# Archaeological Journal/Volume 11/Proceedings at the Meetings of the Archaeological Institute (Part 1)

Proceedings at the Meetings of the Archaeological Institute.
December 2, 1853.
The Hon. Richard C. Neville, F.S.A., V.P., in the Chair.
The Rev. George Tucker, Rector of Musbury, Devon, communicated, through the Rev. Dr. Oliver, the following account of Roman remains discovered by him in that county, and produced a coloured representation of a tesselated pavement which had been been laid open to view, in August, 1850.
"In a field, commonly called 'Church Ground,' part of Holcombe Farm in the parish of Uplyme, there is a heap of ruins overgrown with brushwood and trees, in length about 100 yards, and as far as could be ascertained only eighteen feet wide. Amidst these ruined walls, the popular notion has prevailed that an ancient church had stood, and various persons had examined the site without any satisfactory result. Having been requested by the owner of the land, Mr. Bartlett, to examine the place and make some trials within the angles of the walls, we found a horizontal stratum of mortar beneath a headway of earth, about four feet deep, which induced us to proceed at once to remove the superincumbent mass, in full assurance that we should find a Roman pavement. This anticipation was realised, and our labours on the first day brought to view enough to afford a good idea of the entire floor. On the second day, we ascertained that the room had measured eighteen feet square; more than half of the pavement was in sound condition, with the exception of some small parts where the tesseræ had been uplifted by roots of trees, or crushed in by the falling ruins. Within a broad border of two bands of ornament which ran along the four sides of the room, forming a square compartment, was inscribed a circle, about ten feet in diameter, with foliated ornaments in the spandrils, and enclosing a singular figure composed of four circles intersecting each other, with a hexagon in the centre of all. These circles as well as that enclosing them are ornamented with the guilloche pattern; this is also introduced alternately with foliated designs in the outer band of the square border surrounding the room; the inner band being formed of the looped pattern, of frequent occurrence in such pavements. The tesseræ are red, blue, white, and dove-coloured, gradually diminishing in their size towards the centre of the floor. When first exposed, the colours were clear and bright. Some fragments of pottery, a few bones which quickly crumbled to dust, some charred substances and a piece of metal which had evidently been subjected to a very strong heat, were found immediately upon the surface of the floor. There was, likewise, a great quantity of roofing-tiles, of uniform size, and of irregularly pentangular shape, scattered in confusion. We found an adjoining room floored merely with ​lime and sand, and a third chamber, laid as far we could observe with square red tiles, of fine and brittle material.
"Whether these remains had any connexion with Musbury Castle, an ancient encampment about two miles distant, I am not competent to say."
The floor presents considerable elegance and variety in its design. The introduction of a multangular figure in the centre occurs in other examples; but the four interlaced circles over which it is laid, without combining with them, form a feature of more rare occurrence. The irregularity and inferior design of the central hexagon, lead to the conjecture that it may not have been part of the original work, but inserted possibly, to repair some injury which the floor had suffered. The looped-chain pattern surrounding the whole is not uncommon; it occurs at Woodchester and other Roman sites. The roofing-tiles, above-mentioned, usually of stone, the form being in this instance a long irregular pentagon, have been found elsewhere in Roman villas in England, and more commonly of an irregularly hexagonal shape, as those at Bisley, Gloucestershire, figured in this Journal, at Mansfield Woadhouse, Notts, and at Woodchester. In every instance they are perforated near one end, and were thus attached to the woodwork of the roof by means of iron nails.
During the past year some further remains have been found, described by Mr. Tucker as those of a bath, and situated about twelve or thirteen yards south of the pavement, in a direct line with the eastern wall of the room. The form is octagonal, the dimensions are as follows,—depth, three and a half feet; width from side to side, where there arc no benches, eleven and a half feet; where the benches occur, ten feet. They measure two feet in height. The floor is laid with tesseræ of pale fawn colour, and it is almost perfect. The same roofing-tiles occurred, as before described, and red floor-tiles were also found. Mr. Tucker reported that the tesselated pavement had become soft and had lost much of its colour.
