Group 9: Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and northern Hampshire

This section begins at Gleuum, the Colonia at Gloucester (Rivet & Smith 1979, 369), and moves firstly northwards towards the salt-works at Salinis, Droitwich (Richmond & Crawford 1949, 7), via unknown sites named Argistillum and <Vertis>. The first is probably Tewkesbury, where sporadic finds of Roman material suggest settlement in the Oldbury area of the town (Elrington et al. 1968, 110), and <Vertis> must be Worcester (as recognised by Richmond and Crawford 1949, map III, although nowhere in the text). The modern name of Worcester derives from *Vigora (Jackson 1953, 459), a difficult though not impossible emendation of Cosmographer’s form, to which Old English ceaster has been added. Rivet and Smith (1979, 207) appear to accept the identification but cannot suggest a likely original form of the name in their discussion of the Cosmography, while in their alphabetic list of names they mention *Vigora without suggesting it as a possible emendation of the Cosmographer’s form (1979, 496).

Returning to the starting point at Gloucester, which is not named again, the Cosmographer moves eastwards towards Calleua Atrebatum, Silchester, via Corinium Dobunnorum, Cirencester.