the remains of 
an inscription as follows :— 
DEO TRIVII. 
BELLICVS. DON 
AVIT ARAM. 
Modern Antiquaries (including Professor Hiibner, of Berlin) read this in- 
scription as Deo Trivii Bellicus donavit aram—‘‘ To the God of the three ways 
Bellicus gave this altar;” and no doubt three ways or roads converged on the 
spot where the altar was first set up. Mr. Thomas Wright, however, with Mr. 
Thompson Watkins, and Dr. McCaul, have expressed some doubt as to whether 
it might not be an early Christian inscription reading DEO TRIVI; but, at the 
same time, Mr. Watkins states ‘‘ that it is scarcely probable that any Christian in 
that period would erect an altar ‘to the Triune God.’” This altar* remains at this 
time in the vestry of the church at Tretire. 
In the church of Kenchester, to this day, a portion of a Roman pillar hollowed 
out at the upper end, serves as the font. Mr. Thompson Watkins states that 
Mr. Soden Smith exhibited at the Institute, on December 4th, 1874, a Roman 
bronze ring, with an original intaglio on glass plate, in imitation of niccolo 
onyx, from Magna; and, also, that in 1829 a small bronze image of Hermes was 
found in excavating ground in the city of Hereford, which was probably a Lar. 
The Hereford museum also contains a fibula, some pottery, and a Roman brick 
taken from the bed of the river Wye, near the weir, by the Rev. H. Cooper Key. 
The Roman road from Kenchester crossed the river here, in a direct line with the 
Stony Street road which goes through Madley. Some portions of the stone abut- 
ments of the Roman bridge still remain, and in the bed of the river below there is 
still a quantity of worked stones to be found. 
*The late Rev. T. W. Webb wrote (1885) to Mr. H. C. Moore :—‘‘ The Roman Altar was 
found by my father the Rev. John Webb, Rector of the parish of Tretire with Michaelchurch, at 
Michaelchurch,—I cannot recollect when, but probably anterior to 1837. The upper part, which 
had never been supposed to be a font, was standing at a cottage door near the Church, and was 
employed by the village Doctress for pounding her herbs. The lower part was found inside the 
W. end of the Church. No one knew where cither portion came from. The fact that it had never 
been used as a font is sufficiently apparent from the great antiquity of the massive old font in the 
Church of Michaelchurch, which bears a Norman, or possibly Saxon, ornament, of the rudest 
character.” 
