33 



ON 



omau Remains fomib at polhrg, neat* Jean. 



By the Rev. G. S. Master, M.A. 



Read before the Society at Wilton, September 14th, 1870. 



gHE vestiges of Roman occupation, within the area over which 

 the operations of our Society are extended, are neither so 

 numerous nor so frequently brought to light, as to make it desirable 

 to pass over, without at all events placing it upon record, any fresh 

 discovery, however insignificant in itself, which may contribute an 

 additional item to the very limited stock of local knowledge we 

 already possess. 



I am inclined however to think that Roman Antiquities have not 

 received, in this southern division of our county, the attention which 

 they deserve, and that more diligent investigation and inquiry 

 would reveal many, whose existence is unsuspected, or whose details 

 have never been explored. My own field of observation has been 

 hitherto a very limited one, confined in fact to the immediate locality 

 in which I reside. My parish of West Dean occupies a central 

 position in the wooded basin or valley, which, underlying the chalk 

 ridge of Dean Hill, and traversed by the railway from Salisbury to 

 Romsey, extends from the heights of Alderbury on the west, to the 

 Test river on the east. Within those boundaries I can trace a chain 

 of Roman villas or buildings, the existence of which is the more 

 remarkable, because the valley is, (or was, until the Railway was 

 opened), a secluded one, no highway of importance passing through 

 it, and the nearest Roman road, that from Old Sarum to Winches- 

 ter, lying away some few miles to the north. Nevertheless, for 

 some reason or other, perhaps the salubrity of its climate (it is 

 one of the driest of Wiltshire valleys), perhaps the facilities it 

 afforded for hunting, (it seems to have been always forest), or its 

 easy access to the sea at Southampton, — it was evidently a favorite 

 locality in Roman times. 



VOL. XIII. — NO. XXXVII. i> 



