ROMANO-BRITISH 

 WORCESTERSHIRE' 



I. Introductory. 2. Places of Settled Occupation: Worcester. 3. Other Settled Sites: 

 Droitwich, etc. 4. Roads. 5. Miscellaneous : the Cleeve Prior Hoard. 6. Index. 



1. Introductory Sketch 



THE expression Romano-British Worcestershire is, speaking 

 strictly, a contradiction in terms. When the Romans ruled 

 our island, neither Worcestershire nor any other of our counties 

 was yet in existence, nor was the province of Britain divided 

 up into any districts geographically coinciding with them. Neither the 

 boundaries of the Celtic tribes nor those of the Roman administrative 

 areas, so far as we know them, agree with our existing county boundaries, 

 and students of the Roman remains found in any one county have to deal 

 with a division of land which for their purposes is accidental and arbitrary. 

 Worcestershire therefore, to the archsologist concerned with the Roman 

 period, is merely a meaningless area devoid of unity. He can describe 

 it but he must not attempt, and he is not able to write anything like a 

 real history of it. This fact makes it desirable in the following paragraphs 

 to diverge a little from the plan followed by most county historians in 

 dealing with the Roman antiquities of the county described. Hitherto 

 it has been customary to give a narrative of the chief events recorded by 

 ancient writers as having occurred in Britain, and to point out which of 

 these events took place, or may be imagined to have taken place, within 

 the county. The result is always to give an impression that somehow 

 the county had in Roman times some sort of local individuality and local 

 history. We shall here adopt a different plan, suggested by the recent 

 developments of topographical research. Utilizing the abundant archaeo- 

 logical evidence, which is now far better known and appreciated than it 

 was a hundred years ago, we shall try first to sketch briefly the general 

 character of the Roman province in Britain, its military, social and 

 economic features. We shall then point out in some detail how far the 



1 For the following article I have searched most of the literature and, so far as I could, have visited 

 the chief museums and sites. I am especially indebted to a volume on the Antiquilies of Worcestershire, 

 by Mr. Jabez Allies (ed. 2, 1852) though I cannot invariably accept his conclusions. I have also to 

 thank various helpers : Mr. W. H. Stevenson, Mr. R. P. L. Booker, Mr. John Amphlett of Clent, 

 Mr. R. F. Tomes, the Rev. J. H. Bloom of Whitchurch, Dr. Cuthbertson of Droitwich, Mr. W. H. 

 Edwards of Worcester Museum, Mr. J. W. Willis-Bund, and others named below. I have further 

 consulted Prattinton's MSS. preserved by the Society of Antiquaries in London, but without much profit 



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