A HISTORY OF SUSSEX One important personage at that period reigning over a part of Britain was Commios. He appears to have had three sons, viz., Tin- commios, who was king of the Regni, a tract practically answering to the present county of Sussex ; Verica, whose sway was over the eastern part of the Attrebates ; and Eppillos, who ruled over Kent. Tincommios was king of the Regni about the time of Julius Cassar, and from the number of his coins found in Sussex it may be inferred that he was a very important king. Examples have been found at Aldwick, Alfriston, Bognor, Bramber, East Wittering, Lancing Downs, Pallant, and Steyning. Coins of Verica have been obtained from Bognor, East and West Witter- ing, Lancing Downs, Pagham, Shoreham, Steyning. Other important discoveries were a coin inscribed Commios found at Hastings about the year 1872, and a gold-plated copper coin inscribed TFSc (doubtless a shortened form of Tasciovannus) found at Brighton and now in the collection of Mr. Henry Willett. Important hoards of British coins have been found at Ashdown Forest, Battle, Bognor, and Lancing Downs ; whilst along the sea-shore at Selsey large numbers of coins have been picked up, the collection of the late Mr. E. H. Willett alone comprising nearly three hundred examples from this district. For further details respecting the ancient British coins found in Sussex, the reader may be referred to the papers on the subject by Mr. E. H. Willett in the Sussex Archceological Collections^ vols. xxix. and XXX. ; Sir John Evans's well-known work on the Coins of the Ancient Britons, and Supplement, and some of the volumes of the Numismatic Chronicle. Miscellaneous Antiquities In addition to the various objects already mentioned, which it is possible to assign to a more or less definite period in prehistoric times, there are one or two antiquities which may perhaps be most conveniently treated in a separate group under what may be termed miscellaneous antiquities. Some or all of them may possibly belong to a pre-Roman period, but the evidence does not seem sufficiently strong to assign them definitely to such an early time. On the other hand, it would be im- possible, on the available data, to place them even approximately within the historic period. The artificial caverns in the chalk at Hayes Down, Lavant, which were examined in 1893-4 by Messrs. Charles Dawson ' and John Lewis, are of considerable extent, and present many curious points of interest. The excavations are of irregular form, but the accompanying plan, which was made by Mr. Lewis, will show that whilst the supporting pillars occupy a comparatively small space, the galleries, or chambers, are large, indicating that the excavation was made for the sake of the chalk or flint. The whole excavations are believed to cover an extent ^ A paper on the subject was read by Mr. Dawson at a meeting of the Sussex Archaeological Society at Chichester in 1893 (see Sussex Daily News, 12 Aug. 1893). 326
