188 



Recent Roman Finds at Cirencester. 



Objects in Lead. 

 Roman vessels or ornaments of lead, or rather of pewter, for the 

 lead is alloyed with tin, are not common. But one addition has 

 been made to this series lately. In February, 1871, a medallion of 

 lead, having a small loop for suspension, was found in the New 

 Road. On one side is a horseman ; on the other a man spearing a 

 boar, while another animal not readily recognized appears to be in 

 pursuit of the boar. The edge of the medallion is smooth, but there 

 is a slight ornamentation within it. Roman medallions of this 

 kind, are, I believe, of excessive rarity, so far as English localities 

 are concerned. 



Roman Coins. 



Our Cirencester Museum contains very few coins, and those which 

 it possesses are not of much importance. The historians of Ciren- 

 cester have recorded the abundance of Roman money discovered in 

 the town ; they have also expressed their regret that no public 

 . collection of ancient coins found in this rich locality had been retained. 

 I fear that many gold pieces and a vast quantity of silver ones have 

 found their way to the melting-pot, and that a large number ofvaluable 

 coins found in Cirencester have left the town, and so their relation to 

 the place has been forgotten. I know that several inhabitants have 

 good specimens, sometimes even a fair collection ; I know also that 

 several such private hoards have been dispersed by auction, or carried 

 away to another part of the country. At all events all we now 

 possess is a series of poor specimens of Imperial third brass, a few 

 plated and silver coins of little value, and the set of second brass 

 found at Latton, near Cricklade, and deposited in the Museum by 

 Earl St. Germans. Added to these we have a considerable weight 

 of injured and illegible coins, from which those worthy of labels and 

 descriptions appear to have been removed. The collection of coins 

 presented to the Museum by Mr. Gr. F. Newmarch, was not in the 

 building when I assumed the Honorary Curatorship : it would have 

 formed a good nucleus. 



It may be asked, What has been done to remedy this state of 

 things ? I have tried my best to recover some of these wandering 

 treasures. At the sale of Mr. Purneirs collection, I was fortunate 



