diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/62425-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/62425-0.txt | 3250 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 3250 deletions
diff --git a/old/62425-0.txt b/old/62425-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 850aa0d..0000000 --- a/old/62425-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3250 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Ruins of the Roman City of Uriconium, at -Wroxeter, near Shrewsbury, by Thomas Wright - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: The Ruins of the Roman City of Uriconium, at Wroxeter, near Shrewsbury - - -Author: Thomas Wright - - - -Release Date: June 19, 2020 [eBook #62425] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RUINS OF THE ROMAN CITY OF -URICONIUM, AT WROXETER, NEAR SHREWSBURY*** - - -Transcribed from the fourth, 1863, edition by David Price, email -ccx074@pglaf.org - - [Picture: Book cover] - - - - - - THE - RUINS OF THE ROMAN CITY - OF - Uriconium, - AT - WROXETER, NEAR SHREWSBURY. - - - BY - THOMAS WRIGHT, ESQ., M.A., F.S.A. - - * * * * * - - Fourth Edition, - WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. - - * * * * * - - SHREWSBURY: J. O. SANDFORD, HIGH-STREET. - LONDON: KENT & CO., PATERNOSTER-ROW. - - 1863. - - - - -PREFACE. - - -IT is the aim of the following pages to give the degree and kind of -popular information believed to be wanted by the numerous visitors to the -excavations at Wroxeter, who have no Guide to explain what they see, and -are not possessed of that amount of minute antiquarian knowledge which -would enable them to understand everything without such explanation. It -is the first instance in which there has been, in this country, the -chance of penetrating into a city of more than fourteen centuries ago, on -so large a scale, and with such extensive remains of its former -condition; and when the visitor has walked over the floors which had been -trodden last, before they were thus uncovered, by the Roman inhabitants -of this island, he will appreciate more justly, and with greater -interest, the objects which have been discovered, and are deposited in -the Museum, at Shrewsbury; and he will learn to look forward with hope to -the light which a continuance of these excavations must throw upon the -condition and history of this country at so remote a period. Whatever -this light may be, it must not be forgotten that we shall be indebted for -it, in the first place, to his Grace the Duke of Cleveland, who has shown -a generous public feeling in giving permission and encouragement to the -excavations on his land, and to the late B. Botfield, Esq., M.P., through -whose zeal and liberality in the undertaking the excavators were set at -work, when as yet it was uncertain if their labours would be attended -with any success. I have endeavoured to fulfil literally the title of -this little book, and to give the visitor such information as he would -seek from a professional Guide, whilst I have gladly left the description -of the Museum, and especially of those rather numerous human remains -which form so remarkable a part of our discoveries, to one best qualified -for that task, Dr. Henry Johnson, who has so ably and zealously directed -the excavations on the spot, and who has thus, unremunerated, given to -the service of the public so much of his valuable time. - - T. W. - - - - -TO VISITORS. - - -PARTIES from a distance wishing to visit the ruins of the ancient -URICONIUM, at Wroxeter, will find every comfort and accommodation at the -Lion, the Raven, the George, and the Crown Hotels, Shrewsbury. - -WROXETER is a little more than five miles from Shrewsbury. Conveyances -may be obtained at the Railway Station, Shrewsbury; at any of the -above-named Hotels; and at Howells’s Livery Stables, Cross Hill. Parties -of any reasonable number may be conveyed by either of the latter, on -giving them two days’ notice by letter. - -UPTON MAGNA, on the Shrewsbury and Wellington Joint Line of Railway, is -the nearest Station to Wroxeter, from whence it is distant about two -miles and a half, a pleasant walk for an active person. - -THE MUSEUM of the Shropshire and North Wales Natural History and -Antiquarian Society, College Hill, where all the moveable articles from -Wroxeter are deposited, is open DAILY to visitors, from 10 till 4, on -payment of sixpence each, and by an order from a Subscriber GRATUITOUSLY. - -DONATIONS to the Wroxeter Fund will be gladly received by the Honorary -Secretary, DR. H. JOHNSON, Dogpole, Shrewsbury. - - - - -List of Plates. - - - FROM DRAWINGS BY MR. HILLARY DAVIES, OF SHREWSBURY. - - PLATE -The North Side of the Old Wall, at Wroxeter 1 -Wroxeter Church, Shropshire (Vignette) 2 -First Roman Hypocaust discovered at Uriconium in 1859 3 -Roman Tile-Roof, Roman Flag-Roof, Section of Roman 4 -Hypocaust, &c. -Plan of Walls, discovered by the Excavations at Wroxeter, 5 -Salop, from February 3rd to September, 1863 -Column in the Garden of W. H. Oatley, Esq., Wroxeter 6 -Ancient Stone Font in Wroxeter Church 7 -Capitals found at Uriconium 8 -Samian, Upchurch, and Romano-Salopian Pottery 9 -Rings and Combs (actual size) 10 -Hair Pins, &c. (actual size) 11 -Skulls from Wroxeter 12 -Roman Remains from Wroxeter, in the possession of Samuel 13 -Wood, Esq., and Mask, in the Museum, Shrewsbury. -Upchurch Pottery, Adz, Spear Head, and Romano-Salopian 14 -(Red) Ware -Carved Stone Fragments from Uriconium, in the Garden of 15 -Edward Stanier, Esq., Wroxeter -Sepulchral Stone 16 - - - -The Ruins of Uriconium. - - -IF we leave Shrewsbury by its long eastern suburb, known, from the -important monastic house which formerly stood at its commencement, as the -Abbey Foregate, passing the more modern monument erected at its -extremity, Lord Hill’s Column, our way lies for about two miles along the -London road, bounded on each side by rich and fertile fields. At the -distance just mentioned, this road approaches close to the river Severn, -and continues to run along its banks, to the great improvement of the -scenery, until we arrive at the prettily-situated village of Atcham, with -Atcham Church in face of us, and the river winding under its stone bridge -in the foreground. Atcham is three miles from Shrewsbury. Crossing the -bridge, we leave the river, which here takes a long sweep to the -southward, and follow the road, which skirts for more than half a mile -the extensive park of Attingham. We here approach another river, the -Tern, which at this point spreads into a fair expanse of water, and -forms, with the mansion of Attingham to the left, and the copses which -skirt it, a scene of striking beauty, while to the right it divides into -two branches which empty themselves into the Severn, a little lower down. -Crossing Tern Bridge, and proceeding a short distance, still skirting the -park, we reach a point where, opposite the entrance to Attingham Park, a -branch road turns off to the right from the old London road. We must -take this branch road, which will lead us to the village of Wroxeter. We -soon cross a small stream, which is known by the name of the Bell Brook, -and after we have passed this brook, the visitor will hardly fail to -remark, wherever his eye rests upon ploughed ground, the extraordinary -blackness of the soil in comparison with that of the land over which he -has previously passed. - -In fact he has now entered upon the site of an ancient Roman city, which -is known, from the circumstance of its being mentioned by the geographer -Ptolemy, to have been standing here as early as the beginning of the -second century, when it was called Viroconium,—a name which appears to -have been changed in the later Romano-British period to Uriconium; at -least this is the form under which the name occurs in the later -geographers, and which has been generally adopted by modern antiquaries. -From the point at which we have now arrived, the line of the ancient -town-wall may be traced by a continuous low mound, which runs southward -towards the Severn, the banks of which it follows for some distance, and, -after passing between the river and the modern village of Wroxeter, turns -eastwardly behind the vicarage-house, and makes a long sweep till it -reaches the hamlet of Norton to the north, whence it turns to the -westward again, and reaches the point from which we started, forming an -irregular oval, rather more than three miles in circumference. A portion -of the Bell Brook runs through the Roman city. After crossing this -brook, we approach ground which rises gently, and nearly at the highest -point we see to the left a smith’s shop. At this spot, which is rather -more than five miles from Shrewsbury, the road which has brought us from -that town crosses another road, which turns down to the right, to the -village of Wroxeter, not quite half a mile distant. Wroxeter is an -Anglo-Saxon name, the first part of which is probably corrupted from that -of the ancient Roman city of the site of which it occupies the southern -extremity. The road which has led us to it is called the Watling Street -road, and there is every reason for believing that it occupies in a part -of its course the line of one of the principal streets of Uriconium. It -crosses the river Severn immediately below the village, where there was -doubtless a bridge in Roman times, for it is in the highest degree -improbable that in approaching a town of such importance, the Romans -would cross a river like the Severn only by a ford. - -On arriving at the smith’s shop just alluded to, the attention of the -visitor will be attracted by a solid mass of masonry, which forms a very -imposing object, and presents those unmistakable characteristics of Roman -work,—the long string-courses of large flat red bricks. This mass of -masonry, the only portion of the buildings of Uriconium which remains -standing above ground, is upwards of twenty feet high, and seventy-two -feet long, with a uniform thickness of three feet, and has been long -known by the name of “The Old Wall.” It stands nearly in the centre of -the ancient city, which occupied the highest ground within the walls,—a -commanding position, with the bold isolated form of the Wrekin in the -rear, and in front a panorama of mountains formed by the Wenlock and -Stretton Hills, Caer Caradoc, the Longmynd, the Breidden, and the still -more distant mountains of Wales. With the exception of this wall, all -that remained of the Roman city, if as some people might perhaps have -doubted, anything did remain,—has been long buried beneath the soil. At -the close of the year 1858, however, it was resolved to ascertain what -these remains were, and an Excavation Committee was formed at Shrewsbury, -for the purpose of carrying this design into effect by means of a public -subscription. Excavations were, accordingly, commenced on the 3rd of -February, 1859, and they have already led to results of the most -satisfactory description. But, perhaps, before we proceed to describe -the ruins which have thus been uncovered, it would be well to tell our -readers something of the general character of the Roman towns in this -island, and to explain how some of them were destroyed, and from what -cases and by what circumstances their remains present themselves in the -conditions in which we now find them. - - * * * * * - -FIFTEEN hundred years ago, this island, with the exception of the -highlands of Scotland, was covered with flourishing towns, many of them -known to have been of considerable magnitude, situated on numerous public -roads,—these latter of such excellent construction, that they have -remained to the present day the foundation of most of our great English -high roads. These towns, like those in other parts of the empire, -enjoyed free municipal institutions (from which our own mediæval -municipal institutions are derived), and in all but certain duties -towards the imperial government, formed in themselves so many little -republics, possessing all the ambitions and rivalries which seem -inseparable from republican institutions. Among the slight notices of -this island in ancient writers we learn that the towns of Britain were -remarkable for their turbulence, which was encouraged, no doubt, by the -distance of this province from Rome, and by the peculiar character of the -population of the towns, which consisted of blood that was foreign to the -soil, and which was not uniform in character in the different towns. We -know further that, during the fourth century, these towns often -confederated together, threw off the imperial yoke, and raised emperors -of their own; and we have every reason for supposing that, when the -restraint imposed by the central power became slackened, the towns -confederated against one another, and that domestic dissensions and -contests troubled the peace of the island. Such dissensions left the -island exposed to the invasions of its foreign enemies, which had become -very frequent and very formidable during the fourth century. The eastern -coasts were often visited by the Teutonic rovers, Saxons, and Franks; the -barbarous Caledonians, then called Picts, from the north rushed across -the borders, and carried devastation through the land, in which they were -assisted by the Irish, or, as they were then called, Scots, and probably -by the Armorican Celts, or Britons from Gaul. The towns of Britain -united would, no doubt, have presented a force sufficient to meet any of -these invasions, but their very constitution rendered such a union -difficult, except for a short period. Besides their independence of each -other, the towns had only been expected to defend themselves, while the -defence of the province was more especially the duty of the legions, and -on their withdrawal, the towns seem to have followed their old practice -in case of invasion, and shut themselves within their walls, or, at most, -opposed the invaders without any union, thus leaving the open country to -easy destruction. - -The history of the conquest of the Roman provinces by the barbarians is, -in general, simply the successive reduction of one town after another. -Such was eminently the case in Britain, and the traditionary annals of -the early Saxon period present little more than a list of conquered -towns. Sometimes a town was taken by stratagem or force, and then it was -plundered or destroyed, but in the far greater number of cases the town -was too strong for the assailants and only submitted by composition, by -which it paid a tribute to the conqueror and retained its old independent -municipal institutions. We all know how many of our old cities and early -municipal towns are thus the representatives of the cities of the Romans. -In some parts of the island the destruction was greater than in others, -and on the Welsh border, through the whole space between Chester (called -by the Romans Deva), and Gloucester (which the Romans called Glevum), the -towns seem to have been all ruined. One of the largest of these towns -was no doubt that of Uriconium. We can only judge by implication, and by -a comparison of what occurred in other places, of the manner in which a -town like Uriconium was treated, when it was overcome by the barbarians. -We know that these invaders were influenced by a love of plunder, but a -love of destruction—we may perhaps call it an impulse of destruction—was -still greater; and it is probable that the plundering of a town like -Uriconium was a hasty and imperfect operation, and that the plunderers -carried off chiefly objects made of the precious metals, or articles of -dress and arms, or other objects on which they set considerable value, as -they moved about rapidly, and could not be provided very extensively with -the means of conveyance. (We are here speaking of the earlier plundering -invasions of the barbarians, such as the Picts and Scots, in which -perhaps Uriconium perished, towards the middle of the fifth century, for -it is hardly probable that the Angles or Saxons could have reached this -part of the island at so early a period.) The first impulse of the -plunderers was to apply fire to the buildings, and the progress of the -conflagration would hasten their departure. Where the inhabitants of the -conquered town had not made their escape and abandoned it before it was -taken—which was perhaps the case in some of the smaller towns—there would -no doubt be a dreadful massacre, and the survivors would be dragged away -into captivity, for the various peoples who preyed upon the carcass of -the mighty empire of Rome, whether German or Celt, or Tartar or Arab, -ambitioned, almost above other plunder, the possession of numerous -slaves. Thus the plundered town was left without inhabitants, and in -flames, of which the latter, as may be judged on the spot from the -massive character of the walls of the houses, were probably partial in -their effect, destroying chiefly the timber and roofs. - -Thus the town was left an extensive mass of blackened walls; and such was -the condition in which the ruined Roman towns remained during several -centuries. Roman walls, we all know, were too strongly built to fall -down, and various circumstances combined for their preservation. In the -first place, the population of the country must have been greatly -reduced, and this part of the island especially was probably very thinly -inhabited after it had been ravaged by the invaders. The ruins -themselves would in time be overgrown with plants and trees and would -become the haunt of wild beasts, which were then abundant, thus offering -very little encouragement to anybody to enter them. But they were -protected in a still greater degree by the strong superstitious feelings -with which such ruins were regarded by the people who now occupied the -land. The Teutonic invaders had not only a prejudice against towns in -general, but they believed that all the deserted buildings of the -previous lords of the soil were taken possession of by powerful evil -spirits, on whose limits it was in the highest degree dangerous to -trespass. They imagined, moreover, that the Romans had the power of -casting spells over buildings, which were no less dangerous than the evil -spirits themselves. It will be remembered how, when Augustine and his -brother missionaries came to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, -the Kentish king and his court gave them their first audience in the open -air; because, as we are told, the Anglo-Saxons were afraid that, should -they be received in a covered chamber in the palace, the strangers from -Rome would be able to cast a spell upon them. It is a remarkable proof -of the strength of this superstitious feeling, that all the -Benedictionals of the Anglo-Saxon period contain forms for blessing the -vessels of metal or earthenware found in ancient sites, and relieving -them from the spells which had been cast upon them by the “pagans,” in -order that the finders might be enabled to make use of these vessels -without any personal danger. When the people of the middle ages, whether -Christians or not, found the beautiful bronze figures on which we set so -much store, they were in the greatest apprehension of personal danger -until they had mutilated them so as to break the charm or spell which -they believed to be laid upon them, for they looked upon these images as -the more general instruments of the ancient magicians. When thus -mutilated they usually threw them into the nearest river. The numerous -bronzes dredged up from the bed of the Thames at London are almost all -mutilated in this manner. This was the case also with the inscriptions, -for the successors of the Romans had no other notion of an ancient -inscription than that it was a magical charm. This superstition has -continued to exist until very recent times, for it appears that, within -the memory of man, the peasantry of Northumberland, on the line of the -great wall of Hadrian, were accustomed, when they found an inscribed -stone—and inscribed stones are there very abundant—to hew out at least a -part of the letters of the inscription with a pick or axe, in order to -destroy the charm. - -We thus understand how a ruined city—like that at Wroxeter—was allowed to -remain untouched for centuries. Many of these ruined towns became the -subject of romantic legends. One of these legends relating to an ancient -ruined city in this neighbourhood, is told in the curious history of the -Fitz-Warines, composed in the thirteenth century, in Anglo-Norman, no -doubt by a border writer. This writer is describing a visit supposed to -have been made by William the Conqueror to the Welsh border in order to -distribute the land to his followers. - - “When King William approached the hills and valleys of Wales he saw a - very large town, formerly enclosed with high walls, which was all - burnt and ruined, and in a plain below the town he caused his tents - to be raised, and there he said he would remain that night. Then the - king inquired of a Briton what was the name of the town, and how it - came to be so ruined. ‘Sire,’ said the Briton, ‘I will tell you. - The Castle was formerly called Castle Bran, but now it is called the - Old March. Formerly there came into this country Brutus, a very - valiant knight, and Corineus, from whom Cornwall still retains its - name, and many others derived from the lineage of Troy, and none - inhabited these parts except very foul people, great giants, whose - king was called Geomagog. These heard of the arrival of Brutus, and - sent out to encounter him, and at last all the giants were killed - except Geomagog, who was marvellously great. Corineus, the valiant, - said that he would willingly wrestle with Geomagog, to try Geomagog’s - strength. The giant, on the first onset, embraced Corineus so - tightly, that he broke three of his ribs. Corineus became angry, and - struck Geomagog with his foot that he fell from a great rock into the - sea, and Geomagog was drowned. And a spirit of the devil now entered - into the body of Geomagog, and came into these parts, and held - possession of the country long, that never Briton dared to inhabit - it. And long afterwards, King Bran the son of Donwal, caused the - city to be rebuilt, repaired the walls, and strengthened the great - fosses, and he made Burgh and Great March. And the devil came by - night and took away every thing that was therein, since which time - nobody has ever inhabited there.’ The king marvelled much at this - story, and Payn Peverel, the proud and courageous knight, the king’s - cousin, heard it all, and declared that that night he would essay the - marvel. Payn Peverel armed himself very richly, and took his shield, - shining with gold, with a cross of azure indented, and fifteen - knights and other attendants, and went into the highest palace, and - took up his lodging there. And when it was night the weather became - so foul, black, dark, and such a tempest of lightning and thunder, - that all those who were there became so terrified that they could not - for fear move hand or foot, but lay on the ground like dead men. The - proud Payn was very much frightened but he put his trust in God, - whose sign of the cross he carried with him, and saw that he could - have no help but from God. He lay upon the ground, and with good - devotion prayed God and his mother Mary that they would defend him - that night from the power of the devil. Hardly had he finished his - prayer, when the fiend came in the semblance of Geomagog, and he - carried a great club in his hand, and from his mouth cast fire and - smoke, with which the whole town was illuminated. Payn had a good - hope in God, and signed himself with a cross, and boldly attacked the - fiend. The fiend raised his club and would have struck Payn, but he - avoided the blow. The devil, by virtue of the cross, was all struck - with fear, and lost his strength, for he could not approach the - cross. Payn pursued him till he struck him with his sword; then he - began to cry out, and fell flat on the ground, and yielded himself - vanquished. ‘Knight,’ said he, ‘you have conquered me, not by your - own strength, but by virtue of the cross which you carry.’ ‘Tell - me,’ said Payn, ‘you foul creature, who you are and what you do in - this town, I conjure you, in the name of God and of the Holy Cross.’ - The fiend began to relate from word to word as the Briton had said - before; and told how, when Geomagog was dead, he immediately rendered - his soul to Beelzebub, their prince, and he entered the body of - Geomagog, and came in his semblance into these parts, and kept the - great treasure which Geomagog had collected and put into a house he - had made underground in that town. Payn demanded of him, ‘What kind - of creature he was?’ and he said, ‘He was formerly an angel, but now - is, by his forfeit, a diabolical spirit.’ ‘What treasure,’ said - Payn, ‘had Geomagog?’ ‘Oxen, cows, swans, peacocks, horses, and all - other animals, made of fine gold; and there was a golden bull, which, - through me, was his prophet, and in him was all his belief; and he - told him the events that were to come; and twice a year the giants - used to honour their god, the golden bull, whereby so much gold is - collected that all this country was called ‘The White Land.’ And I - and my companion inclosed the land with a high wall and deep fosse, - so that there was no entrance except through this town, which was - full of evil spirits.’ ‘Now, you shall tell me,’ said Payn, ‘where - is the treasure of which you have spoken?’ ‘Vassal,’ said he, ‘speak - no more of that, for it is destined for others; but you shall be lord - of all this honour.’” - -And so the vanquished fiend goes on to tell him the future fortunes of -his house; and after King William had been duly informed of this -adventure, and they had thrown the body of Geomagog into a great pit, -they proceeded on their way to Oswestry. - -In my edition of this history of the Fitz-Warines I have offered some -conjectures on the spot to which this legend refers; but on comparing all -the circumstances connected with it, I have since been led to the -conclusion that the “burnt and ruined” city which had thus been taken -possession of by the evil spirits was no other than the ruins of the -ancient Uriconium. This story implies that the walls of the town and -houses of Uriconium were still standing above ground as late as the -eleventh and twelfth centuries, and very likely a great portion of them -remained thus standing at the time when the author of the History of the -Fitz-Warines wrote. But during the centuries which had passed since the -city of the Romans became a ruin, it had been undergoing a gradual but -continual change from the accumulation of earth. This rising of the -level of the ground is always found to have taken place under such -circumstances, and may be explained by several causes. In the first -place, the floors must have been covered by a mass of rubbish formed by -the falling in of the roofs and more perishable parts of the buildings. -Vegetation, too, would in the course of years arise, and the walls would -stop and cause to be deposited the dust and earthy particles carried -about in the atmosphere. This deposit we know by experience to be -considerable. It is now little more than three centuries since the -dissolution of the monasteries, and we have all had opportunities of -observing the depth of earth under which the floors of the monastic ruins -now lie, sometimes amounting to as much as three or four feet. What, -then, must it have been on an extensive ruin like that of Uriconium, -which had stood in that ruined and deserted condition from the middle of -the fifth century to the middle of the twelfth? - -It was at this latter period that the Roman buildings began to be -systematically destroyed. It appears that still in the twelfth century, -England was covered with the remains of Roman ruined towns and villas -standing above ground, as they are still seen, though on a larger scale, -in the countries which formed the Roman province in Northern Africa. We -have seen the superstitious feelings which prevented people approaching -these ruins in our island, and it required nothing less than the hand of -the Church to interfere and break the charm which kept the rest of -society aloof. We learn from the history of the abbots of St Alban’s, -written in the thirteenth century by Matthew Paris, that already in the -eleventh century the abbots of that great religious house had begun to -break the ruins of the Roman city of Verulamium, in order to use them as -building materials. This practice became very general in the twelfth -century, and from that time the Roman ruins were pillaged on an extensive -scale whenever a monastery or a church was to be built. The ancient city -at Wroxeter was probably one of the great quarries from which the -builders of Haughmond Abbey were supplied, and no doubt it contributed -materials to other monastic houses in this part of the country. The -church of Atcham, the adjoining parish, and that of Wroxeter itself, bear -evidence to this appropriation of building materials taken from ancient -Uriconium. At the time when this inroad was made upon the ruins, the -ground, as explained before, was already raised several feet above the -Roman floors; and the mediæval builders, finding plenty of material above -ground, cleared away the walls down to the surface of the ground as it -then existed, and sought them no further. This accounts for the -condition in which we now find these walls, that is, remaining tolerably -perfect just up to the height of what was the level of the ground, at the -time the rest was destroyed. The difference between the tops of the -walls as they now exist under ground, and the present surface of the -ground, is the accumulation of earth which has taken place since this -destruction. It was the destruction of the buildings which first caused -this accumulation, by scattering about the fragments of the plaster of -the walls and the broken tiles and stones which were not worth carrying -away. After the walls above ground disappeared, and the ground was -levelled and cleared, such accumulation went on much more slowly. - -The sites of the ancient towns, thus cleared, and the spell which held -their invaders at bay having been broken by the ecclesiastics, became -exposed to a new class of depredators. Coins and objects of some value -were no doubt discovered from time to time by accident, and were greatly -exaggerated by common report, during ages when the existence of hidden -treasure formed a prominent article in the popular belief. Many a -Salopian, doubtless, longed for the hidden treasures of the city of -Geomagog, and many an attempt no doubt was made to discover and obtain -them. Treasure-hunting of this description was a great pursuit with our -mediæval forefathers, and the same superstitious feelings were connected -with it that were attached to all the remains of more ancient peoples. -The treasure-hunter rarely ventured on his search without having first -secured the aid of a magician for his protection as well as for his -guidance, for the same evil spirits were believed still to haunt the -ruins underground, and it was hoped that by the power of the conjuror -they might not only be rendered harmless, but be made to give information -as to the exact spot where the treasure lay. Numerous examples might be -quoted of such mediæval treasure-hunting on the Welsh border, but it will -be sufficient to give one which appears to belong to the very site on -which we are now seeking treasures of another description. An old -manuscript chronicle of the monks of Worcester, which is printed in -Warton’s Anglia Sacra, and has preserved numerous notices of events which -occurred on this border, informs us that in the year 1287, at a place by -Wroxeter, (that is near the village), called “Bilebury,” the fiend was -compelled by a certain enchanter to appear to a certain lad and show him -where lay buried “urns, and a ship, and a house, with an immense quantity -of gold.” We easily recognize in the objects described by the false -Geomagog, though not the material, the numerous figures in bronze which -are from time to time found on Roman sites; and the arms and ship may -perhaps admit of as easy an explanation. The treasure-digger had to -encounter sometimes a worse opponent even than the fiend himself! -Treasure-trove belonged to the feudal lord, and it was a right which he -was inclined to enforce with the utmost severity; and the unfortunate -individual who was caught in the act of trespassing against it found his -way immediately into a feudal dungeon, from which escape was not always -easy or quick. The learned historian of this county, Mr. Eyton, has met -with a record from which we learn that some individuals towards the close -of the thirteenth century were thus caught “digging” for a treasure at -Wroxeter, and that they were thrown into prison. On their examination or -trial, however, it appeared that, though they had dug for a treasure, -they had not found one, and on this plea they had the good fortune to be -set at liberty. This process of treasure-hunting had an effect injurious -to the object of our researches. The mediæval excavator cared very -little about antiquities as monuments of the past, and when, in digging a -hole into the ground, he came upon a pavement, he broke it up without any -scruple. It is to this cause, perhaps, that we must ascribe in many -cases the damaged state in which we find the floors of the Roman houses, -even when they lie at a considerable depth. - -I have thus endeavoured to explain the manner in which a Roman town like -Uriconium was ruined; how its ruin remained several centuries untouched, -while a depth of earth was accumulating on the floors; how at a later -period the ruins themselves began to be cleared away, and a new -accumulation of earth was formed over the lower part of the walls which -had been left, until these could no longer be traced on the surface, -except by the appearance of the crops in long periods of dry weather. -This double accumulation of the debris of buildings has often led people -to form erroneous conclusions, and in the account of a former partial -excavation at Wroxeter, published by the Society of Antiquaries, the -writer has fallen upon the rather odd notion that the Roman town had been -burnt twice,—that he saw the layers of burnt materials from two -successive burnings. - -The effects of all these causes may be seen in the excavations at -Wroxeter,—the floor sometimes perfect and sometimes broken up; the walls -of the houses remaining to the height of two or three feet or more, as -they were left by the mediæval builders, when they carried away the upper -part of these walls for material; the original level of the Roman town on -which its inhabitants trod, strewed with roof-tiles and slates and other -material which had fallen in during the conflagration under which the -town sank into ruin, and the upper part of the soil mixed up with -fragments of plaster and cement, bricks and mortar, which had been -scattered about when the walls were broken up. - -The site of Uriconium presents one great advantage to the antiquarian -explorer, that only a small and not very important portion of the area -has been exposed to the most destructive of all encroachments on its -sanctity, modern buildings; while the situation and nature of the ground -has not required the deep draining which would have cut through the -ancient floors, and these lie too far beneath the surface to be touched -by the plough. It will be easily understood that the preservation of -such remains depends much on the depth of soil which covers them. The -Rev. T. F. More has discovered and made considerable excavations in a -very extensive and most interesting Roman villa, which occupies part of -his beautiful park at Linley Hall, near Bishop’s Castle, but there the -position of the site, and perhaps other circumstances, have caused the -earth to accumulate much less rapidly, and the floors lay so near to the -surface that they have all been destroyed. Where a fragment of the -concrete of the floor remained, it was hardly six inches under the -ground. - -Our means of observation have hitherto been so imperfect, that we can -only form vague conjectures as to the internal aspect and distribution of -the buildings of a Roman town in Britain. At the close of the Roman -period the towns were usually, if not always, surrounded with defensive -walls; but there are several reasons for believing that the Roman towns -in this island were not walled until a comparatively late date, perhaps -not till the domestic dissensions and foreign invasions of the fourth -century. These town walls, when closely examined into, are often found -to contain materials taken from older buildings of another kind, which -older materials themselves present the debased style of architecture -which belonged to the declining age of the Roman power. The long -straggling line of wall which surrounded Uriconium as we may conclude -from its very irregularity, can only have been built at a late date, -after the city had gone on for ages increasing in its extent. We are -naturally led to suppose that the public buildings would occupy the -central, or at least the more elevated part of the town, and this has in -several instances proved to be the case. The discoveries made by Sir -Christopher Wren, seem to leave no doubt that a Roman temple occupied the -site of the modern cathedral of St. Paul’s, in London. But buildings of -all sorts would seem to have been mixed very confusedly together; for we -believe that in London, more recent excavations have brought to light -remains of potter’s kilns in close proximity to this temple. In one or -two instances, as at Aldborough, in Yorkshire, (the Roman Isurium), and -in some of the small towns on the line of Hadrian’s Wall, in -Northumberland, masses of the small houses have been uncovered, and their -appearance leads us to believe that the houses of a Roman town in Britain -were grouped thickly together, that they were mostly separated by narrow -alleys, and that there were in general few streets of any magnitude. - - * * * * * - -WE will now return to the spot where the visitor has halted in view of -the imposing mass of Roman masonry, called the Old Wall, situated, as has -been stated, in a large triangular field formed by the divergence of the -two roads. The Old Wall stands not quite east and west, but sufficiently -near it to allow us for sake of convenience to call it east and west. -Its northern side is evidently the outside of a building, while there -could be no doubt that the southern side, on which the springings of -transverse walls and vaulted ceilings are visible, was the interior. The -excavations were begun on the 3rd of February, 1859, on the northern -side, or outside, of this wall, partly with the object of ascertaining -the depth at which the floors and the foundations of the buildings lay -under the present surface of the ground, which, as we have said before, -was an important fact to ascertain. The bottom of the Old Wall was found -at a depth of fourteen feet, the last ten feet of which were sunk in the -natural substratum of sand, so that the walls of the buildings in this -spot must have had originally very deep foundations. It was found that -this wall was continued underground to the west, and excavations directed -towards the north brought to light successively three walls running -parallel, or nearly parallel, to this first wall, the first of these -parallel walls being at a uniform distance of fourteen feet from the Old -Wall, the next at a distance, also uniform, of thirty feet from this -wall, and the third at a distance from the second of fourteen feet at the -western and sixteen at the eastern end, so that, as the transverse wall -at the eastern end of these walls was not quite at right angles to them, -this large building was a little out of square. This building, -therefore, consisted of three divisions, of which the central enclosure -was 226 feet long by 30 feet wide, and appears to have been paved in its -whole extent with small bricks, three inches long by one inch broad, set -in zig-zags, or, as it is more technically called, herring-bone fashion. -This description of pavement appears generally to have been used in -passages and in open courts, and it seems probable, even from the -magnitude of this enclosure, that it was not roofed. Nothing was -discovered in it to throw any light on the object of so extensive a paved -enclosure, but there could be little doubt that it must have been a -public building of some importance. Portions of the capitals, bases, and -shafts of columns were found scattered about in different parts of the -area, which show that it was not wanting in architectural decoration, and -on one of the pieces of wall-stucco, picked up in this part of the -excavations, where three letters of what had been an inscription in large -characters. Among other objects found here were a fragment of a very -strong iron chain, the head of an axe, and an iron implement which -appears to have been a trident, and to have been originally placed on a -staff, perhaps an ensign of office. The appearance of the face of the -Old Wall, which formed part of one side of the long narrow enclosure on -the south of this central apartment, would lead us to suppose that this -was an open alley, and this is confirmed by the other circumstances -connected with it. In the continuation of the Old Wall to the westward, -the lower parts of two doorways were found, which were approached from -this alley each by a step formed of a single squared stone, which, -therefore, may have been supposed to have led from an exterior into an -interior. The corresponding long passage to the north of the central -apartment presented characteristics of another kind. At the eastern end -were found pavements of rather fine mosaic, of which specimens and -admirable drawings, by Mr. George Maw, of Broseley, are preserved in the -Museum. Mosaic of this description was not made to be exposed to the -air, and the building here must not only have been roofed, but we have -reason to suppose that there must have been a room or rooms of a -character on which elegant ornamentation would be bestowed. - -The walls of this building, as we find them under ground, present from -time to time discontinuations, or breaches, caused no doubt by the -breaking up of the walls for materials by the mediæval builders, who -sometimes went deeper for them than usual; and it is very likely that -this may have been caused, in some instances at least, by the -circumstance that on the site of these breaches were doors or passages, -the jambs and ornamental parts of which were formed of large stones which -were more tempting to the old excavators. With the exception of these -breaches, there are no traces of doorways from one apartment of this -building to the other. About the middle of the northernmost wall there -is a very wide breach of this kind, which perhaps represents a grand -entrance from the north. Moreover, in carrying the excavations further -towards the north, it was found that this northernmost wall of the -building formed the side of a street, which was paved in the middle with -round stones, not much unlike the pavements of some of the streets in -Shrewsbury and other old towns as they remain at the present day. The -northern wall just alluded to was traced eastwardly until the edge of the -field in which the excavations are carried on prevented the workmen from -going any further. Immediately to the east of the building we have been -describing was a not quite rectangular inclosure, which, from the -appearance of the walls, was probably a court-yard. A doorway, -approached by a stone step within the great inclosure to the west, led -into it. Beyond this, to the eastward, was a much larger inclosure, -which as far as it was explored, had no tracings of walls or pavement -within, and may possibly have been a garden. At the western end of the -great building, about the middle of the extremity of the great central -inclosure, indications were discovered which probably belonged also to an -entrance. These indications consisted of two original openings in the -wall, within which were found, evidently in their original position, in -one a large squared stone, and in the other two similarly squared stones -placed one upon another. One of these was bevelled off at the outer edge -into a plain moulding, and their general appearance led to the belief -that they had formed the basis of something—perhaps of large columns. -Here, therefore, may perhaps have been the principal entrance into the -long and extensive area which occupied the middle of this building. It -faced the modern Watling Street Road, which evidently represents another -street; and it thus seems to admit of no doubt that this building formed -the corner of two principal streets of the Roman city of Uriconium. - -We will now return to the long alley, as we have ventured to call it, on -the southern side of the building we have been describing. It has been -already stated that there were found in this alley two steps, formed each -of a large squared stone, attached to two doorways in the western -continuation of the Old Wall. The more western of these two steps was -very much worn by the feet of the people who had passed over it, as -though it had led to some place of public resort. It was at the more -easterly of these doorways that the excavations were carried to the -southward of the Old Wall. This doorway apparently led into some open -court which communicated with domestic apartments. A trench carried -directly southward from the doorway, brought the excavators to the -semicircular end of a hypocaust, which had warmed a considerable room -thirty-seven feet long, by twenty-five feet wide, and which was in a -state of very perfect preservation when opened, although the floor which -once covered it had entirely disappeared. The pillars, which were formed -of Roman square bricks, placed one upon another without mortar, and of -which 120 were counted, were above three feet high. This room has now -been completely laid open, and on the western side has a complicated -arrangement of walls, which evidently served some purpose connected with -the heating of the hypocausts. A considerable quantity of unburnt coal -was found here. The northern end of this hypocaust, the wall of which -remained to the height of several feet, presents an imposing mass of -masonry, and we learn from it the interesting fact that the Roman houses -were plastered and painted externally as well as internally. The -exterior of the semicircular wall at the north end of this hypocaust was -painted red, with stripes of yellow. Near it lay an immense stone, hewn -into the shape to fit the semicircular wall of the hypocaust, which had -evidently formed part of a massive band of such stones at some height in -the wall. A strong piece of iron is soldered into it with lead, for the -purpose of attaching something to the building externally. A little -alley, considerably wider than the spaces between the pillars of bricks, -ran across this hypocaust, and through an opening in the wall, into -another hypocaust, which was entered from without by a large archway, and -this again was approached by a flight of three steps, each step composed -of one large well-squared stone, descending from a square platform, which -was apparently on a level with the original floors of the rooms. When -the steps were uncovered, a broken shaft of a large column was found -lying across them. The platform at the bottom of the steps, or at least -the corner of it farthest from the arched entrance to the hypocaust, -seems to have been used by the last occupiers of this building as a -receptacle for the dust swept from floors and passages, for the earth, -for about a foot deep on the floor, was literally filled with coins, -hair-pins, fibulæ, broken pottery and glass, bones of birds and animals -which had been eaten, and a variety of other such objects. - -To the east of the entrance to the hypocausts, a small room only eight -feet square was found, which had a herring-bone pavement like that of the -great inclosure to the north of the Old Wall. A rather wide passage -through the eastern wall of this small room led into another room with a -hypocaust, the floor of which is also gone. The pillars of this -hypocaust were rather more neatly constructed, but they seem to have been -considerably lower than those of the hypocausts previously opened. This -hypocaust was the scene of a very interesting discovery. Abundant traces -of burning in all parts of the site leave no doubt that the city of -Uriconium was plundered, and afterwards burnt by some of the barbarian -invaders of Roman Britain at the close of the Romano-British period, that -is, towards the middle of the fifth century. The human remains which -have been met with in different parts, bear testimony to a frightful -massacre of the inhabitants. It would seem that a number of persons had -been pursued to the buildings immediately to the south of the line of the -Old Wall, and slaughtered there; for in trenching across what were -perhaps open courts to the south and south-east of the door through the -continuation of the Old Wall, remains of at least four or five skeletons -were found, and in what appears to have been a corner of a yard, outside -the semicircular end of the hypocaust first discovered, lay the skull and -some of the bones of a very young child. In the last of the hypocausts -we have been describing, three skeletons were found, that of a person who -appears to have died in a crouching position in one of the corners, and -two others stretched on the ground by the side of the wall. An -examination of the skull of the person in the corner leaves no room for -doubting that he was a very old man. One at least of the others was a -female. Near the old man lay a little heap of Roman coins, in such a -manner as to show that they must have been contained in a confined -receptacle, and a number of small iron nails scattered among them, with -traces of decomposed wood, prove that this was a little box, or coffer. -The remains of the wood are still attached to two or three of the coins. -We are justified from all these circumstances in concluding that, in the -midst of the massacre of Roman Uriconium, these three persons—perhaps an -old man and two terrified women—had sought to conceal themselves by -creeping into the hypocaust; and perhaps they were suffocated there, or, -when the house was delivered to the flames, the falling rubbish may have -blocked up the outlet so as to make it impossible for them to escape. It -is not likely that they would have been followed into such a place as -this hypocaust. These coins were 132 in number, and the following -description of them has been given by Mr. C. Roach Smith:— - -TETRICUS. One much worn, of the _Fides 1 - Militum_ type -CLAUDIUS. One, _rev._ CONSECRATIO; an eagle 1 -Constantine the Elder. _Obv._ CONSTANTINVS. MAX . AVG. 13 - Head diademed, or wreathed, to the - right. _Rev._ GLORIA EXERCITVS. - Two soldiers with spears and - shields, standing; between them two - standards; or (in three instances) - a single standard. - - _Mint Marks_ (exergual letters): P - . CONST., 3; TR . P., 6; S . L . C. - 1; illegible, 3; total -CONSTANS. _Obv._ Much worn or decayed. 1 - _Rev._ FEL . TEMP . REPARATIO. The - emperor holding a globe and a - standard, standing in a galley - rowed by a Victory. This coin is - altogether much worn. It possibly - may have been plated -CONSTANTINE II. _Obv._ CONSTANTINVS . IVN . NOB . 36 - C. Laureated head, to the right; - bust in armour. _Rev._ GLORIA - EXERCITVS. Two soldiers standing; - between them two standards, and on - the same a wreath, or other object, - in the field. - - _Exergual letters_: TR . P. or TR . - S., 15; P . L . C., 9; CONST., 3; - illegible, 9; total -CONSTANTIUS II. _Obv._ T . L . IVL . CONSTANTIVS . 5 - NOB . C. Laureated head, to the - right; bust in armour. _Rev._ - GLORIA EXERCITVS. Two soldiers, - &c., as on the coins of the - preceding. - - _Exergual letters_: TR . S., 3; P., - 1; SMTS, 1; total -JULIAN. A plated denarius. _Obv._ FL . CL 1 - . IVLIANVS: P. F. AVG. Diademed - head to the right. _Rev._ VOTIS V - MULTT . XX, within a wreath -HELENA. _Obv._ T . L . IVL . HELENAE AVG. 2 - Head to the right. _Rev._ PAX - PVBLICA. A female figure standing - and holding in the right hand a - branch, and in the left hand a - _hasta pura_. In the field, a - cross; in the exergue, TR . P. - Another without the cross. Total -THEODORA. _Obv._ FL . THEODORAE AVG. Head 1 - to the right. _Rev._ PIETAS - ROMANA. A female standing suckling - an infant: in the exergue, TR . P. -URBS ROMA. _Obv._ VRBS ROMA. Galeated head 24 - of Rome, to the left. _Rev._ - Romulus and Remus nursed by the - wolf; above, two stars: on two, two - stars and a wreath. - - In the exergue: PL . C., 11; TR . P - . or TR . S., 10; illegible, 3; - total -CONSTANTINOPOLIS. _Obv._ CONSTANTINOPOLIS. Bust of 34 - personified Constantinople, helmed, - and holding a sceptre, to the left. - _Rev._ A winged Victory, with - _hasta pura_ and shield; her feet - upon the prow of the galley, to the - left. - - _Exergual letters_: TR . P., 20; P - . L . C . or S . L . C., 9; O . - SIS, 1; S . CONST., 1; illegible, - 3; total -VALENS. _Obv._ D . N . VALENS . . . 