These discoveries supply an interesting addition to the list of vestiges of Roman occupation on the confines of Dorset and Devon; it is, however, highly probable, that so agreeable and salubrious a part of the southern coasts was not neglected by the colonists from Rome, with the facilities also of access by the British Ikeneld Street, running westward from Dorchester, scarcely a mile north of the spot where the remains found by Mr. Tucker are situated, as also by the branch of the Fosse-way crossing the Ikeneld at Axminster, and passing at about a mile west of Uplyme, on its course towards Seaton, the supposed Moridunum of the Romans. Roman coins have been found at Axminster, and in several places in the vicinity. An urn containing a large number of Roman coins was found in Holcombe Bottom, in Uplyme parish, in removing a heap of stones provincially called a "stone barrow," and other vestiges are described by Mr. Davidson in his "British and Roman Remains" near Axminster. A remarkable discovery near the Ikeneld way, in Uplyme parish, deserves notice. In 1817, a labourer digging a hole for a gate-post turned up an ornament of pure flexible gold, about fourteen inches long, rather more than an eighth of an inch in diameter, except towards the ends, where it gradually became ​dilated, finishing like the top of a ramrod, and without any ornament. The weight was about two ounces. It was sold to a watchmaker at Axminster and condemned to the crucible, through apprehension possibly of the arbitrary claims of "Treasure-trove."
The Hon. Richard Neville gave a detailed relation of the discoveries made by him in a Saxon cemetery on Linton Heath, in Cambridgeshire, during the months of January and February, 1853. He exhibited a remarkable assemblage of bronze and silver ornaments, beads of amber, crystal and coloured paste, a few of the more curious objects of iron, and drawings by Mr. Youngman, of Saffron Walden, representing an unique funnel-shaped vase of glass; of admirable workmanship, and several cinerary urns. Mr. Neville's memoir will be given hereafter in this Journal. These remains, he observed, are similar in character to those found by him near Little Wilbraham, in the same county, in 1851, but he had reason to consider the cemetery at that place as of a rather later period than the burial-ground which had unexpectedly produced, in the immediate vicinity of the celebrated Bartlow Hills and other Roman vestiges, so rich a harvest of Saxon relics. In immediate juxtaposition, however, with these Saxon remains had been found several Imperial coins, the earliest being a second brass of Vespasian, an urn of Roman ware and a few other objects of decidedly Roman character. The like occurrence of Roman relics, comparatively few in number, had been noticed in the examination of Saxon barrows in Kent, as related by Douglas in the Nenia, and shown by the original objects preserved in the precious Museum of Kentish Antiquities, now belonging to the family of the late Dr. Faussett. Some persons had been disposed to regard the burial-place on Linton Heath as the vestige of some deadly conflict, for instance, in the struggle between Edmund Ironside and Hardicanute, in the year 1016, of which those parts of the eastern counties had been the scene. The discovery of Roman relics appears, Mr. Neville observed, to indicate an earlier period; and other facts connected with his discovery had led him to the opinion that the cemetery had been that of a tribe settled near the site of Roman occupation at Bartlow.
Mr. Westmacott proposed thanks to Mr. Neville for so valuable a communication, and for the opportunity he had so kindly afforded to members of the Institute of examining a series of Saxon ornaments, exceeding in their variety and preservation any collection hitherto displayed before an assembly of English Archæologists; he also expressed his concurrence in the opinion that the cemetery had been a regular burial-place of Saxons settled near Linton Heath, and should not be regarded as the result of some great battle. The careful comparison of these beautiful ornaments and vestiges of ancient customs and warfare in Saxon times with those of cognate tribes in Kent and other districts of England, would be full of interest to the antiquary, and throw a fresh light upon obscure questions of historical enquiry. In regard to the Faussett Collection, of which mention had been made, Mr. Westmacott had the gratification to know that it had been recently offered to the Trustees of the British ​Museum at a very moderate price; and the addition of so valuable a mass of evidence bearing on a period hitherto of great obscurity, and of which the National Depository at present comprises scarcely any vestige, would prove a most important auxiliary to archæological enquiries. He was anxious to be informed whether the Faussett Collection had been secured for the benefit of the public.
Mr. Akerman offered some observations in regard to the curious objects produced by Mr. Neville, especially the situlæ, or highly ornamented pails, of which the Linton Heath excavations had supplied several remarkable examples. Mr. Akerman thought they had incorrectly been supposed by certain antiquaries to have been the ale vessels of the Saxons, whereas he conceived them to have been of a sacerdotal character. In two instances the wood of which they were formed proved to be yew, and it would be very desirable to ascertain the material of other specimens of these singular vessels. Ornamented pails, presenting some features of analogy to the Saxon situla, had been discovered in Ireland, as may be seen in a recent part of Mr. Roach Smith's "Collectanea Antiqua."
Mr. Westwood expressed his warm concurrence in the observations made by Mr. Westmacott regarding the Faussett Collection, and the earnest desire which he felt, in common with many English antiquaries, that it should be purchased to form part of the National Series, the commencement of which had been viewed by them with lively interest. It had been reported that proposals for its purchase for some Continental Museum had been received; and it would be a disgrace if so instructive a collection were thus lost to the National Depository. Mr. Westwood thought that the occasion was one in which the members of the Institute would do well to represent to the Trustees of the British Museum their strong sense of the importance of securing such collections for public information.
