Roman Antiquities at Welshpool

Abstract

Circumstances of discovery. In August 1959 workmen laying a drain on the north side of the cattle-market (the Smithfield) at Welshpool, Montgomeryshire, discovered a number of Roman objects. The most striking were taken home, and the rest were left on the trench-side, where they served as targets for children throwing stones. That the find ever came to notice is due entirely to Mr. G. H. Shepherd, a tutor at Kingston-upon-Hull, whose home is near Oswestry. On being shown one of the articles, Mr. Shepherd immediately went to Welshpool, persuaded the workmen to hand over to him what they had, and searched through the filling of the trench, since completed, discovering some massive ironwork in situ. After furnishing the local authority (as land-owner) with a list of the articles, Mr. Shepherd then took all the portable items into his custody, and later showed one of them to Mr. J. Bartlett, F.S.A., Director of the Hull Museums, who kindly informed the Department of Archaeology of the National Museum of Wales. Finally, after representations had been made by the Museum, the Borough Council most generously agreed in March 1960 to deposit the material in the National Museum of Wales for three years.