1 - Diademed head, to the right. - _Rev._ SECVRITAS . . . Victory - with wreath and palm branch, - marching to the left. Much - corroded - Rude copies of some of the 6 - foregoing - Extremely corroded 6 - Total number 132 - -This is, I believe, the first instance which has occurred in this -country, in which we have had the opportunity of ascertaining what -particular coins, as being then in daily circulation, an inhabitant of a -Roman town in Britain, at the moment when the Roman domination in this -country was expiring, carried about with him. Mr. Roach Smith, speaking -of the great majority of these coins, these of the Constantine family, -remarks to me—“I suspect these coins were sent into Britain even after -the time of Valens, because they are all comparatively sharp and fresh. -It is not improbable that the procurators at Treves and at Lugdunum may -have had large stores of these coins by them, which they sent out at -intervals.” A consideration of these coins gives us an approximation, at -least, towards the date at which Uriconium must have been destroyed; Mr. -Roach Smith agrees in the opinion that a comparison of them points to the -very latest period previous to the establishment of the Anglo-Saxons. At -a later period the freshly struck coins of the Constantine family could -not have been brought over. They shew us that at that time the great -mass of the circulating medium consisted of coins of the Constantine -family, which again explains to us why the first coinage of the -Anglo-Saxons was nearly all copied from the coins of the emperors of that -family. Again, the care with which these small copper coins (for only -one is of plated silver) seem to have been hoarded up, and the anxiety of -their possessors to preserve them in the midst of a frightful calamity, -may perhaps assist us in forming an estimate of the relative value of -money at this period. - -The rooms which joined up to the south side of the Old Wall, and which -have been more recently uncovered, were five in number, and it appears -from the remains, which are distinctly visible on the face of the Old -Wall, that they had vaulted roofs of the kind technically called barrel -roofs. In one of these rooms was found a quantity of burnt wheat, which -would lead us to suppose that this might have been a store room. The -most easterly of these rooms has had the interior surface of its walls -ornamented with tessellated work instead of fresco-painting; the lower -edge of which, consisting of a guilloche border, still remains. The -floor below has a plain pavement of small white tessellæ, and is -apparently that of a bath. To the south of these rooms a long passage -was discovered, which appears to have communicated at one end with the -floor of the room in the hypocaust of which the skeletons were found. In -this passage was a square pit of very good masonry, through which a drain -runs, nearly north and south. The stucco of the southern face of the -wall, forming the southern side of the passage just alluded to, presented -an inscription scrawled in large straggling characters incised with some -sharp pointed instrument, and closely resembling in character similar -inscriptions which have been found on walls in Pompeii. When first -uncovered, two lines of this inscription, perhaps the whole of it, seemed -to have been perfectly well preserved, but before anybody had had the -opportunity of examining it, two casual visitors, with walking sticks, -amused themselves with breaking off the plaster, in order apparently to -try its strength, and were not observed by the workmen until the first -line had been completely destroyed, and the second, which had been a -shorter one, was very much broken into, though just enough remained to -show that it must have been written in Latin. Even this small remnant -was nearly destroyed during the interruption of the excavations, and not -a trace of it can now be seen. Thus all the advantages of a discovery -which might have been singularly important for our knowledge of the state -of Britain at this period, have been lost through mischievous wantonness. - -During the month of May, 1859, the work of the excavators was -interrupted; when it was resumed, they proceeded to explore the building -to which these hypocausts belonged, beginning from the side of the field -adjoining to the Watling Street Road,—that is, from the side of one of -the main streets of the old Roman town,—and they found walls in the line, -or nearly in the line, of the western wall of the great public building -just described. Another street has since been discovered to the south, -running east and west, parallel to that met with to the north of the -buildings first excavated. The excavations have since that time been -followed in various parts of the two acres first inclosed by the -Excavation Committee, and a large extent of ruins is now laid open. But -I will here interrupt my narrative, while I give an account of the -general character of the buildings, the ruins of which have already been -brought to light. - - * * * * * - -As yet, the excavations on the site of Uriconium have not been carried -far enough to enable us to form any idea of the general distribution of -the Roman town, but it is evident that the buildings on which the -excavators are employed were inclosed by three main streets, crossing at -right angles, forming a square mass. It has been stated that the few -discoveries hitherto made as to the character of the streets in the Roman -towns in Britain would lead us to think that they were little more than -narrow alleys, but this was certainly not the case with these three -streets of Roman Uriconium, which seem to have been fine wide streets, -and in the one to the north, the pavement of small round stones appears -to have occupied only the middle part of the street, designed probably -for carriages and horses. A tolerably wide space on each side seems, as -far as can be traced, to have been unpaved. But, although we have as yet -made little advance towards discovering the general character of -Uriconium as a city, and the manner in which the houses were distributed -over the Roman town, we had found sufficient fragments of different kinds -to give us a tolerable notion of the houses themselves. - -The average thickness of the walls of a house, even where they only -separated one small room from another, was three feet. They are rarely -less than this, and it is only in one or two cases of what appeared to be -very important walls that they exceed it, when they reach the thickness -of four feet. This measure of three feet was no doubt a well understood -one for the wall of a house, and it was continued in the middle ages, -when, in ordinary dwellings, only the division walls between house and -house were of solid masonry. Municipal regulations then fixed these -partition walls at a minimum of three feet in thickness, the cause of -which limitation was probably the fear of fires; and in these mediæval -municipal regulations, it was further ordered, that closets or cupboards -in the wall should in no case be made more than one foot deep, so that if -your own cupboard and your neighbour’s happened to back each other, there -would still be a foot of solid masonry between the two houses. And the -masonry of the Romans may well be called solid. Its character may be -seen perhaps to most advantage in the Old Wall above ground. The process -of building seems to have been to raise first, gradually, the facings of -neatly-squared stones, supported no doubt between frames of woodwork, the -supports of which left holes which are still seen in the face of the -wall. The interior was then filled up with rubble mixed with liquid and -apparently hot cement, which formed the mass of the wall, and in setting -has become in course of time harder than the stones themselves. After a -certain number of rows of facing-stones, the Roman builders almost -invariably placed a string-course of broad thin bricks, the object of -which is not at all evident, for they do not go through the wall so as to -form real bonding-courses. The Old Wall still standing in probably -nearly its original height, will also give us a notion of the elevation -of the principal houses of the Roman towns. - -In spite, however, of this rather considerable elevation, which, -reckoning for dilapidation at the top and the portion buried under -ground, cannot have been much less than thirty feet, it seems nearly -certain that the Roman houses in Britain had no upper stories, and that -all the rooms were on the ground floor. No traces of a staircase have -ever been found, and all the fragments which are met with, indicate that -the rooms were open to the roof. These roofs appear to have been of -substantial construction, and were probably supported on a strong frame -of woodwork. The common coverings of the Roman houses of this island -consisted of large square tiles with strongly flanged edges, and these -tiles being joined side to side, a curved tile forming the half of a -cylinder was placed over the flanges of the two tiles which joined, thus -holding them together, and at the same time protecting the juncture so -that rain could not pass through it. These tiles, and the manner in -which they were arranged, will be understood by our figures, (_pl_. IV., -_figs._ 1, 2, 3). The Roman houses were also very commonly roofed with -slates, or rather flags, and this appears to have been the more usual -description of roofing in Uriconium. These roof-flags are found -scattered about abundantly on the floors, sometimes unbroken. They are -formed of a micaceous laminated sandstone, which is found on the edge of -the north Staffordshire and Shropshire coalfield, at no great distance -from Wroxeter, and must have produced a glittering appearance in the -sunshine. Their form is represented in our cut, (_pl_. IV., _fig._ 5); -it was that of an elongated hexagon, with a hole at one end, through -which an iron nail was passed to fix it to the wooden frame-work. The -nail is often found still remaining in the hole. These flags, which are -very thick and heavy, were placed to lap over each other, and thus formed -a roof in lozenges or diamonds, as represented in _fig._ 6. Slates -forming one half of the hexagon (_fig._ 4), were placed at the top of the -roof, so as to make a strictly horizontal line. It is a curious -circumstance, that in the illuminations of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts we -find roofs of houses which evidently represent both these methods, and -which appear, therefore, to have been continued long after the Roman -period. In fact they are still used in Yorkshire, and perhaps in other -counties, and have been used very recently on the Welsh border. In the -towns which were the head-quarters of a legion, as at Caerleon, Chester, -and York, or which had been occupied for some length of time by legionary -detachments, we often find the name and number of the legion stamped on -the roof-tiles. These roof-tiles were frequently used for other -purposes. They are sometimes employed in the string-courses in walls, -when the builders appear to have run short of the ordinary square tiles -or flat bricks; and they are still more frequently used to form the beds -of drains and aqueducts, when the flanged edges were turned up and, set -in the cement, formed the side of the water-course. A very good example -of this use of the roof-tiles may be seen in the drain at Wroxeter -mentioned above. - -Internally, the walls of the Roman houses were covered with fine hard -cement, which was painted in fresco, that is, the colours were laid on -the cement while it was wet, and they thus set with it, and became almost -imperishable. In some of the houses in Roman Britain, and especially in -the large villas, the internal walls were covered with fine historical -subjects as in the walls at Pompeii, and sufficient remains have been -found in this island to show that they were here also executed in no mean -style of art. Nothing of this kind has yet been discovered in Uriconium; -but numerous fragments are picked up in the diggings, on which the -colouring is perfectly fresh, and which exhibit portions of designs which -are always elegant and in good taste. In one case a piece of the stucco -from the internal surface of a wall contained some letters of an -inscription. One of the walls near the hypocaust where the three -skeletons were found presented a singular and rather laborious method of -ornamenting its interior surface. Instead of being painted, it was -tessellated, the surface being covered with tessellæ, one half of an inch -by three-fifths in dimension, set in the cement, alternately of dark and -light colours, in horizontal lines, so as to produce somewhat the -appearance of chequer-work. Perhaps, when entire, it presented an -ornamental pattern. I have already stated that a similarly tessellated -wall was found in the easternmost part of this line of rooms. -Circumstances have come to light which show that the exterior of the -walls of houses were also plastered and painted. The exterior of the -semicircular end of the largest hypocaust yet opened was thus plastered -over, and painted red with stripes of yellow. - -It is worthy of remark that in the walls, to the certainly not very great -elevation they now generally reach, few doorways are discovered, a -circumstance which is by no means easily explained. Small rooms are -found without any apparent means of access. Perhaps, in such cases, the -doorway was at a certain elevation in the wall, and was approached on -both sides by wooden steps, which have long perished, and left no traces -of the means of entrance. Of course none of the walls of the houses -remain sufficiently high to enable us to judge of the manner in which -light was admitted into the rooms, whether from side windows, or from -openings in the roof. Probability, however, is in favour of roof-windows -being in common use, and an interesting circumstance connected with the -excavations at Wroxeter seems decisive as to the material of the windows. -Considerable quantities of fine window glass have been found scattered -over the floors of the houses, of an average thickness of full one-eighth -of an inch, which have been duly deposited in the Museum at Shrewsbury. -It is the more curious as it has been the common opinion, until recently, -that the Romans, especially in this distant province, did not use -window-glass; and the fragments of window-glass which have been found -more recently in the excavations on the sites of Roman villas have been -much thinner than that found at Wroxeter, and of very inferior quality. -It is evident, that some of the rooms, all the walls of which were only -walls of separation from other rooms, must have received light from -above, or have been quite dark. - -I must now describe a peculiar characteristic of the domestic economy of -a Roman house in Britain, and in the other western and northern provinces -of the empire. The Romans did not warm their apartments by fire lighted -in them, as was the case in the middle ages, and in modern times, but by -hot air circulated in the walls. The floor of the house, formed of a -considerable thickness of cement, was laid upon a number of short -pillars, formed usually of square Roman tiles placed one upon another, -and from two to three feet high. Those of the largest of the hypocausts -yet found at Wroxeter were rather more than three feet high. Sometimes -these supports were of stone, and in one or two cases in discoveries made -in this country, they were round. They were placed near to each other, -and in rows, and upon them were lain first larger tiles, and over these a -thick mass of cement, which formed the floor, and upon the surface of -which the tessellated pavements were set. Sometimes small parallel -walls, forming flues instead of rows of columns, supported the floors, of -which an example has already been found in the excavations at Wroxeter. -Flue-tiles,—that is, square tubes made of baked clay, with a hole on one -side, or sometimes on two sides,—were placed against the walls end-ways, -one upon another, so as to run up the walls. These arrangements,—which -were called hypocausts, from two Greek words, signifying _heat -underneath_, and were used in Italy and Greece chiefly for warming baths, -are represented in _plate_ IV., _fig._ 7, where AA is the floor of -cement, BB the pillars supporting it, and CC the flue-tiles running up -the wall of the room. They had an entrance from the outside, somewhat -like the mouth of an oven, and fires being lighted here, the hot air was -driven inward, and not only filled the space under the floor, but entered -the flue-tiles by the holes in the sides, was carried by them up the -inside of the wall, and no doubt had some way of escape at the roof. The -ashes and soot of the fires have been found in the hypocausts at -Uriconium, just as they were left when the city was overthrown and ruined -by the barbarians. The ashes are chiefly those of wood, but considerable -remains of mineral coal have been discovered. These hypocausts must -sometimes have become clogged and out of order, and it would be necessary -to cleanse them, as people in aftertimes