The Roman Wall / A historical, topographical, and descriptive account of the barrier of the lower isthmus, extending from the Tyne to the Solway, deduced from numerous personal surveys

by J. Collingwood Bruce

COINS.

Ample use has already been made of this source of information in the first Part of this work. Why is it that Britain neglects this means of rousing the spirit of her people, of communicating information, and of securing an almost imperishable memorial of her mighty acts? Had she recorded upon her coinage the events of the last half-century, she would have transmitted to posterity the memory of a series of warlike achievements and peaceful triumphs unparalleled in extent and unequalled in glory. As it is, our metallic currency has little value beyond its commercial worth, and generation after generation is compelled to contemplate, with what complacency they may, the same lady sitting immoveably upon the same enduring rock, and the same mounted knight making his interminable attempt to slay the same deathless dragon. The immense number of the coins found upon the line of the Wall, and the extension of the series from the earliest periods down to the time of Honorius, prove incontestibly the length of time that the Romans maintained their hold of this isthmus. The accidental loss of pieces of money will not, alone, account for the large quantity which has been found. In times of danger the possessors of treasure seem to have been in the habit of concealing it in the earth; the secret of their having done so must often have perished with them. In excavating that portion of the station of Cilurnum which was opened in 1843, not fewer than seventy Roman coins were found. In 1833, near the west gateway of Vindolana, three hundred small brass coins, mostly of Constantius and Mangentius, were found, not in a heap or vessel, but dispersed among the soil. The Rev. John Walton, who, about a century ago was vicar of Corbridge, made a considerable collection of Roman coins, by purchasing such as were turned up in the neighbouring station of Corchester. The following circumstance is related concerning him. A party of Jews having established in the neighbourhood a prussian-blue manufactory, felt disposed to enter the market with the vicar. Mr. Walton, unwilling to compete with them by offering a larger price, had the fields where the coins were found, strewed with imitations of the genuine pieces. These, on being picked up, were freely bought by the Jews, who, soon finding the trade a losing one, abandoned it altogether.

The station, notwithstanding such systematic gleaning, is not yet deprived of its treasures. Not long ago, a rustic eked out a livelihood by searching for its coins, and disposing of them to occasional customers. The other day a plough-boy being asked if he had found any lately, produced straight-way from his pocket not less than thirty, most of them, indeed, highly corroded.

The coinage of Rome seems to have continued in circulation in the north of England for a very short time after the departure of the Roman forces from Britain. Saxon money is found in Northumberland of a date coeval with the arrival of that people, but is never mingled with the Roman coinage. The coins of the Romans, on the other hand, are never accompanied by those of their successors. Within about forty years after the departure of the Romans, the circulation of the imperial coinage seems to have ceased. This circumstance proves incontestibly that a mighty political revolution had taken place in the interval. The present appearance of the stations corroborates the idea. The walls have been forcibly thrown down, the statues and other objects within them purposely mutilated, and the whole inclosure rendered, as far as possible unfit for human habitation.

THORNGRAFTON COINS.

To attempt a description of even the principal coins that can still be ascertained to have been procured from the district of the Wall, would be to compose a treatise upon numismatics. It will perhaps be sufficient to lay before the reader a brief

account of the hoard which was discovered in 1837, in an ancient quarry near Thorngrafton. The coins, sixty-five in number, were contained in a small skiff-shaped receptacle with a circular handle. The vessel represented in the adjoining wood-cut is about six inches long; the lid has a hinge at one end, and fastens with a spring at the other. The coins are at present in the possession of the brother of the quarryman who discovered them, and he holds them with such tenacity, that my artist was refused permission to see even the case which contained them, though he had taken a journey of thirty miles for the purpose of drawing them. Mr. Fairless, of Hexham, was more fortunate, and obtained leave to take sealing-wax impressions of the coins, from which the wood-cuts have been prepared. I am indebted to Mr. Fairless for the description of the coins, which he took from the pieces themselves.

GOLD.