Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/569

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. ;i99 discovered during the formation of the raUvvay. It was there that the fibula and three glass beads were found, which are now in the museum of the Institute.^ It was there also that the swords, spear-heads, knives, and bosses of shields, sent for exhibition at the meeting at Salisbury, by the Committee of the Hants County Museum, were found. In the same spot were also found many other pieces of armour and hclnujts, which I have been unable to trace ; besides numerous skeletons, urns, beads, and other objects. There can be little doubt, I think, that these remains mark the site of some skirmish or battle in early Saxon times ; a supposition whieli is corroborated by the existence of an entrenched camp, now called Nosbury Hings, at the distance of about a mile westward from the spot. The shape of this entrench- ment is singular, being almost that of a triangle, the base of which is towards the south, along the brow of a hill, about a mile north of the village of Stoke Charity ; the sides descend the northern slope of the hill. The entrench- ments at the sides are still very distinct, especially that on the east side, which has been protected by a hedge-row, which grows upon it. That on the south side has been ver' much worn down by the action of the plough. It would appear however that this entrenched camp had never been com- pleted ; for on the east side, wdiere the trench should have joined the southern side, not a trace of any work is to be seen for a considerable dis- tance. Can it be that the makers of this camp were suddenly attacked before their defences were completed, and driven out through this open space, which, it may be observed, is the part nearest to the spot in which the remains above-mentioned were discovered ? Possibly these may be the remains of some of the combatants who fell at such a time. Many more, indeed, may still rest concealed in the neighbourhood ; those which have been brought to light, were all found within a small space of ground, disturbed in the formation of the railway." The Eev. H. Longueville Jones, Local Secretary for North Wales, stated that he had lately found fragments of Roman tile, mortar, and other undeniable vestiges of Eoraan occupation in the fosse of an entrenched work at Mathyraval, or Mathraval, between Meifod and Llangynw, in Mont- gomeryshire. He considered that these remains, of which portions were sent for examination, might serve to establish the site of the station MEDIOLANUM, occm-ring in the second Iter of Antoninus, on the way from Uriconium to Segontium. The position of this station had been a subject of frequent discussion ; Camden supposed it to be at Llau Vylhin, about 3 miles from Mathraval, whilst Bishop Gibson places it at the village of Meivod, about a 'mile distant. Horsley, regarding the Mediolanum of the tenth Iter as the same station, fixed upon Draiton on Fern, Shropshire, as the site; whilst AVhitaker appears to fix it at AMiitchurch, in the same county. Other writers have preferred jliddle, also in Shropshire, as the position of Mediolanum ; no Koman remains of any importance had been discovered, to afford satisfactory indication of the true site ^. - Tlicsc .incicnt relics were kindly presentetl to the Institute by Mr. Gunner. 3 See Hoi-sley ; Wliitakcr's Hist. M.inch. Vol. i. p. 14!{; Reynold's Iter Britanniarum, p. 203 ; and Mr. Wrighte's Remarks in Archaologia, vol. xii, p. 90.