cleansed chimneys. A sort of -alley across the middle of the large hypocaust last-mentioned was -probably intended for this purpose. It communicated with another -hypocaust adjoining it to the north by a doorway, and this other -hypocaust was entered by a rather large archway at the foot of the steps -already mentioned. People appear to have been sometimes satisfied with -having the hot air merely under the floor, and the flue-tiles were not -always used. Comparatively few of them, indeed, have been yet found in -the hypocausts of Uriconium. - - * * * * * - -THE requirements of agriculture have rendered it necessary to cover up -again all the excavations to the north of the Old Wall, and the walls of -the great public building at the corner of the two streets can no longer -be seen by the visitor. A piece of ground, however, immediately to the -south of the Old Wall has been taken by the Excavation Committee at -Shrewsbury upon a rent, and in this piece of ground the excavations are -now carried on. It forms a parallelogram, 319 feet long, by 279 feet -wide, containing an area of exactly two acres, including the Old Wall at -its northern edge. This piece of ground has been strongly fenced round -with hurdles, and it is entered by a gate from the Watling Street Road. -By the liberality of the Excavation Committee the public are admitted to -this inclosure freely, and it is to be hoped that the visitors will -acknowledge this liberality by carefully abstaining from committing any -injury on the Roman remains, or by walking upon or entering into the -parts in the course of excavation. - -The plan annexed (_pl._ 5) of the excavations now in progress will enable -me to explain them to the visitor. The darkly-shaded mass _a a_ -represents the Old Wall, or portion of Roman masonry standing above -ground; to the north of which lay the extensive building formed by the -walls _b b_, _c c_, _d d_, running parallel to the Old Wall. The wall _d -d_, bordered upon a wide street. To the east of these walls lay an -inclosure, e, perhaps a court-yard, and a large space, _f_, which has -been conjectured to have been a garden, but which has been very -imperfectly explored. All these remains have been explained above; they -have been buried again, and the ground is now covered with crops. The -Old Wall, which stands just within the north-eastern corner of the space -separated from the rest of the field by a fence of hurdles, now forms the -northern boundary of the excavations. - -The visitor is introduced into this space by a gateway from the road, -nearly at its north-western corner. Opposite this gateway he will see an -apartment, which the excavators are now in the course of exploring. It -is nearly a square, and is about thirty-four feet in its longest -dimension. The side towards the street seems to have been open, or at -least the masonry of the wall presents the appearance of having had wide -folding doors, or a framework of wood of some kind in two compartments 6, -6. In the centre of the room is a large pier of masonry (1), perhaps a -table for workmen. More towards the north-western corner, a sort of -furnace or forge (2) was found, built of red clay, with a hole or cavity -in the upper part sufficiently large for a man to thrust his head in. As -the surface of the cavity, internally, is completely vitrified, and as -there was much charcoal strewed about, there can be no doubt that the -cavity had been occupied by a very fierce fire. A low wall has been -traced, running across the room east and west in a line with this -furnace; and two transverse low walls of similar character. Upon the low -wall a little behind the forge (at 3), the excavators came upon what was -supposed to be the lower part of a column with its base; but it is formed -roughly, and I think it more probable that it was a stone table for the -use of the workman at the furnace. It was at first supposed that this -might belong to a colonnade running along the wall; but no trace of such -a colonnade has been found, although a large piece of a shaft of a column -lies in the middle of the room. This column, however, is of larger -dimensions than the supposed base (3). Had such a colonnade existed, it -seems so little in accordance with the existence of a forge, that we -might be led to suspect that the room had, at some late period, been -diverted from its original purpose, and occupied by a worker in metals, -or even in glass, as fine specimens of glass were found scattered about, -and also many fragments of metal. But objects of all kinds seem to have -been thrown about in such a manner, when the town was plundered, that it -would be unsafe to argue upon the purpose of any particular building, -merely from moveable articles found in it. Among other things found in -this room were nearly a dozen hair-pins, two of which were much more -ornamental than any we had found before; a much greater quantity of -fragments of Samian ware, and of higher artistic merit, than had -previously been met with in one spot; a portion of a large bronze fibula; -a number of coins, and other things. One of the vessels of Samian ware -is a fine bowl, with figures in high relief, representing a stag-hunt. -Upon the low wall of the sill (6) a number of copper Roman coins (about -sixty) were found together; and near them the fragment of a small earthen -vessel, in which probably they had been carried by some one who dropped -them here as he was hurrying out of the place. Turning from the gate of -the field to the right, or south, along the inside of the hedge, the -visitor will come to a portion of uncovered wall, _h h_, running north -and south, upwards of eighty feet, in which there are two entrance -gateways, _i_, _p_. The first of these is about twelve feet wide, and -was approached by a sort of inclined plane, formed of three large squared -masses of stone, each about four feet square by eleven inches in -thickness. The other entrance which was only five feet wide, was -approached by two steps, each similarly formed of one mass of stone; of -which the lower step is worn very much at its south-west corner, in a -manner to lead us to believe that the great majority of the people who -passed through this entrance came up the street from the south. The -upper step, or stone, is so much worn by the feet of those who passed -over it, that it broke into three pieces under the workmen’s picks. On -one side of it there is a deep hollow, representing nearly the form of a -small human foot, which seems to have been scooped into the stone for -some purpose with which we are not acquainted. These two entrances lead -into one square court, the floor of which, proved by the steps and -inclined plane to have been on a higher level than the street without, -was paved with small bricks laid in herring-bone work, like the great -inclosure to the north of the Old Wall. It is found to have been much -damaged and mended in ancient times, which seems to countenance the -supposition that the wide entrance and the inclined plane by which it was -approached were intended for horses and perhaps for carts or for heavy -barrows. Among the objects found in excavating here was a portion of a -horse-shoe. On each side of this court a row of chambers is found, _m m -m_, four on the north side and four on the south, from ten to twelve feet -square. The westernmost of these chambers, on the north side of the -court, has been cleared out, and was found to be ten feet deep, with a -low transverse wall at the bottom, the object of which is at present -quite inexplicable. A quantity of charcoal was found in this room, as -though it had been a store-room for that article. One of the other -rooms, on each side of the court, seemed to have been a receptacle for -bones, horns, &c.; and as some of these had evidently been sawn and cut, -and others partly turned on a lathe, they suggested the idea of having -belonged to manufacturers of the various objects made of this material -which are found so commonly in the course of the excavations. They may, -therefore, have been the magazines of manufacturers and tradesmen, a -notion which is somewhat confirmed by the circumstance of several weights -of different sizes having been found in this part of the excavations; or -they may have been mere depots for the stores and refuse of a large -mansion or other establishment. These rooms are, perhaps, all deep like -the one already cleared out, but it is remarkable that, as high as the -walls remain, that is, about two feet above the floor of the court, there -is no trace of entrances to them, which must, therefore, have been rather -high in the wall, and they were entered perhaps by a ladder. - -The back part of this court consists of a long narrow inclosure, which is -divided into compartments by four transverse walls proceeding from the -western wall about halfway across the inclosure, thus leaving a passage -along the eastern side. These compartments have much the appearance of -small shops or stalls for selling, and seem to confirm the notion that -this building may have been a market-place. The workmen, finding a -doorway in the wall of the back of this inclosure, at _n_ in the plan, a -trench was carried through the ground to the eastward. At about twelve -feet from the opening at _n_, they came upon a wall at _h_, running -parallel to the wall _o o_ of the court, and beyond this they found first -a narrow passage, and then a rise with a pavement of cement which -extended some four or five feet, and then suddenly sank to a floor of -large flag-stones, at a depth of upwards of four feet from the floor of -cement. This flagged floor, the position of which is marked by the -letter _q_ in the plan, was perhaps a reservoir of water; the bottom was -found covered with black earth filled with broken pottery and other -things, such as may easily have been supposed to have been thrown into a -pond. The water appears to have been only between two and three feet -deep, as the floor on the opposite side runs about level with the ledge -or step just mentioned, and is continued eastward until, at _r_, we come -upon the rather massive walls of a building, the nature of which cannot -be determined without further investigation. At a short distance within -this wall, at a depth of about three feet below the cement floor, we find -a floor at _s_, about ten feet wide by thirty long, formed of flat Roman -tiles, twelve inches by eighteen inches square. This floor has been -uncovered, and as there was an indentation in the middle which seemed to -indicate that it was hollow underneath, a hole was made there, but it led -to no discovery. This seems also to have been a tank of water, perhaps a -cold water bath. The cement floor was continued easterly until it was -terminated by a wall, _t_, which ran at right angles to the eastern end -of the Old Wall, and appears to be the eastern termination of the -buildings now in course of exploration. The earth and rubbish from the -excavations have been here thrown into a great mound, from the top of -which the visitor can enjoy a bird’s eye view of the excavations. A few -yards to the north, he will come to the important line of excavations -nearer to the Old Wall. A small chamber, about eight feet square, with a -herring-bone pavement in very good preservation, projects beyond the line -of this eastern wall at _u_ in our plan. To the west of this is a small -hypocaust _v_, the floor of which has been a little lower than that of -the room _u_. In this hypocaust were found the remains of two skeletons, -one of which was that of a young person. The northern wall of the room -_v_ is particularly interesting, because in its whole height of full nine -feet, it presents the remains of the lines of flue-tiles which ran up it, -hardly an inch apart, and which show that this room must have been -intended to be very much heated. It was, perhaps, a _sudatorium_ or -sweating room. The opening from _u_ to _v_ occupies nearly the whole -width of the former room, and was perhaps closed by a wooden door. On -the western side of the hypocaust, at _w_, the wall has a sort of -basement, formed of large stones scooped out in a singular manner, the -object of which is by no means evident. We here come upon a series of -passages, _x_, to the north of which were four rooms, _z z z z_, -extending to the Old Wall. On the face of the Old Wall, we can -distinctly trace the springing not only of the walls of division, the -lower parts of which are found underground, but of the vaulting, from -which it appears that these rooms had what are technically called -barrel-roofs of masonry. They were slightly explored at the beginning of -the excavations, and in one of them was found a quantity of burnt wheat, -as though it had been a store-room. - -In the passages alluded to, there is at _y_, a square pit, somewhat like -what might be a cess-pool, of very good and substantial masonry, at the -bottom of which runs north and south a very well formed drain, the bed of -which is formed of large roof-tiles. To the south of this is a -hypocaust, A, which differs from the other hypocausts yet opened in being -partly formed of low parallel walls instead of rows of pillars. On the -wall of the passage leading to this hypocaust from the east was found the -inscription mentioned at page 45. Westward from the hypocaust A, but -without any apparent communication between them, was another hypocaust, -B, which had been constructed in the usual manner, the floor supported by -rows of low columns formed of square thin bricks. It was in this -hypocaust that the three skeletons mentioned before (_p._ 41,) were -found, the man who possessed the money crouching in the north-west -corner, and the two persons supposed to be women, extended along the side -of the northern wall. The opening into this hypocaust was through its -southern wall, from the interior court, so that the fugitives must have -crept along the whole length of the hypocaust to reach their place of -concealment. The part of this interior court, immediately adjacent to -this hypocaust, which has been excavated to some extent, presents several -interesting features. A breach in the eastern boundary wall had been -newly repaired with much inferior masonry at the time when the city of -Uriconium was taken and destroyed; and it is a curious circumstance that -some large pieces of stone lie here on the floor of the court, unfinished -by the masons, as though repairs and alterations in the buildings were -going on at the very moment of the final catastrophe. Adjoining to this -hypocaust, at its north-west corner, is a square room, c, with the -herring-bone pavement, exactly like that at _u_ in character and -dimensions, which had opened into the room above the hypocaust B, much in -the same manner as _u_ opened in the room _v_. Separated from this room -by a wall, but apparently without any communication with it, is an -interesting staircase D, leading down, to the entrance to a larger and -apparently more important series of hypocausts. This staircase descended -from a square room, about the same size as the room C, which had a smooth -pavement of cement. It is composed of three steps each formed of a large -squared stone. A part of the space at the bottom, the north-eastern -corner, appears to have been used by the later Roman inhabitants of this -building as a receptacle for the sweeping of the floors, and when it was -first opened the earth, to the height of about sixteen or eighteen inches -from the floor, was filled with all kinds of objects, such as coins, -hair-pins, fibulæ, needles in bone, nails, various articles in iron, -bronze, and lead, glass, broken pottery, bones of edible animals and -birds, stags’ horns, tusks and hoofs of wild boars, oyster shells, in one -of which lay the shell of a large nut, &c. A large shaft of a column lay -across the steps. The Roman masonry here is very good. To the right -hand, towards the south, a rather large arch, turned in Roman bricks, led -into the hypocaust E, a doorway in the southern wall of which formed the -communication between this hypocaust and the still larger hypocaust F. -The latter had supported what must have been a handsome room, which was -about fifty feet long, including the semicircular northern end, by -thirty-five feet in breadth. When first opened, this hypocaust was in a -state of preservation in which such buildings are seldom found in this -country. A hundred and twenty columns of bricks were counted, most of -them at their original height of rather more than three feet. At the -north-eastern corner, the columns supported a small portion of the floor -in its original position. It is a mass of cement, eight inches thick, -with the upper surface, which no doubt had formed the floor, perfectly -smooth. During the time that the Excavation Committee were excluded from -the field, all the pillars of this interesting hypocaust were thrown to -the ground, and a great part of the bricks which formed the supporting -columns were broken to pieces—even the piece of the floor and its -supports at the north-east corner were overthrown. A very exact drawing -of the latter, however, had been preserved, which served as a pattern for -restoring it; and it is to the ingenuity and labour of Dr. Henry Johnson -that the public owes the restoration of this hypocaust as far as it was -possible to restore it. - -Returning to the steps by which these hypocausts were entered, at D, the -floor from which we descended appears to have an opening of some kind to -the west, which looked down upon a court outside the semicircular end of -the hypocaust F, which from this point presents to the view an imposing -mass of masonry. In the