33 
N 
0 
Aoman Aemaing found at PHolburp, neae Denn, 
By the Rey. G. S. Masrrr, M.A. 
Read before the Society at Wilton, September 14th, 1870. 
(=o HE vestiges of Roman occupation, within the area over which 
ef y; the operations of our Society are extended, are neither so 
numerous nor so frequently brought to light, as to make it desirable 
to pass over, without at all events placing it upon record, any fresh 
discovery, however insignificant in itself, which may contribute an 
additional item to the very limited stock of local knowledge we 
already possess. 
I am inclined however to think that Roman Antiquities have not 
received, in this southern division of our county, the attention which 
they deserve, and that more diligent investigation and inquiry 
would reveal many, whose existence is unsuspected, or whose details 
have never been explored. My own field of observation has been 
hitherto a very limited one, confined in fact to the immediate locality 
in which I reside. My parish of West Dean occupies a central 
position in the wooded basin or valley, which, underlying the chalk 
ridge of Dean Hill, and traversed by the railway from Salisbury to 
Romsey, extends from the heights of Alderbury on the west, to the 
Test river on the east. Within those boundaries I can trace a chain 
of Roman villas or buildings, the existence of which is the more 
remarkable, because the valley is, (or was, until the Railway wag 
opened), a secluded one, no highway of importance passing through 
it, and the nearest Roman road, that from Old Sarum to Winches- 
ter, lying away some few miles to the north. Nevertheless, for 
some reason or other, perhaps the salubrity of its climate (it is 
one of the driest of Wiltshire valleys), perhaps the facilities it 
afforded for hunting, (it seems to have been always forest), or its 
_ easy access to the sea at Southampton,—it was evidently a favorite 
locality in Roman times. 
VOL. XIII.—NO,. XXXVI. ; D 
