A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



One important personage at that period reigning over a part of 

 Britain was Commios. He appears to have had three sons, viz., Tin- 

 commios, who was king of the Regni, a tract practically answering to 

 the present county of Sussex ; Verica, whose sway was over the eastern 

 part of the Attrebates ; and Eppillos, who ruled over Kent. Tincommios 

 was king of the Regni about the time of Julius Cassar, and from the 

 number of his coins found in Sussex it may be inferred that he was a 

 very important king. Examples have been found at Aldwick, Alfriston, 

 Bognor, Bramber, East Wittering, Lancing Downs, Pallant, and Steyning. 

 Coins of Verica have been obtained from Bognor, East and West Witter- 

 ing, Lancing Downs, Pagham, Shoreham, Steyning. 



Other important discoveries were a coin inscribed Commios found 

 at Hastings about the year 1872, and a gold-plated copper coin inscribed 

 TFSc (doubtless a shortened form of Tasciovannus) found at Brighton 

 and now in the collection of Mr. Henry Willett. 



Important hoards of British coins have been found at Ashdown 

 Forest, Battle, Bognor, and Lancing Downs ; whilst along the sea-shore 

 at Selsey large numbers of coins have been picked up, the collection of 

 the late Mr. E. H. Willett alone comprising nearly three hundred 

 examples from this district. 



For further details respecting the ancient British coins found in 

 Sussex, the reader may be referred to the papers on the subject by Mr. 

 E. H. Willett in the Sussex Archceological Collections^ vols. xxix. and 

 XXX. ; Sir John Evans's well-known work on the Coins of the Ancient 

 Britons, and Supplement, and some of the volumes of the Numismatic 

 Chronicle. 



Miscellaneous Antiquities 



In addition to the various objects already mentioned, which it is 

 possible to assign to a more or less definite period in prehistoric times, 

 there are one or two antiquities which may perhaps be most conveniently 

 treated in a separate group under what may be termed miscellaneous 

 antiquities. Some or all of them may possibly belong to a pre-Roman 

 period, but the evidence does not seem sufficiently strong to assign them 

 definitely to such an early time. On the other hand, it would be im- 

 possible, on the available data, to place them even approximately within 

 the historic period. 



The artificial caverns in the chalk at Hayes Down, Lavant, which 

 were examined in 1893-4 by Messrs. Charles Dawson ' and John Lewis, 

 are of considerable extent, and present many curious points of interest. 

 The excavations are of irregular form, but the accompanying plan, which 

 was made by Mr. Lewis, will show that whilst the supporting pillars 

 occupy a comparatively small space, the galleries, or chambers, are 

 large, indicating that the excavation was made for the sake of the 

 chalk or flint. The whole excavations are believed to cover an extent 



^ A paper on the subject was read by Mr. Dawson at a meeting of the Sussex Archaeological Society 

 at Chichester in 1893 (see Sussex Daily News, 12 Aug. 1893). 



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