corner just under this opening the remains of a -very young child were found, which we might almost imagine to have been -slaughtered in the room above, and thrown out into the court. This -court, or open space, seems to have been continued to the wall _a a_, and -to have been entered by a doorway in that wall at _g_, which was -approached from the passage to the north by a step formed by a large -squared stone. On the outside of the semicircular end of the hypocaust -F, lay, as if it had fallen or been thrown down, an immense stone, -carefully worked into the shape of the arc of a circle, and no doubt -forming one of a course at some unknown elevation in the wall. On the -outward side of it, a large iron pin was soldered into it with lead, -evidently for the purpose of attaching some weighty object on the outer -side of the building. - -Another step and doorway in the wall _a a_ was found at _h_, which must -have been much more frequented than the other, for the stone which formed -the step was worn in an extraordinary degree by the rubbing of footsteps. -It led to an inclosure P, which presents the appearance of having formed -public _latrinæ_; and which is separated by a long narrow inclosure from -the room already described as apparently the shop of a worker in metals. - -Such is a brief and general description of the ruins of Uriconium, at -present open to the visitor. The real character of the buildings we have -been describing appeared for a while very doubtful. The first -discoveries led to the belief that it was a great mansion, perhaps the -principal mansion in the Roman city, the residence of the chief municipal -officer; but in this case we might have expected to find some very fine -Mosaic or tessellated pavement, specimens of which had been met with in -other parts of the area of the town. On the contrary, all the floors yet -discovered to the south of the Old Wall, with the exception of those of -herring-bone brickwork, and that of a supposed bath, seemed to have been -of mere smoothed cement. This led us to suppose that we were still -exploring buildings erected for some public purpose. A comparison of the -character of these various buildings leaves no room for doubting that -they belonged to the public baths of Uriconium; and further excavations -to the south and west shewed that they formed an extensive square (_k_, -_k_, _k_, _k_), the northern side of which was formed by the Old Wall and -its continuation westward; and the southern side of which bordered upon -the other street running east and west, the pavement of which, similar to -that of the street at _l_, has been uncovered in its whole extent along -the line, L L. The western and southern sides of the square were formed -by a wide gallery or cloister (_k_, _k_, _k_), no doubt the ambulatory, -which was considered as an important part of the public baths of the -Romans. The ground to the eastward, in which no buildings could be -traced, may have been gardens, which were also usually attached to the -baths of the Romans. - -Having once decided that the building we have thus explored, is the -public baths, another equally interesting question arises out of it. The -public baths of the Roman towns in Britain are not unfrequently mentioned -in inscriptions commemorating the repairing or rebuilding of them; but it -is a circumstance of some importance that this building is combined with -the basilica, or town hall. Both seem to have participated in the same -accidents, and to have undergone decay together. Thus an inscription -found at Lanchester in Cumberland (supposed to be the Roman town of -Epiacum) speaks of the baths and basilica (BALNEVM CVM BASILICA); and at -Ribchester, in Lancashire, the baths and basilica (BALINEVM ET BASILICAM) -were rebuilt after having fallen into ruin through age. We are -therefore, I think, justified in concluding that the two great public -buildings, the baths and the basilica, usually joined each other; and I -think we may venture further to assume that the large building to the -north of the Old Wall, the remains of which are now covered up, was the -basilica of Uriconium. The proportions of this building are rather -extraordinary, and cannot be easily explained; but it is probable that in -a provincial town the basilica served a variety of purposes. An -inscription found at Netherby in Cumberland, speaks of a basilica for -practice in riding (BASILICAM EQVESTREM EXERCITATORIAM.) - -We may now proceed a little further in identifying the topography of the -ancient town. The line of the buildings we have traced parallel to the -Watling Street Road is at some distance within the hedge of the field; -and I believe that, when the farm buildings were erected on the opposite -side of the road, what appeared to be the front of buildings facing the -opposite direction, were found likewise at some distance within the -field. This, with the road, would make a very wide space; very much -wider than either of the two transverse streets. Moreover, a glance at -the plan will shew that, beyond the transverse street to the south, this -wide space became considerably narrowed; and in fact it seems to have -been reduced to the width of an ordinary street. It is my belief that -this wide space was the forum of Uriconium; and in that case it is rather -remarkable that the basilica held here exactly the same place, in regard -to the forum, as at Pompeii. - -We have thus already brought to light a very interesting portion of the -ancient Roman town, and have learnt something more than we knew before of -the character and economy of the Roman towns in Britain. The basilica, -as we have seen, came up to the front of the street, and formed the side -of a transverse street; but this was not the case with the baths, for a -space of some width between them and the forum was occupied by other -buildings, which I have already described. - -Other apartments surrounding the metal-worker’s shop are in course of -exploration, and will, I think, make us better acquainted with the -character of the whole of this line of buildings which looked upon the -open space which I have supposed to be the forum. I have already said -that this open space contracts to the south of the transverse street L L, -in what has been no more than the breadth of an ordinary street, which -ran down towards the river. A gutter, very well made, of carefully -squared stones, and remarkably well preserved, runs near the houses on -the eastern side of the street; the only side which at present can be -explored, as it is near the hedge of the Watling Street Road. It runs -very near the walls of the houses, is a foot wide, and about a foot deep, -and from place to place square stones are laid in lozenge-fashion, -apparently intended for stepping stones, but they must have stopped the -current of water down the channel. The buildings at this corner consist -of small rooms, and were probably private houses. The existence of walls -running parallel and transverse to the street L L has been ascertained -along the whole length of its southern side; but they have not yet been -sufficiently explored even to be laid down in the plan. - - * * * * * - -THE objects of antiquity found in the course of the excavations have been -so often alluded to, that the visitor will no doubt expect at least a -brief and general description of them. I have already described those -which illustrate the building and construction of a house, and we -naturally continue the description by turning to those articles which -belong especially to domestic life. Of this class, the most numerous -division, and that which strikes us first, is the pottery,—of which -certainly the most remarkable to the general observer is the ware -resembling in colour and general appearance bright red sealing wax, known -commonly as Samian ware, a name the propriety of which has been disputed. -The Roman writers speak of an earthenware much used at table, and said to -have received its name from having been originally made at Samos. It is -described as being of a red colour, as being of more value than the -common pottery, and as being proverbial for its brittleness, all which -characteristics belonged to the red ware found in this country, which was -covered with tasteful subjects of all kinds in relief, and was evidently -much valued, as we often find vessels in this ware which had been -carefully mended, and the brittleness of which was such that we seldom -find a specimen unbroken. Such mendings, chiefly by means of metal -rivets, are exhibited in specimens of Samian ware found in the -excavations at Wroxeter, and deposited in the Museum at Shrewsbury, where -there are also several pieces of this pottery, presenting subjects which -are interesting and by no means of common occurrence. It may be further -observed that the Samian ware in this country resembles a Roman ware of -which the potteries have been found at Aretium, the modern Arezzo, in -Tuscany, but this ware was much superior, especially in the degree of -artistic talent displayed in its ornamentation, to that which was in use -in this island, and which no doubt was imported from Gaul, where, -especially on the banks of the Rhine, the potteries in which it was made -have been found. - -Extensive potteries have also been found in this island, especially at -Castor, in Northamptonshire, where there was a Roman town named -Durobrivæ, and on the banks of the Medway, at Upchurch, in Kent. The -ware from both these potteries is of a blue or slate colour, produced by -imperfect firing in what is called a _smother-kiln_; that is, the air -being excluded and the heat being insufficient thoroughly to bake the -pottery, it retains so much carbonaceous matter as to give it a black -colour. The pottery of these two establishments is distinguished by the -difference of shapes. The ornamentation of the Upchurch ware is in -general of a very simple character; that of the pottery from Castor is -much more elaborate, and often consists of hunting scenes and other -subjects, laid on in a white substance after the pottery had been baked. -Specimens of both these wares are found at Wroxeter. - -The excavations at Wroxeter have brought to light at least two new -classes of Roman pottery, both evidently made in Shropshire. The first -is a white ware, made of what is known as the Broseley clay, and -consisting chiefly of very elegantly formed jugs, with narrow necks; -mortaria, or vessels for rubbing or pounding objects in cookery, the -interior surface of which is covered with grains of hard stone; and -bowls, which are often painted with stripes of red and yellow. The other -Romano-Salopian pottery is a red ware, differing in shade from the red -Roman wares usually found, and also made from one of the clays of the -Severn valley. Among the vessels in this ware are bowls pierced all over -with small holes, so as to have served the purpose of colanders. We find -also some very curious specimens of an imitation of the Samian ware; but -we have as yet no means of ascertaining where it was made. - -Many very interesting fragments of glass vessels have also been found in -the excavations at Wroxeter. Two or three other objects intended for -domestic purposes have been met with, such as a small bowl or cup made of -lead, and what appears to have been the handle of some larger vessel, -made of block tin, neither of which metals, used for such purpose, are of -common occurrence among Roman remains in this country. A ladle and -several knives have also been found, and a handle of a knife made of -stone, as well as several whet-stones. - -Of personal ornaments the most numerous are the hair-pins, most of which -are made of bone, though there are a few of bronze, and one of wood. -Their use was to hold together the knot into which the Roman women rolled -up their hair behind the head, and through which the pin was thrust. -They are, on an average, about three inches long, with a large head -rudely ornamented; and it will be remarked that the shank is thicker in -the middle, and that it becomes generally thinner near the head, no doubt -to prevent the pin from slipping out of the hair. Some of these pins had -evidently been saturated with an oily substance, which shews that the -ladies in Roman Britain applied oil to their hair. Several fibulæ of the -common Roman forms, have been met with; they are all of bronze, of -superior workmanship to the hair pins, and most of those hitherto found -at Wroxeter are, or have been, enamelled. Their use was to fasten the -mantle and other parts of the clothing. Among the personal ornaments -found already in the excavations are a number of buttons, finger rings, -bracelets, glass beads, and other objects, of which it is not necessary -here to give a particular description. Of two combs, both of bone, one -is remarkably neat in its form and make. Several bone needles may also -be mentioned, and a pair of bronze tweezers for eradicating superfluous -hairs. - -Roman coins are found in considerable numbers, but many of them are so -worn and defaced that it is no longer possible to decide to what emperor -they belonged. The earliest met with during the present excavations is -of the emperor Domitian. A great number are small coins of the -Constantine family of emperors. Only two silver coins have yet been -found, the others are of bronze or brass. The peasantry call them -_dinders_, a name which, though it represents the Latin _denarius_, was -no doubt derived from the Anglo-Norman _denier_. - -Many objects of a more miscellaneous character have also been found -during the present excavations; or have found their way into the Museum -from former discoveries. Among these are three artists’ pallettes, for -using colour; several weights, some marked with Roman numerals; a -steelyard; several keys; portions of iron chains; styli, for writing on -wax tablets; an iron trident, which may perhaps have been the head of a -staff of office or authority; one or two spear heads; a strigil for -scraping the skin in the sweating baths; a portion of an iron horse-shoe; -and two or three very nice statuettes in bronze. The most curious, -however, of these miscellaneous objects is a medicine stamp, intended to -mark packets or bottles of what, in modern times, would be called patent -medicines. A certain number of these Roman medicine stamps have been -found in Britain and on the Continent, and they are all, like this stamp -found at Wroxeter, for salves or washes for the eyes, diseases of the -eyes having been apparently very common among the inhabitants of the -western provinces of the Roman empire. The Wroxeter stamp, intended for -a collyrium or salve for the eyes called _dialebanum_ or _dialibanum_, -gives us in all probability the name of a physician resident in -Uriconium. The inscription may be read as follows, filling up the -abbreviations:—TIB_erii_ CL_audii_ M_edici_ DIALIBA_num_ AD OMNE VIT_ium_ -O_culorum_ EX O_vo_, _i.e._, the dialebanum of Tiberius Claudius the -physician, for all complaints of the eyes, to be used with egg. - -A few stones, with Roman inscriptions, chiefly of a sepulchral character, -have been dug up at Wroxeter in the course of accidental excavations. -Three of these were found in 1752, and are preserved in the library of -Shrewsbury School. The first inscription may be read thus:— - - C. MANNIVS - C. F. POL . SECV - NDVS . POLLEN - MIL . LEG . XX - ANORV . LII - STIP . XXXI - BEN . LEG . PR - H . S . E. - -intimating that it marked the grave of a soldier of the twentieth legion -(which was stationed at Chester, the Roman Deva) named Caius Mannius, of -the Pollian tribe. Another commemorated a soldier of the fourteenth -legion, and has been supposed to belong to a very early period, as that -legion was withdrawn from Britain before A.D. 68. It was the legion -which suffered so much in the war against Boadicea, and this soldier may -perhaps have been engaged in that war, although his having died in -Britain does not necessarily imply that the legion to which he had -belonged was there at the time, or indeed that it had ever been there, -unless we had some other reasons for supposing that it had been there. -His name was Marcus Petronius, the son of Lucius, of the Menenian tribe, -and the inscription may be read as follows:— - - M. PETRONIVS - L. F. MEN - VIC . ANN - XXXVIII - MIL. LEG - XIIII . GEM - MILITAVIT - ANN. XVIII - SIGN . FVIT - H . S . E. - -The third of these inscribed monuments was divided into three columns or -tables, commemorating three members of the family of a citizen of -Uriconium, named Deuccus. The inscription on the third column is -entirely erased, but the two others may be read as follows: - -D. M D. M -PLACIDA DEVCCV -AN . LV S . AN . XV -CVR . AG CVR . AG -CONI . A RATRE -XXX - -Another sepulchral stone, also preserved in the Library of Shrewsbury -School, was found in 1810, and bore an inscription commemorative of -Tiberius Claudius Terentius, a soldier of the cohort of Thracian cavalry, -which may be read as follows:— - - TIB . CLAVD . TRE - NTIVS . EQ . COH - THRACVM . AN - ORVM . LVII. STIP - ENDIORVM - H . S. - -In the excavations on the site of the cemetery, in the autumn of 1862, a -sepulchral stone was found, which had not improbably been placed over the -door of a sepulchral chamber of masonry. There had been a figure above, -the lower part of the legs and feet of which alone remain. The slab -bears the following inscription, which from the damage the stone has -sustained is very difficult to decipher, but I owe this reading to the -knowledge and acuteness of my friend Mr. Roach Smith. I may add that -some of the letters are extremely doubtful - - AMINIVS . T . POL . F . A - NORVMXXXXVSTIPXXII . MIL . LEG. - IIGEM . MILITAVITAQNVNC HIC SII - LEGITE . ET . FELICES . VITA . FLVS . MINV - IVSTAVINIERAQVATIEGIIIE . INTV - TANARA . DITIS . VIVITE . DVMSPI . . . - VITAE . DAT . TEMPVS . HONESTE. - -It is clear, at a glance, that the latter part of this inscription -contains three lines in hexameter verse; unfortunately they are the lines -most rubbed and most difficult to make out. Dr. Mc. Caul, president of -the University of Toronto, in Canada, in his recent work on -“Britanno-Romano Inscriptions,” suggests that they may be— - - Perlegite et felices vitâ plus minus jutâ; - Omnibus æqua lege iter est ad Tænara Ditis. - Vivite, dum Stygius vitæ dat tempus, honeste. - -The two last words of the first line are extremely doubtful, and I -confess that I do not believe in Dr. Mc Caul’s reading, which, of course -is but conjectural. The second does not appear at all to answer to what -remains of the original, with the exception of the last words Tænara -Ditis. But of the last line, Mr. Smith’s reading is much the best, and -indeed appears to me to be the correct one,— - - Vivite, dum spatium vitæ dat tempus, honeste. - -The part preceding the verses may be read— - - Aminius (perhaps Flaminius), T_iti_ Pol_lioni_ F_ilius_, annorum - xxxxv., stip_endiorum_ xxii, mil_es_ leg_ionis_ vii g_e_m_inæ_. - Militavit aq_uilifer_. Nunc hic si_tus est_. - -It may be remarked that in many respects this is one of the most curious -Roman inscriptions found in this island, and that it appears to be of -rather an early date. - -Another mere fragment of a stone, of the present existence of which I can -learn nothing, is said to have contained the letters:— - - LERT - FGAI - ...TILES. - -Lastly, a monument of stone, which, during the middle ages had been -formed into a holy water stoop, and which is now in the vicarage garden, -presents what has formed part of a Roman inscription— - - BONA . REI - PVBLICÆ - NATVS. - -It has probably been a dedication to one of the emperors, or an -inscription commemorative of him. - - * * * * * - -IT has been stated before, that the site of Uriconium is of very great -extent. If the visitor, after having examined the excavations, would -seek an agreeable walk, he may turn off by the smith’s shop already -mentioned, along the northerly continuation of the Watling Street Road, -which soon becomes a deep and pretty country lane, and crosses the Bell -Brook. Soon afterwards, on the rise of a bank, we come to a spot where -the ancient town wall crossed this road, and where there are said to be -traces of one of the gateway entrances to Uriconium. At the latter part -of the year 1862, excavations were made in an adjoining field to trace -the line of the town wall, which was found remaining to a height of three -or four feet; but it was of very rough construction, built merely of -small stone boulders mixed with clay, and had evidently been raised -hurriedly, at a late period of the history of Uriconium, to meet some -sudden emergency. There had evidently been an entrance opening here, but -there were no traces of gateway buildings, which were perhaps only of -timber. Outside the walls, on the bank to the right, was one of the -principal cemeteries, and here the sepulchral inscriptions mentioned -above were found. Successful excavations were made in 1862 on the site -of this cemetery, and many Roman graves were opened which furnished the -Museum in Shrewsbury with another inscribed monument of great interest, a -number of sepulchral urns and vessels of glass, and various other -objects. - -If, instead of going northward, the visitor follows the Watling Street -Road towards the south, he will soon reach the village of Wroxeter, and -may examine its church. A new gate to the churchyard has recently been -erected, and Mr. W. H. Oatley, of Wroxeter, who holds the office of -churchwarden, has contributed a shaft of a Roman column, and two Roman -capitals, which, together with another shaft given by the Rev. E. -Egremont, are now placed on each side of this gateway. The two capitals, -which were dragged out of the river Severn, are worthy of particular -attention. They are singularly rich in ornament, and mark that late -period of Roman architecture which became the model of the mediæval -Byzantine and Romanesque. I cannot help wishing that they were safely -deposited in the Museum at Shrewsbury, and I think that the Roman columns -would serve as well for gateway supports without the capitals, which -probably did not belong to them. The church of Wroxeter is a substantial -Norman building, with later alterations, and on the outside of the -southern wall of the chancel are the remains of a very interesting Norman -doorway, which has been built up. - -The chancel internally is chiefly remarkable for some fine monuments with -effigies of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries, -interesting especially for their costume. It has at present a low flat -whitewashed ceiling, but there is a fine old timber roof above, and it is -greatly to be regretted that the unsightly ceiling has not been removed, -so that the chancel might again be open to its lofty roof of timber. At -the western end of the church is an early font, _pl._ 7, which has been -formed of a very large Roman capital, taken from some important building -in the city of Uriconium. Such applications of Roman monuments to later -ecclesiastical purposes are by no means uncommon. In the garden of the -vicarage, which adjoins the churchyard, are a few fragments of Roman -architecture and sculpture, which have been carefully preserved by the -present vicar, the Rev. E. Egremont. - -Near the churchyard stands the residence of Mr. Oatley, who has also -collected in his garden a few fragments from the ancient city and its -neighbourhood. Among these is a cylindrical stone, which at first sight -might be taken for part of a column, but which appears, from a few -remaining letters of an inscription, to have been more probably a Roman -milliarium or mile-stone. Mr. Oatley has placed a Roman capital on the -top of it, and both are represented in _pl._ 6. Several architectural -fragments are also preserved in the garden of Mr. Stanier. Two of the -most interesting of these, belonging to the shaft of the same column, or -to those of two similar columns are represented in _pl._ 15. - -The Watling Street Road leads us direct from the gateway of the -churchyard to the river Severn, which is here crossed at present by a -ford. On the right is a large rugged field overlooking the river, and -occupied by Mr. Oatley, which has been trenched in several directions, -but nothing was discovered except a Roman well, ten feet deep, which is -kept open, and is now partly filled with clear spring water. In an -orchard at the corner of this field, near the road, were found a number -of human skeletons, attended with some remarkable circumstances, for an -account of which I refer the reader to Dr. Johnson’s remarks at the end -of this little volume. On the other side of the Watling Street Road, the -ground rises to a little knoll, which looks down upon the river, and -seems to have formed the southern corner of the inclosure of the city of -Uriconium. The top of this knoll has been carefully explored, and the -walls of a square building, perhaps of a tower, were uncovered. Among -the objects found on this spot were a head sculptured in stone, and a -mould for casting Roman coins, both of which are deposited in the Museum -at Shrewsbury. The impress on the coin-mould is that of a coin of Julia -Domna, the wife of the emperor Severus, (the commencement of the third -century); and it is rather a curious circumstance that a silver coin of -this empress, which fits the impress exactly, has been found in the -excavations near the Old Wall. This method of multiplying the imperial -coinage by casts seems to have been very common in these distant -provinces, and was perhaps exercised by the imperial or municipal -officers. Another coin-mould, also with the impress of Julia Domna, was -found at Wroxeter in 1747, and two, one of Severus himself, and the other -of Plautilla, in 1722. - - * * * * * - -IN conclusion, I may perhaps be allowed to make a remark on some of the -various points on which the excavations on the site of Uriconium have -already thrown more or less illustrative light during the short period in -which they have as yet been carried on. We see how, by examining their -buildings and comparing the objects that are turned up by the pick and -the spade, we get an insight into the condition of the inhabitants of -Roman Britain, and learn to what degree they enjoyed the luxuries and -comforts of life. We see that they possessed a great majority of the -refinements of modern society—far more than can be traced among the -population of the middle ages. We are taught even the character of their -food by remains of edible animals. The comparison of other objects -enables us to judge to a great degree of the state and extent of -manufactures and commerce. We learn from inscriptions on their -sepulchral monuments and altars the names and occupations of some of the -inhabitants of the ancient town, and the races to which they belonged; -and from this partial information we are enabled by induction to obtain a -general view of the whole. We are thus enabled to form a truer notion of -the manner in which this country had been inhabited and governed during -nearly four centuries; and we have the further hope of eventually -discovering monuments which will throw some light on the more particular -history of this neighbourhood in these remote ages. We learn, finally, -from the condition in which the ruins of Uriconium are now seen, and -especially from the numerous remains of human beings which are found -scattered over its long-deserted floors, the sad fate under which it -finally sank into ruin, and thus we are made vividly acquainted with the -character and events of a period of history which has hitherto been but -dimly seen through the vague traditions of writers who at best knew them -only by hearsay. - - - - -Catalogue of Wroxeter Antiquities in the Museum at Shrewsbury. - - -I. -OBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE ARRANGEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE HOUSES AND -OTHER BUILDINGS. - - -1. Roofing flags, of micaceous sandstone, form generally hexagonal, with -a hole for the nail.—_See pl._ IV., _fig._ 1. - -2. Tiles of various kinds:—small square tiles, flue-tiles, roof-tiles, -&c. Large oblong square tiles for bonding-courses in the walls, &c. -Square tiles for making the pillars in the hypocausts. - -3. Specimens of the concrete which covered the hypocaust, to the depth -of eight inches or more, forming the floor of the apartment. - -4. Eight different specimens of the tessellated, or mosaic, pavement, -taken up as it was found, and framed. - -5. Drawings of the same, made by Mr. George Maw, of Broseley, and -presented by that gentleman to the Museum. - -6. Sculpture in sandstone; a head of late Roman art, which appears to -have formed part of the architectural ornamentation of a building. - -7. Bases, capitals, and shafts of columns. - -8. Stucco, covering the walls, coloured, plain, and with some formal -patterns. One specimen, bearing the letters A. R. C. A., having formed -part of an inscription on the wall. Tessellated ornamentation of the -surface of a wall, dark and light tesseræ, so as to form an irregular -pattern. - -9. _Umbilicus_, or hinge for a door. - -10. Iron bolts, [Picture: T shaped image] shaped iron stancheons, and -nails, for fixing roof and flue-tiles upon the walls. - -11. Many tiles bearing the impression of the foot of domestic or wild -animals,—some of the dog; other, of the sheep, pig, horse, and ox. - - - -II. -OBJECTS FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES. - - -1. POTTERY:— - -_a_. Samian ware. - -_b_. Upchurch pottery. - -_c_. Durobrivian pottery. - -_d_. Romano-Salopian ware, made of clay obtained from Broseley. - -_e_. Pieces of red earthenware, probably made in Shropshire. - -2. GLASS:— - -_a_. Fragments of flat or window glass. - -_b_. Portions of bottles, &c., generally coloured, some opalescent. - -_c_. Fragments of a cup, ornamented with spots of deep purple glass. - -_d_. One green glass bottle, 6½ inches high, with narrow neck, found in -the cemetery, quite entire. - -_e_. A green glass jar, with wide mouth, about 5 inches high and 6 -inches wide, also found in the cemetery. It was full of soil, everywhere -penetrated by roots of plants. - -_f_. Two metallic mirrors or _specula_, one in fragments, the other -entire. They are of white metal, a compound of tin and copper, with a -large proportion of the former.—(Cemetery.) - -_g_. Three very pretty lamps. One bears the figure of Hercules, another -that of a dolphin, a third that of a boy kneeling.—(Cemetery.) - -_h_. A silver fibulæ. - -3. Bronze statuette of Venus and Mercury. - -4. A _strigil_, (fragment.) - -5. Part of an iron horse-shoe. Iron bit of a bridle. Iron spur. - -6. Two masks, one made of terra cotta, the other of pottery. - -7. Anomalous earthenware vessel. - - - -III. -IMPLEMENTS AND UTENSILS. - - -1. Weights: one in lead, 20¼oz.; another in stone, 11½oz. - -Weight in lead, marked ii., weighs 2¼oz.; another also in lead, weighs -2½oz. - -2. Ladle; and neck of some vessel made of block tin. - -3. Several keys, of different forms. Iron padlock. - -4. Large shackles, chains, &c., of iron. - -5. Knives, spear-heads, and portions of other weapons. Two axe-heads. -Bone handle of a sword, _very curious_. - -6. Several whet-stones. Stone handle to a knife. Touchstone. - -7. Iron trident. - -8. Rings of iron, bronze, and lead. - -9. _Styli_ of bronze and iron; bronze tweezers; bronze and iron spoons; -steelyard. - -10. Small cup of lead; ditto of thin copper. - -11. Large plates of lead, purpose unknown. - -12. Cock made of lead, a child’s toy. - -13. Fragment of a lamp in red pottery. - -14. Three painters’ pallettes. - -15. A curious iron box—(ointment box?) - -16. Iron trowel. - -17. Bronze lancet (?) - - - -IV. - - -PERSONAL ORNAMENTS. - - -1. Hair pins, in great variety; more than 30 specimens have been found -made usually of bone; with some of bronze, but these are much more -slender. _Pl._ 11. - -2. Bodkins or needles made of bone. - -3. Fibulæ, and buckles in great variety. - -4. Bracelets or armlets, and brooch. - -5. Bronze studs or buttons, some flat, and others very convex. - -6. Finger rings:—_a_. silver; _b_. yellow bronze; _c_. bronze, with iron -wire; _d_. bronze, with open work on one side; _e_. fragment of one of -wood; _f_. iron signet ring: device engraved upon a blue stone, a fawn -coming out of a nautilus shell. - -7. Combs made of bone, one much ornamented. _Pl._ 10, _figs._ 5, 6. - -8. Beads of glass of various sizes, some large to suspend round the -neck, others to string together upon a thread. - -9. Bronze bracelet of twisted work. - - -COINS. - - -1. Coins found in the present excavations at Wroxeter. - -2. Coins found at Wroxeter, at different times, and given to the Museum. - -3. The coins found with a skeleton in the hypocaust. - -4. Coining-mould of baked clay. Julia Domna. - - -CINERARY URNS. - - -1. Large red earthenware urn, containing human hones (burnt), inclosed -in an outer urn of lead, which was brought from Wroxeter many years ago. - -2. Another Cinerary urn of black pottery, containing burnt human bones, -found in a field adjoining the cemetery, and outside the town walls. -Purchased by the secretary. - -3. A large Cinerary urn, found in the recent excavations, ten inches -high, and thirty in circumference, almost entire, containing bones, but -not human.—_See pl._ 13, _fig._ 2. - -4. Cinerary urns in red and black pottery of various sizes, from 4 to 12 -inches high. Some contained burnt human bones and unguent -bottles.—(Cemetery.) Many small flask-shaped bottles were found, some -broken, some entire, some which had evidently been exposed to heat. Oily -matter was detected in one; hence they have been termed unguent -bottles.—(Cemetery.) - - - -V. -MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS. - - -MEDICINE STAMP, found at Wroxeter in 1808, by Mr. Upton; purchased from -his family in 1859, by the late Beriah Botfield, Esq., M.P., who -presented it to the Museum. - -1. Oyster shells in great number; shells of some nut found in an oyster -shell. - -2. Remains of small animals and birds. - -3. Nondescript articles in iron, shapeless masses of lead, innumerable -fragments of pottery, bone, &c. - -4. Fragments of horn and bone which have been cut with a saw or other -tool. - -5. Fragments of bone, which have been turned in a lathe. - -6. Inscribed sepulchral stone with Latin inscription, partly legible. -There has been a statue on the top.—(Cemetery.) - -7. A skiff-shaped vessel in bronze, with round handle, and a lid which -closed with a catch. - -8. Several legs of the fighting cock, with very large natural spurs. - -9. Roundels, formed chiefly from the bottoms of earthenware vessels, -perhaps used in some game; others made with a hole in the centre. - -10. Skulls of the dog; one, that of a dog of the mastiff kind, of an -unknown species. Bones of horse, ox, roe, and red deer, (_Cervus -elaphus_); also fragments of the horn of a species allied to the elk of -Ireland, (_Strongylocerus spelæus_.) Very numerous remains of the wild -boar, including bones of the hoof, jaw, and tusks. - -Among other bones of the ox are some of a very large kind, now unknown in -this country. - -Also, the crania of the _Bos longifrons_, more than one bearing evident -marks of the fatal blow of the axe on the forehead. - -11. Specimens of _mended_ pottery:—1. Samian ware. 2. Upchurch. 