HOD HILL AND ITS STORY. 261 



lished probably as early as the reign of Claudius. From 

 the coins found in this camp, and which range from an- 

 cient British, through Augustus, Agrippa, Tiberius, Ger- 

 manicus, Nero and Drusus, Caligula and Claudius, up to 

 Trajan, as well as from other testimony, Mr R. Smith is 

 led to assert, that not the ' slightest evidence has been 

 afforded of the tenure of the camp at any period after the 

 Roman occupation of Britain.'' In iron, there have been 

 discovered numerous varieties of spear-heads, arrow-heads, 

 swords, the cheek-piece of a helmet, knives, agricultural 

 implements in great variety, bridle-bits, chains, and keys. 

 To the courtesy of Mr Durden, of Blandford, who 

 possesses this, and very many of the other Roman anti- 

 quities found in the castra, I am indebted for an in- 

 spection of the interesting shoe (fig. 98). That gentleman 

 writes to me as follows : 'It 

 was found within the Roman 

 castra on Hod Hill, about 

 three miles from Blandford, 

 associated with many do- 

 mestic articles of Roman 

 manufacture. The coins 

 hitherto found there belong 

 to the first century, and it 

 is presumed the shoe be- 

 longs to the same period.' Less primitive-looking than 

 some of our other specimens, especially those from Spring- 

 head and Silbury Hill, it yet belongs to the same type. 

 Its width is 3 j inches, length 4j-inches, and its breadth is a 



'■ Collectanea Aiitiqua, vol. vi. p. 10. 



