&nb
sp;                                               Date
     Aldintone, Charter of the Kings Kenred and Offa,
       possessions of Evesham Abbey 709

Aldingtone }
Aldintun } Domesday Survey circ. 1086
Aldintona }

Aldringtona, An Adjudication; Evesham Abbey 1176

Aldetone, Institutes of Abbot Randulf, died 1229

     Awnton, Will of Richard Yardley of Awnton 1531

     Aunton, Churchwardens accounts 1527 to 1571

     Anton, Old MS.  “A Bill for ye Constable” 1715

     Alne or Auln, Villagers present day

As parallels of the local persistence of old names, the neighbouring village of Wickhamford (present-day name) is still called Wicwon by the villagers, the same name under which it appears in the Charter of the Abbey possessions in 709.  And the Celtic London still persists in spite of the Roman attempt to confer upon it the grander name of Augusta.

The disappearance of anything in the shape of foundations of former buildings is accounted for by the fact that the whole area was quarried many years ago for the building stone and limestone beneath, and 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: