366 



IV. — Tlie Inscribed Roman Stone at St. Hilary . — By C. Barham, 

 M.D., Cantai., Vice-President Royal Institution of Cornwall. 



THIS inscribed stone may be justly considered the most import- 

 ant monument of the sort liitherto found in this county. It 

 is valuable as one of only four or five such, monuments of the same 

 Emperor found in Great Britain f^ especially interesting as being 

 the only record yet discovered in Cornwall, and that a dated one, 

 of settled occupation of our western district by Imperial Rome ; 

 and, perhaps, still more interesting from its character as a mile- 

 stone, and the inferences to be drawn from it, of which I shall 

 say something presently. These circumstances may excuse my 

 occupying your attention in its consideration at rather greater 

 length than would be usually warranted. '' On the 25th March 

 (Lady-day, 1853, which was also Good Friday), the church of 

 St. Hilary was burnt down, the fire having been occasioned by 

 the corroded state of the pipes near the stove. In the course of 

 the following year, on digging up the foundation, a slab of granite, 

 about seven feet long and two feet broad, was found, with an in- 

 scription on the under side. It had been used as a foundation 

 stone in the north wall of the chancel. The letters have been 

 obliterated in many places by weathering : it is, therefore, diffi- 

 cult, if not impossible, to restore the inscription with certainty." 

 Such is the account communicated by the late Canon Rogers to 

 the Archaeological Institute on the 1st June, 1855; and it is 

 followed by the reading of the inscription agreed upon by him 

 in conjunction with two excellent antiquaries. Dr. Collingwood 

 Bruce and the late Mr. Albert "Way. This reading is here shewn, 



* Prof. Hiibner enumerates forty of these miliary stones found in Britain, 

 distributed among eighteen Emperors, from Hadrian to Constantine the younger. 



