Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/213

REMAINS OF THE ANGLO-KOMAN AGE. 117 field, particularly about the coyns found in it. There was a youth with them, who told me that a great many little pieces of money had been plough'd up in this field, and a many pretty things (says he) besides. I ask'd him where any of them might be seen ; he said at Mr. Nevill's of Billingbeare. I am apt to think that some of the pretty things he mention'd might be tessclla) of some Roman pave- ment. My great friend, Francis Cherry, Esq., had many coyns found in this field, one of which was a silver one of Amyntas, and this I have published in Leland's Itinerary.' " ^ Thus then, it appears, that while Castle Acre is apphed solely to the portion of ground containing the remains, the name of Weycock comprehends the whole field, and as the former word is e^ddently derived from the foundations there deposited, we must next explain the meaning of the latter appellation. According to Hearnc it may be traced to the Saxon " Wa3g Coppc," the " road on the hills," which he considers a more probable derivation than his first conjec- ture, that it might be taken from " Wig-stow," a place of encampment or fort ; the former certainly appears to be a more satisfactory interpretation of the term, and in ac- cordance, as Hearne remarks, with the natural position of the site.' A few additional particulars may be gleaned from the Berkshire collections, and answers to queries regarding the parochial history of that county, circulated by Mr. E. Rowe Mores, in 1737, and preserved in the fourth volume of the Bibliotheca Topographica. The following notes given in that valuable work may be cited, in addition to what has already been stated. " Waltham St. Laurence. — There was a considerable Roman fort in the neighbourhood of this place. It stood in a field called Weycock Highrood. This is a very spacious common field, appearing to contain about 150 a(3res. It is entirely open and free from trees. The fortress was built on the highest part of it, where there is a pretty large piece of very level ground, and a very delight- ful spot, commanding a distant view of Windsor Castle, and a large extent of country towards the east, south and south- west. The site of the fortress goes at this day by the name " See two representations of this coin in the Memoirs, above cited ; and his cor- diig up at Weycock, Leland's Itin., vol. v., rections in Leland's Itin., vol. i., p. xii.; p. lo7, edit. I7f>.'*. vol. v., p. r>. <■ See Hearne's " Letter," as first given VOL. VI. R