any surface stone would have been removed at the same time. One of
the fields still bears the name of the "Quar Ground," and the remains
of lime-kilns can be found in several places.
It is right to add that Blackbanks as the site of Antona was suggested
to me many years ago by the late Canon Winnington Ingram, Rector of
Harvington; in discussing the matter, however, we got no further than
the bare suggestion derived from the appearance of long habitation and
the occurrence of Roman coins and pottery in Blackbanks only, and
without reference to the much larger area of Blackminster. Canon
Winnington Ingram was not familiar with the place, and I had not
apprehended the importance of the track from the "Fish and Anchor" as
a salt way starting from Droitwich, nor was I aware of Salter Street,
its continuation after passing Blackbanks. Neither had I distinguished
between Buckle Street as the junction between Ryknield Street and the
Foss Way, and Ryknield Street itself as the direct road from the north
through Birmingham, Alcester, Bidford, Antona(?) Hinton, and
Gloucester.
Virgil, in his first _Georgic_, refers to the possible future
discovery of Roman remains, and Dryden translates the passage thus:
"Then after lapse of time, the lab'ring swains,
Who turn the turfs of these unhappy plains,
Shall rusty piles from the plough'd furrows take,
And over empty helmets pass the rake."
Such is almost prophetic of my Roman site to-day; little did Virgil
imagine that his lines would apply so nearly in Britain two thousand
years later.
A LIST OF THE COINS FOUND AND NAMES OF THE EMPERORS TO WHOSE REIGNS
THEY BELONG, WITH SHORT NOTES ON THE LEADING INCIDENTS IN CONNECTION
WITH BRITAIN WHICH OCCURRED IN THEIR REIGNS:
1. A Denarius, 88 B.C.
2. A Denarius, 88 B.C. plated. As consular denarii passed
out of circulation soon after A.D. 70, these two coins
suggest that the site was under Roman influence by that date
at the latest.
3. Claudius, Emperor (A.D. 41-54).
4. Nerva, Emperor (96-98).
5. Antoninus Pius, Emperor (138-161).
6. Marcus Aurelius, Emperor (161-180).
7. Severus Alexander, Emperor (222-235).
8. The Thirty Tyrants (211-284). Several coins of this
period, badly defaced.
9. Etruscilla, wife of Traianus Decius (249-251).
10. Gallienus, Emperor (253-268).
11. Postumus, Gallic E
|