3. -Romano-British pottery. - -12. Slabs of stone for grinding or mixing colours, painters’ pallettes. - -13. Specimen of Hepatic iron ore. Ditto of Barytes or heavy spar. - -14. Iron tire of a wheel, 3ft. 3ins. in diameter, 1½ inch in breadth. -Two iron hoops, supposed to have belonged to the nave of the same wheel. - -15. Two hoops of another nave, with the wood remaining between them. - - - -Human Remains. - - -1. PARTS of three human skeletons found in the hypocaust B. Two of the -skulls are almost entire, and one is broken into fragments. The latter -is remarkable for its great thickness. One of the two former from its -form, is most probably the head of a female, and the bones of the pelvis -of one skeleton are also characteristic of the female sex. One jaw-bone -must have belonged to a very old person, as not only the teeth but even -the sockets are gone. One hundred and thirty-two coins were found in the -hypocaust with these skeletons. See page 41. - -2. Five human heads, and other parts of human skeletons, were first dug -up in the orchard, near the river. Of these, _four_ were singularly -deformed,—the one eye being in advance of the other and the face oblique. -Ten other skulls have since been found in the same place, and have been -arranged in the Museum. Of the ten above-mentioned _three_ are deformed -like the others, four are so broken and defective that their form cannot -be ascertained, three are not deformed. One of the latter is a very -large skull, well formed, but with very strong projecting cheek (_malar_) -bones, and a projecting occiput. - -3. The principal bones of a skeleton (female?) belonging to one of the -skulls, stretched on a board (as well as could be done _on the spot_) -just as it lay in the ground. - -The circumstances under which these skeletons were found are full of -interest. The greater part of them (at least twenty have been found, but -not all in a state to be taken up) were evidently put into the ground -with a certain degree of attention, that is, _buried_. They were not -thrown heedlessly into a pit, but carefully deposited at full length, and -generally near together, the legs and arms for the most part extended, -or, as in the case above described, one arm lying across the body. In -general, nothing particular has been found near them, but only the usual -contents of the soil, such as stones, roots, and fragments of pottery. -In one instance an iron ring, in another, some nails were met with, and -in a third a single coin of Claudius Gothicus. But all these might have -occurred accidentally in the neighbourhood of the bodies, in an old Roman -site, and not have been buried with them. No vestiges of wood derived -from coffins, or of apparel, were discovered. There were no traces of -weapons or articles of domestic use, which were generally buried by the -Romans with their friends, and the place where these remains were found -is within the walls, and could not, therefore, be a Roman cemetery. - -4. In more than one instance, bones of very young children have been -found; but in one instance, alluded to at page 68, almost an entire -skeleton of a child was found, which has been preserved, and is in the -Museum. This was found outside the semicircular end of the great -hypocaust, where there must have been a small court. From the smallness -of the bones of the skeleton, and from the circumstance of the teeth -being still contained within the jaw-bone, it may be inferred that this -was a very young infant—perhaps still in arms. - -5. A thigh bone has been found, which, having been fractured, has become -united during life. - -The most interesting circumstance connected with the human remains found -at Wroxeter, is the large relative proportion of deformed skulls. Of the -nineteen crania found in the orchard and since deposited in the Museum, -eleven are more or less crooked. It has been supposed, and indeed the -opinion is still entertained by some antiquarians, that this deformity -was _congenital_ and not _posthumous_, that is to say, that the persons -to whom these skulls belonged lived and died with deformed heads. And -this was my own view before I had learned that bones are capable of being -bent by pressure in the ground. There can be little doubt that the -deformity has been produced by posthumous pressure, aided by moisture and -the solvent action of certain acids that always exist in vegetable mould. -{99a} Other instances of a like effect have been described by Dr. -Sherman, {99b} and, in America, by the Rev. D. Wilson. {99c} - - H. J. - - - - -APPENDIX. - - -ON November the 11th, 1858, at the General Meeting of the Shropshire and -North Wales Natural History and Antiquarian Society, held at the Museum, -Shrewsbury, the President, Beriah Botfield, Esq., M.P., proposed that -excavations should be commenced at Wroxeter. He had written to the Duke -of Cleveland, and obtained his Grace’s consent to do so. He also made -the very liberal offer to give fifty guineas towards the expenses, -provided that fifty other gentlemen could be found willing to subscribe -one guinea each. A Committee was formed, consisting of the following -noblemen and gentlemen to carry on the work:— - - The Right Hon. the Earl of Powis, Powis Castle - - Beriah Botfield, Esq., M.P., F.R.S., Decker Hill - - R. A. Slaney, Esq., M.P., Walford Manor - - Rev. B. H. Kennedy, D.D., Shrewsbury - - Rev. E. Egremont, Wroxeter - - Rev. R. W. Eyton, Ruyton, Shiffnal - - Rev. H. M. Scarth, Bathwick - - Samuel Ashdown, Esq., Uppington - - W. H. Bayley, Esq., Shrewsbury - - William F. F. Foulkes, Esq., Stanley Place, Chester - - Henry Johnson, Esq., M.D., Hon. Sec., Shrewsbury - - George Stanton, Esq., Shrewsbury - - Albert Way, Esq., Worham Manor - - Samuel Wood, Esq., Shrewsbury - - Thomas Wright, Esq., F.S.A., Brompton - -A Metropolitan Committee has since been thought desirable, and held its -first meeting August 3rd. It consists of the following distinguished -noblemen and gentlemen:— - - The Right Hon. Earl Stanhope, President of the Royal Society of - Antiquaries - - The Right Hon. Viscount Hill, Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire - - The Right Hon. Lord Braybrooke - - The Right Hon. Lord Talbot de Malahide - - The Right Hon. Lord Lindsay - - The Right Hon. Lord Newport, M.P. - - The Right Hon. the Lord Chief Baron - - Beriah Botfield, Esq., M.P. - - The Hon. Rowland C. Hill, M.P. - - R. Monckton Milnes, Esq., M.P. - - C. Octavius S. Morgan, Esq., M.P. - - H. Danby Seymour, Esq., M.P. - - W. Tite, Esq., M.P. - - C. C. Babington, Esq., F.R.S., St. John’s Coll., Cambridge - - The Rev. E. L. Barnwell, General Secretary of the Cambrian - Archæological Association - - Sir John P. Boileau, Bart., F.R.S., V.P.S.A. - - The Rev. Dr. Bosworth, F.R.S., F.S.A., Professor of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford - - The Rev. Dr. J. Collingwood Bruce, F.S.A., Hon. Sec. of the Society of - Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne - - Talbot Bury, Esq., F.R.I.B.A., A.I.C.E. - - Benjamin Bond Cabbell, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A. - - Robert Chambers, Esq., Edinburgh - - Sir James Clarke, Bart., F.R.S. - - James Dearden, Esq., F.S.A. - - C. Wentworth Dilke, Esq. - - J. Hepworth Dixon, Esq., F.S.A. - - Joseph Durham, Esq., F.S.A. - - The Rev. E. Egremont, Vicar of Wroxeter - - F. W. Fairholt, Esq., F.S.A. - - Augustus Guest, Esq., L.L.D., F.S.A. - - S. Carter Hall, Esq., F.S.A. - - J. O. Halliwell, Esq., F.S.A., F.R.S. - - The Rev. C. H. Hartshorne - - Fredk. Hindmarsh, Esq., F.R.G.S., F.G.S., Hon. Sec. - - The Rev. T. Hugo, F.S.A. - - Dr. Henry Johnson, Hon. Sec. of the Excavation Committee, Shrewsbury - - Joseph Mayer, Esq., F.S.A., Liverpool - - Sir Roderick I. Murchison, F.R.S., &c. - - Frederick Ouvry, Esq., F.S.A. - - The Rev. H. M. Scarth - - Charles Roach Smith, Esq., F.S.A. - - Vice-Admiral W. H. Smyth, F.R.S., F.S.A. - - W. S. W. Vaux, Esq., F.S.A., President of the Numismatic Society - - Albert Way, Esq., F.S.A. - - Thomas Wright, Esq., F.S.A., Treasurer. - - * * * * * - - * * * * * - - J. O. SANDFORD, PRINTER, SHREWSBURY. - - * * * * * - - - - -PLATES. - - -Plate 1: The north side of the Old Wall at Wroxeter - - - [Picture: Plate 1. The north side of the Old Wall at Wroxeter] - - - -Plate 2: Wroxeter Church, Shropshire (Vignette) - - - [Picture: Plate 2: Wroxeter Church, Shropshire (Vignette)] - - - -Plate 3: First Roman Hypocaust Discovered at Uriconium 1859 - - -[Picture: First Roman Hypocaust Discovered at Uriconium] - - - -Plate 4: Roman Tile-Roof, Roman Flag-Roof, Section of Roman Hypocaust, -&c. - - - [Picture: Figures 1, 2, 3, 4: Roman Tile Roof; Figures 5 and 6: Roman - Flag Roof; Figure 7: Section of Roman Hypocaust] - - - -Plate 5: Plan of Walls, discovered by the Excavations at Wroxeter, Salop, -from February 3rd to September, 1863. - - - [Picture: Plan of Walls, discovered by the Excavations at Wroxeter, - Salop, from February 3rd to September, 1863] - - - -Plate 6: Column in the garden of W. H. Oatley Esq., Wroxeter - - - [Picture: Column in the garden of W. H. Oatley Esq., Wroxeter] - - - -Plate 7: Ancient Stone Font in Wroxeter Church - - - [Picture: Plate 7: Ancient Stone Font in Wroxeter Church] - - - -Plate 8: Capitals found at Uriconium - - - [Picture: Plate 8: Capitals found at Uriconium] - - - -Plate 9: Samian, Upchurch, and Romano-Salopian Pottery - - - [Picture: Plate 9: Samian, Upchurch, and Romano-Salopian Pottery] - - - -Plate 10: Rings and Combs - - - [Picture: Rings and Combs (actual size)] - - - -Plate 11: Hair Pins &c. - - - [Picture: Hair Pins &c. (actual size)] - - - -Plate 12: Skulls from Wroxeter - - - [Picture: Skulls from Wroxeter] - - - -Plate 13: Roman Remains from Wroxeter - - - [Picture: Plate 13: Roman Remains from Wroxeter, in the possession of - Samuel Wood, Esq., and Mask,. in the Museum, Shrewsbury] - - - -Plate 14: Upchurch Pottery, Adz, Spear Head, and Romano-Salopian (Red) -Ware - - - [Picture: Plate 14: Upchurch Pottery, Adz, Spear Head, and - Romano-Salopian (Red) Ware] - - - -Plate 15: Carved stone fragments from Uriconium, in the Garden of Edward -Stanier, Esq., Wroxeter - - - [Picture: Carved stone fragments from Uriconium, in the Garden of Edward - Stanier, Esq., Wroxeter] - - - -Plate 16: Sepulchral Stone - - - [Picture: Sepulchral Stone from in the Cemetery, Wroxeter] - - * * * * * - - - - -ADVERTISEMENTS. {102} - - - J. O. SANDFORD. - - * * * * * - - CARTE DE VISITE ALBUMS. - - * * * * * - - PRESENTATION BOOKS. - - * * * * * - - STATIONARY. - - * * * * * - - North and South Wales Guides. - - * * * * * - - TOURISTS CASES. - - * * * * * - - SHREWSBURY AND WROXETER - - STEREOSCOPIC SLIDES. - - * * * * * - - 25 High-Street, Shrewsbury. - - * * * * * - - J. O. SANDFORD. - - * * * * * - - DRAWING MATERIALS, - COMPRISING - WINSOR & NEWTON’S, & ROWNEY’S - - COLOURS, - - IN CAKES, TUBES, AND PANS. - BRISTOL AND LONDON BOARDS. - - Whatman’s Drawing Papers. - - SKETCH BLOCKS & BOOKS, - OF VARIOUS SIZES. - - PENCILS & BRUSHES. - - CRAYON PAPERS. - - * * * * * - - 25, High-Street, Shrewsbury. - - * * * * * - - - -WATERPROOF TWEED CLOAKS. - - - * * * * * - - J. E. & W. PHILLIPS, - - TAILORS, - AND - HABIT MAKERS, - - 37, HIGH STREET, SHREWSBURY, - - ARE THE ORIGINAL MAKERS OF THE - - WATERPROOF TWEED CLOAKS - - FOR LADIES, - - Which they continue to supply of the same quality - which obtained for them their European reputation. - - * * * * * - - GENTLEMEN’S OVER COATS - OF THE SAME MATERIAL. - - * * * * * - - Patterns of Material, and directions for Measurement - sent (post free) on application. - - * * * * * - - - -LION HOTEL, -SHREWSBURY. - - -THE Nobility, Gentry, and Public of Shrewsbury and its Vicinity, are -respectfully informed that this old-established and well-known Hotel, has -undergone considerable renovation and change in every department, and -that nothing will be spared to make it the most complete and comfortable -Hotel in the county. An entirely new tariff of charges has been arranged -(including servants’ fees) on the most reasonable charges. - - _N.B.—The Lion Omnibus runs in connection with all the Trains to_ - _and from the Railway Station_. - - POST HORSES ALWAYS IN READINESS. - Weddings, funerals, &c. as usual. - ALL ORDERS FOR POST HORSES, - FLYS, &c. - TO BE ADDRESSED TO - AUGUSTUS LUCAS, PROPRIETOR. - - * * * * * - - _Just published_, _price_ 1_s._ 6_d._ _cloth_; 1_s._ _paper_, - - AN HISTORICAL AND ILLUSTRATED - Handbook - FOR - THE TOWN OF SHREWSBURY: - - BEING - - A GENERAL GUIDE TO ITS CHURCHES, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, WALKS, - AND OTHER REMARKABLE OBJECTS; TO WHICH IS ADDED, - EXCURSIONS IN THE VICINITY, - - BY - HENRY PIDGEON, ESQ., -_Treasurer of the Corporation of Shrewsbury_, _Author of_ “_Memorials of_ - _Shrewsbury_,” _&c._ _&c._ - - SHREWSBURY: J. O. SANDFORD, HIGH STREET. - - * * * * * - - - -LONDON JEWELLERY -ESTABLISHMENT, -38, HIGH-STREET, SHREWSBURY. - - - * * * * * - - J. KENT, - (SUCCESSOR TO J. T. NIGHTINGALE,) - PROPRIETOR. - - * * * * * - - KENT’S LONDON AND GENEVA WATCHES, - ENGLISH AND FOREIGN - CLOCKS AND TIMEPIECES, - -Manufactured to order, expressly for his own sale, by the most celebrated -makers, are warranted to keep accurate time, _and every attention given -to them for the first two years free of charge_, unless broken or injured -by accident. - - WEDDING AND GUARD RINGS, - Of 12, 15, 18, & 22 Carat Gold, _Hall-marked_. - GUARD AND ALBERT CHAINS - of the newest London design, and guaranteed as to quality and - workmanship. - - HAIR JEWELLERY, - -In Brooches, Bracelets, Shawl-pins, Earrings, Lockets, Necklets, Guard or -Albert Chains, Rings, Studs, Sleeve-links, Scarf-pins, Charms, &c., of -the most novel and artistic designs, made to order, _from the hair -supplied by the parties_, on the shortest possible notice. - -In order to meet the requirement of his increasing connection, J. K. -respectfully announces that, having _now on the premises_ experienced -first-class London Workmen, he can execute - - _Repairs in Jewellery_, _Watches_, _Clocks_, _Spectacles_, - _Plated Goods_, _Cutlery_, _&c._ - - IN A FEW HOURS. - - J. KENT, - LATE J. T. NIGHTINGALE, - MOURNING JEWELLER, OPTICIAN, &c. - 38, HIGH STREET, SHREWSBURY. - - * * * * * - - - -Shrewsbury & Wroxeter Illustrated. - - - _A Series of Views for the Stereoscope_, _by_ F. BEDFORD. 1s. _each_. - -1. SHREWSBURY, Ireland’s Mansion. - -2. SHREWSBURY, the Market House. - -3. SHREWSBURY, the Market Square. - -4. SHREWSBURY, Statue of Clive, in the Market Place. - -5. SHREWSBURY, Elizabethan Houses, in the Market Place. - -6. SHREWSBURY, the Cross Keys Tavern, High Street. - -7. SHREWSBURY, Old House, Princess Street, Market Place. - -8. SHREWSBURY, Shearman’s Hall, and Old Post Office Inn. - -9. SHREWSBURY, Old Houses, in the Wyle Cop. - -10. SHREWSBURY, Old Timber Houses, in the Abbey Foregate. - -11. SHREWSBURY, Gate Way to Council House, St. Nicholas’ Chapel. - -12. SHREWSBURY, in the Court Yard to the Council House. - -13. SHREWSBURY, the Royal Grammar School. - -14. SHREWSBURY, the Castle, Garden Front. - -15. SHREWSBURY, the Castle, from the Entrance Gateway. - -16. SHREWSBURY, the last remaining Tower of the Old Walls. - -17. SHREWSBURY, English Bridge. - -18. SHREWSBURY, St. Giles’s Church. - -19. SHREWSBURY, Old Church of St. Giles. - -20. SHREWSBURY, the Abbey, from the South East. - -21. SHREWSBURY, the Abbey, West Front. - -22. SHREWSBURY, Old St. Chad’s Church. - -23. SHREWSBURY, St. Mary’s Church, view from South West. - -24. SHREWSBURY, St. Mary’s Church, South Porch. - -25. SHREWSBURY, St. Mary’s Church, from the Infirmary. - -26. SHREWSBURY, St. Julian’s Church, and Spire of St. Alkmond. - -27. SHREWSBURY, St. Chad’s Church. - -28. SHREWSBURY, the Portal to the Shoemaker’s Arbour, Kingsland. - -29. SHREWSBURY, Lord Hill’s Column. - -30. SHREWSBURY, the Stone Pulpit. - -31. SHREWSBURY, St. Mary’s Watergate. - -32. SHREWSBURY, the Ferry and House of Industry. - -33. SHREWSBURY, Avenue in the Quarry. - -34. SHREWSBURY, the Dingle in the Quarry. - -35. SHREWSBURY, the Whitehall. - -36. WROXETER, remains of Floor in the Baths. - -37. WROXETER, supposed Enameller’s Shop. - -38. WROXETER, Public Baths, looking West. - -39. WROXETER, the Old Wall, and Hypocaust. - -40. WROXETER, Public Baths, from the S.W. - -41. WROXETER, the principal Hypocaust. - -42. WROXETER, Public Baths, looking East. - -43. WROXETER, the Excavations, seen from W.N.W. - - _Published by CATHERALL & PRICHARD_, _Eastgate-row_, - _Chester_, _and sold by all dealers in slides_. - - * * * * * - - - -VINCENT CRUMP, - - - BY SPECIAL APPOINTMENT - - Bride, Citron, [Picture: Royal coat Simmels in - and of Arms] the - Desert Cakes. Season. - - CONFECTIONER - - To Her Majesty the Queen, - - WYLE COP AND PRIDE HILL, - - SHREWSBURY. - - * * * * * - - ROYAL SHREWSBURY CAKES. - - * * * * * - - - - -FOOTNOTES. - - -{99a} See Abstract of Proceedings of Royal Society, June, 1862. - -{99b} Crania Britannia. - -{99c} Pre-Historic Man, vol. ii. p. 306, &c. &c. - -{102} In this transcription the advertisements have been moved to the -end of the book. In the original the first two (J. O. Sandford) come -before the frontispiece. The rest then follow after the Appendix and -come before the Plates with the exception of the last two (Shrewsbury and -Wroxeter Illustrated; Vincent Crump) which came after the plates.—DP. - - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RUINS OF THE ROMAN CITY OF -URICONIUM, AT WROXETER, NEAR SHREWSBURY*** - - -******* This file should be named 62425-0.txt or 62425-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/2/4/2/62425 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - |