162 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 



Table 1 : The Roman coins as absolute numbers and per mills 



Period 13 260-275 15 296-317 16 317-30 17 330-348 18 348-364 19 364-378 21 388-402 TOTAL 



No. of coins 



1 



3 



3 



Per mills 



21.27 



63.81 



63.81 



170.23 



5 

 106.37 



23 

 489.41 



4 

 85.10 



47 

 1000 



trends that underscore the very late Roman date 

 for activity on the site and complements the ceramic 

 and other evidence. 



The figures as expressed per mills show a 

 number of trends that can be directly related to 

 Wiltshire sites where there are exceptionally large 

 numbers of Valentinianic and later issues. The 

 assemblages from the county have been the subject 

 of a major review by Moorhead (2001) and full 

 details will be found there. The high Valentinianic 

 (489.41 per mills) figure is part of a trend seen 

 across the west of Britain (ibid), where the Wiltshire 

 average is 218.2 per mills against the national 

 average of 1 1 8 per mills. The Theodosian issues, at 

 85.10 per mills, are well above the British average 

 of 50.25. There can be little doubt that Wayside 

 Farm was still actively attracting coinage, and using 

 it, into the early 5th century - an observation backed 

 by the ceramics and other finds. 



The character of the coin use and loss is a little 

 more difficult to assess and the dominance of the 

 Valentinianic phase is exceptionally high, even by 

 Wiltshire standards (Moorhead 2001, 90-5). Issues 

 of the preceding periods 17-18 score 276.6 per 

 mills, a figure very close to the Wiltshire average of 

 280.5 per mills (ibid, 90). The higher values for the 

 Valentinianic issues can, in general terms, be 

 compared with a number of local sites where a 

 religious function is known or suspected. These 

 include Colerne Mounds, Silbury Ditch, Castle 

 Combe and Urchfont (ibid, table 2,91). However, 

 substantial rural settlements where a religious 

 function has not been demonstrated also show high 

 figures, including Butterfield Down, Euridge and 

 Charlton Down (ibid) . Given the evidence of the 

 other artefacts it is possible that the Wayside Farm 

 assemblage represents a religious deposit but this 

 cannot be confirmed purely on numismatic 

 grounds. 



THE CATALOGUE 



Con- SF Coin description 

 period. 



text No. 



4205 233 AR Iron Age coin. Fragmentary. 



Ref. and mint 



Corio Head Type 



Class B. c30-15BC.0.95gm. 



See discussion. 



VA 1042-1 



Robinson 1977. 



4016 249 Ai Antoninianus Tetricus I 

 Obv. Radiate head right. 

 IMP C T[ETRICVS PF AVG] RIC 87 

 Rev. Laetitia AD 270-3 



[LAETITIA AVG]. 



Area 2 203 



ext. 



AL Follis Constantius I RIC 1 6 



Obv. Head right. AD 297-305 



CONSTANTIVS NOB C 



Rev. Genius standing left. 



[GEN]IO PO[PVLI ROMANI] 



Mint mark: blank-attributed to London 



4255 263 



Ai 3 Constantine I 

 Obv. Head right. 



As RIC 15 

 AD 313-17 



IMP CONSTANTINVS PF AVG 

 Rev. Sol standing left. 

 [SOU INVICTO C]OMITI 

 Mint mark: Illegible 



4073 215 A^, 3 Constantine I 

 Obv. Head right. 

 CONSTANTINVS AVG 

 Rev. Sol standing left. 

 SOLI INVICTO 

 Mint mark: PTR Trier 



Not in RIC 

 cAD 3 1 6-7 



cAD 318-24 



4255 264 A. 3 PCrispus 



Heavily encrusted. 

 Obv. Head right. 

 [ ]NOB[] 

 Rev. Illegible. 

 Mint mark: Illegible 



4023 270 A. 3 Constantine II as Caesar RIC 145 

 Obv. Head right. AD318 



FL CL CONSTANTINVS IVN N C 

 Rev. Sol standing left. 

 [SOLI IN]VICTO COMITI 

 Mint mark: PLN London 



Area 2 

 ext. 



205 



Ai 3 Constantine I 

 Obv. Head right. 

 CONSTANTINVS AVG 

 Camp gate. 



PROVIDENTIAE AVGG 

 Mint mark: PTR Trier 

 4006 185 A, 3. Obv. Helmeted bust 

 of Roma left. 

 VRBS ROMA 

 Rev. Wolf suckling twins. 

 Mint mark: SCONS* Aries. 



HK 12 

 AD 324-30 



HK355 

 AD 330-5 



