by others, he observes, " But another equally good pleads in 

 favour of Trajectus, and this is — Brigstow ; the ancient name of 

 Bristol, has nearly the same meaning with Trajectus. Brigstow 

 plainly points out to us a bridge or passage over a river." 

 The early gi'owth of Bristol is very obscure. It comes before 

 us first in Saxon times. In the bridge of Athelstan we have 

 the first historical proof of its existence. (See Seyer, p. 243.) 

 But Roman coins have been found in and around Bristol, 

 in 1750 at St. Michaels Hill, in 1808 in Bell Lane, and in 1866 

 two pigs of lead bearing the Roman stamp, one of which is 

 now in the British Museum, and the other in a private col- 

 lection in Bristol These are described in the "Archaeo- 

 logical Journal," vol xxiii., p. 277. They were found in Wade 

 Street, in the ancient course of the river Frome, and bore the 

 stamp of the Emperor Antoninus Pius. 



Bristol would not agree with the numbers given in the 

 Antonine " Itinerary " any more than Sea Mills. We see, 

 therefore, the difficulty of fixing the exact point of the 

 stations in this portion of the Iter. We are certain of the 

 direction, we can trace the road at certain points. Its course 

 has been ascertained in part to correspond with that of the 

 present turnpike beyond Bitton. We know that there was a 

 station there, as well as at Sea Mills and at Elberton, but 

 we can make neither names nor distances agree. On the whole, 

 I am inclined with Dr. Gale and others to reverse the sta- 

 tions of Abone and Trajectus, and fix Trajectus at Sea Mills and 

 Abone at Bitton ; and seeing that Wesselin, in his notes to his 

 edition of the Antonine " Itinerary," calls it " Yitiosissimus 

 Liber," we may be allowed to take some hberty in the altera- 

 tion of the numerals. 



I mil now go on to detail that portion where the course hasbeen 

 less interrupted, and where distances and stations agree better. 



We have seen that the XIV Iter begins with Caerleon, 

 which was visited two years ago by the Field Club, under the 



