A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



(Beds.), near Dorchester (Oxon.),and near Abingdon. The last-named 

 specimen is now in the cabinet of Sir John Evans, K.C.B., who writes 

 of it : ' The horseman on the obverse appears to be intended for a 

 British warrior, who is armed in the same manner as the horseman on 

 the coins of Tasciovanus, Plate VIII, Nos. 6, 7 and 8, though not 

 wearing a cuirass. The shield is disproportionately large, even larger 

 than on the silver coin, Plate VI, No. 2. The military figure on the 

 reverse must, I think, be regarded as a British foot-soldier, accoutred to 

 a great extent in the Roman fashion, and not, as Ruding suggests, a 

 Roman soldier. 1 



A gold coin, inscribed (obv.) CAM[V], and (rev.) CVN, one of the 

 commonest types of the small gold coins of Cunobeline, was found in 

 the neighbourhood of Newbury. It has on the obverse an ear of corn, and 

 on the reverse the figure of a horse. At Wallingford several inscribed 

 coins have been found, including a gold coin inscribed BODVOC. 

 another gold coin inscribed TED ( = ANTEDRIUGS), another inscribed 

 EPPI COM, and yet another inscribed TASCIO. 



At Brightwell was found a gold coin inscribed CA-M on the 

 obverse and CV on the reverse, indicating that the coin was struck at 

 Colchester, by Cunobelinus. In these inscribed coins, which are later 

 than the invasion by Julius Caesar, we are treading on the skirts of 

 history. 



Gold coins bearing no inscription, and presumably older than the 

 above, have been discovered at various places, including Hagbourne 

 (West), Hampstead Norris,' Maidenhead, Ruscombe, Waltham St. 

 Lawrence and Wantage. 3 A silver coin was obtained from Letcombe 

 Regis. A copper coin, having on the obv. a cruciform ornament, and 

 on the rev. a boar running, was found at Reading, and is in the Read- 

 ing Museum.* 



ANCIENT ROADS 



The ancient road known as Icknield or Ickleton Street, and 

 also as the Ridgeway, which runs through a considerable tract of 

 Berkshire, presents features in its construction and laying out which 

 closely belong to pre-Roman times. 6 The course of the road is some- 

 what irregular, but generally follows the high ground of the chalk-hills. 

 It is well seen between Wayland Smith's Cave and Uffington Castle, 

 where it has a considerable breadth, the surface being slightly convex 

 and grass-covered, and each side is flanked by a continuous mound of 

 earth some 3 feet or more in height. This ancient roadway seems to 

 run also on the Oxfordshire side ot the Thames in a north-easterly 



> Evans, Coins, 329-30. 



* This coin is in the Reading Museum. The reverse represents a horse with a tripartite tail, beneath 

 which is an oval object. Under the horse is a wheel. It resembles the Ruscombe and Maidenhead 

 type figured by Evans (PL B, No. 9). Above the horse is a bird-like object or an ornament. Owing 

 to the metal being smaller than the die, these examples show different details of the design. 



3 See Evans, Coins, 65, 67. The type is figured in Evans, Coins, PI. VIII, 5. 



Codrington, Roman Roads in Britain (and ed. 1905), 230. 



192 



