A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE
A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE (Beds.), near Dorchester (Oxon.),and near Abingdon. The last-named specimen is now in the cabinet of Sir John Evans, K.C.B., who writes of it : ' The horseman on the obverse appears to be intended for a British warrior, who is armed in the same manner as the horseman on the coins of Tasciovanus, Plate VIII, Nos. 6, 7 and 8, though not wearing a cuirass. The shield is disproportionately large, even larger than on the silver coin, Plate VI, No. 2. The military figure on the reverse must, I think, be regarded as a British foot-soldier, accoutred to a great extent in the Roman fashion, and not, as Ruding suggests, a Roman soldier. 1 A gold coin, inscribed (obv.) CAM[V], and (rev.) CVN, one of the commonest types of the small gold coins of Cunobeline, was found in the neighbourhood of Newbury. It has on the obverse an ear of corn, and on the reverse the figure of a horse. At Wallingford several inscribed coins have been found, including a gold coin inscribed BODVOC. another gold coin inscribed TED ( = ANTEDRIUGS), another inscribed EPPI COM, and yet another inscribed TASCIO. At Brightwell was found a gold coin inscribed CA-M on the obverse and CV on the reverse, indicating that the coin was struck at Colchester, by Cunobelinus. In these inscribed coins, which are later than the invasion by Julius Caesar, we are treading on the skirts of history. Gold coins bearing no inscription, and presumably older than the above, have been discovered at various places, including Hagbourne (West), Hampstead Norris,' Maidenhead, Ruscombe, Waltham St. Lawrence and Wantage. 3 A silver coin was obtained from Letcombe Regis. A copper coin, having on the obv. a cruciform ornament, and on the rev. a boar running, was found at Reading, and is in the Read- ing Museum.* ANCIENT ROADS The ancient road known as Icknield or Ickleton Street, and also as the Ridgeway, which runs through a considerable tract of Berkshire, presents features in its construction and laying out which closely belong to pre-Roman times. 6 The course of the road is some- what irregular, but generally follows the high ground of the chalk-hills. It is well seen between Wayland Smith's Cave and Uffington Castle, where it has a considerable breadth, the surface being slightly convex and grass-covered, and each side is flanked by a continuous mound of earth some 3 feet or more in height. This ancient roadway seems to run also on the Oxfordshire side ot the Thames in a north-easterly > Evans, Coins, 329-30.
- This coin is in the Reading Museum. The reverse represents a horse with a tripartite tail, beneath
which is an oval object. Under the horse is a wheel. It resembles the Ruscombe and Maidenhead type figured by Evans (PL B, No. 9). Above the horse is a bird-like object or an ornament. Owing to the metal being smaller than the die, these examples show different details of the design. 3 See Evans, Coins, 65, 67. The type is figured in Evans, Coins, PI. VIII, 5. Codrington, Roman Roads in Britain (and ed. 1905), 230. 192