It was stated that the Central Committee had addressed to the Trustees, since the last monthly meeting of the Institute, an appeal expressive of their feeling in regard to the high value of the Faussett Museum, especially as accompanied by a detailed record of every fact connected with the researches made by the distinguished antiquary, who had devoted his life to its formation and had preserved a Journal of all the excavations, with drawings of the relics discovered, comprised in five volumes. The authentic evidence thus preserved regarding the discovery of every object gave an unusual value to this collection, which had also supplied a great portion of the materials used by Douglas in preparing his "Nenia." The Central Committee had strongly urged their hope that the occasion thus offered might not be lost; and they trusted that they should now find amongst the members of the Institute at large, not only a hearty approval of the step which they had felt bound to take in the emergency of the occasion, but concurrence and earnest endeavours for the attainment of so desirable an object. The Central Committee had received an intimation from the Trustees, in reply to their urgent appeal, that there were no funds available for making the purchase.
Some further discussion took place, in the course of which Mr. Akerman stated that a requisition to the same purpose had been addressed by the Council of the Society of Antiquaries, and that their President, the Viscount Mahon, had received assurance that in the event of the Faussett ​Collection being secured for the British Museum, Mr. Wylie, who had formed a very valuable assemblage of Saxon relics at Fairford in Gloucestershire, had generously pledged himself to present the whole to the National Collection.
The resolution was then proposed by Mr. Westmacott, R. A., seconded by Mr. Westwood, and carried unanimously, that the following expression of the strong feeling of the Society on this occasion should be conveyed to the Trustees of the British Museum:—
"This Meeting, having been informed of the steps taken by the Central Committee regarding the Faussett Collection, and cordially approving the same, desire to record their feeling of the great value of the Saxon antiquities lately in the posi5ession of Dr. Faussett, as an addition to the series now forming at the British Museum. They entertain a hope that the Trustees will not suffer the occasion now offered for securing these Collections to be lost."
It was further resolved, "That the Members of the Society at large be invited to signify their assent to this Resolution by adding their names to the signatures of those who were present at the meeting."
The resolution, having subsequently been signed by the Noble President of the Institute and a large number of members, was duly submitted to the consideration of the Trustees of the Museum.
Mr. Yates gave an account of a Roman acerra, or box for holding the incense at sacrifices. This interesting and beautiful object was lately found near Mayence, and has been purchased for 75l. by the Trustees of the British Museum. The sepulchre in which it was discovered contained four square glass bottles and the handle of a glass ossuarium, which are preserved in the British Museum, being included in the same purchase. The acerra is of the usual oblong and rectangular form, and measures 11⋅7 centimetres in length, 7⋅2 in breadth, and 4⋅5 in height. It is of bone, perhaps ox-bone, but certainly the bone of a large quadruped, and this substance is perfectly well preserved, hard and firm, and has the exact colour and appearance of the combs, pins and other small articles of bone, which we often see among Roman remains. The box stands on four elegantly formed lions' paws, which are also of bone; but the two hinges by which the lid is attached to the lower part of the box are of silver. The whole exterior is very tastefully decorated. The lid represents in bas-relief the rape of Theophane by Neptune (Hyginus, Fab. 188). The princess throws her arms into the air, and is followed by her two sisters, who bewail her loss, whilst a Cupid, having laid hold of Neptune's trident, urges on the prancing steeds. The treatment of the subject is with a few slight variations the same which is published from a much larger bas-relief in Bartoli, Admiranda Romanæ Antiquitatis, Tab. 29, and copied from him in Montfaucon, Antiquité Expliquée, Tom. I. c. 8. Tab. 33. In front of the box is the head of Medusa, with beautiful arabesques, and at the two ends are seen a crab, and an eagle grasping the thunderbolt. But the most interesting feature is the following inscription, carved on the back and in excellent preservation:—
I.H.D.D.D. NEPT. L. VERVS. AVG. PR. PROV. GER. ET BRIT. ET HEREN. APOL. ES. ET C. LVC. ET HER. BRIT. F.V.S.L.L.M.
which may be read,—In honorem Domus Divinæ Deo Neptuno Lucius Verus Augustalis Procurator Provinciarum Germaniæ et Britanniæ et Herennia Apollinaris è suo et Caius Lucius et Herennius Britannicus filii votum solverunt læti libentes merito. It appears that L. Verus was the Imperial Procurator for the Provinces of Germany and Britain, and that his life was endangered on a voyage from one province to the other. He called on Neptune to rescue him, and promised to dedicate a valuable present to the god, if his life were preserved. On reaching home he fulfilled his vow, his wife, Herennia Apollinaris, uniting with him in this expression of pious gratitude, the cost of which they defrayed out of their common property. They moreover showed their parental regard to their two sons, Caius Lucius and Herennius Britannicus, by associating them with themselves in what they considered as a becoming act of devotion, and possibly the acerra was carried at the sacrifice by C. Lucius, the elder son, in the manner beautifully represented on Trajan's Column at Rome.
The date of this box is probably about A.D. 200. A similar acerra, with a Medusa's head at one end, made, however, of bronze, formerly belonged to Paciaudi and Count Caylus, and it is now the property of John Disney, Esq. of the Hyde in Essex.
Mr. Yates also exhibited a plaster-cast from a Roman comb, lately found at Mayence. The original is said to have been purchased there by an English traveller. In the middle of the comb, between the two rows of teeth, is a bas-relief representing Jupiter between Mars and Mercury. Under it is the inscription,—
I. M. M. O. M.
which may be read, Jovi, Marti, Mercurio, optime meritis. A similar comb of bone, with a bas-relief representing the three Graces, is now in the possession of Mr. Boöcke, of London. This sculptured relique also was found at Mayence.
Mr. Yates also gave an account of the discovery of a gold torc at Stanton, in Staffordshire, midway between Blore and Ellaston, in a field near the Stone Pits, about a foot beneath the surface. It was found early in the year 1853, and had been shown to Mr. Yates in July last by the Rev. H. Bainbrigge, of Stanton. As far as is known the field had never before been ploughed or dug. It was stated that when the finder first perceived the treasure, like a glittering serpent, to which possibly the elasticity of the object gave apparently a quivering motion, his alarm was so great that he ran home, and it was some time before he could summon up courage to return to the field and secure the prize. The weight is 5 oz. 18 dwts. 51/2 gr.; the length 1 metre, 16 centim. (ab. 3 ft, 91/2 in.) The section of the twist is a cross (+). The extremities are hooked about 2 in. in length, gradually increasing in size towards the ends which are cut off obtusely, as shown by the representations of the extremities of a gold torc in the British Museum, given in Mr. Birch's Memoir "On the Torc of the Celts," in this ​Journal. The ornament may have been attached by hooking these ends together, or by passing them through a separate ring. This type of the torc, termed by Mr. Birch "funicular," is referred by him to as late a period possibly as the fourth or fifth century. A gold torc, closely similar as it would appear to that lately found at Stanton, was discovered in the same county in 1700, at Fantley Hill near Pattingham; it measured four feet in length, the weight being 3 lbs, 2 oz., and the extremities were hooked.
Mr. Birch communicated further notices which he had received from Mr. Jenkins, of Hereford, relating to ancient remains in the neighbourhood of St. Margaret's Park and the cruciform earth-work already noticed in this Journal. (See vol. x. p. 358.) With permission of the proprietor excavations had been made in that singular embankment, at three different places, but without making any discovery: it has also been cleared of the brush-wood which encumbered it, and may now be fully examined. Not far distant may be noticed several basins or cavities of considerable size, supposed to have been possibly the sites of ancient habitations, and in one of these hollows some ancient pottery had been found, which, it is hoped, may be obtained for examination, as this might supply a clue to the probable date of these works. It was stated that a cross of metal had been found in the Park and sent to London. About 250 yards N.E. of the cruciform embankment in St. Margaret's Park there is a flat horizontal slab of limestone, like the upper stone of a cromlech. It is of an irregularly oval form, measuring about 27 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 6 inches; average thickness, 2 feet 6 inches in the direction of the longer diameter, being north and south. This stone lies on the declivity of the wooded hill, its face on the western side being level with the adjacent surface of the ground, and on this side there is a trench, 2 feet wide, and 21/2 feet deep, which appears to have been at one time much deeper, and to have been filled up by soil brought down by the rain into it. On the east side, and partly on the north, the ground slopes from it, and a cavity appears under the slab. Half a century ago, as stated by an old man in the neighbourhood, it stood wholly free from the ground, resting on certain upright stones. There is still at the west end of the slab, but now at a slight distance from it, an upright stone, flat at top, which may have originally been one of those on which it was supported. It seems probable that these may be the remains of a fallen cromlech. About half a mile south of the cross-shaped mound and cavities above mentioned several objects of bronze have been found in ploughing, of a type hitherto, as it is believed, unnoticed. They may have been fixed on the ends of spear-shafts, to serve ​the purpose of a ferrule. (See woodcut, half length of original.) The length of this object is 5 inches, the socket within tapers to a point 11/2 inch from the extremity.
Near St. Margaret's Church, about 500 yards west, and three quarters of a mile from the cross earthwork, the head-stone here represented (see woodcut) is to be seen in the fence of a tillage-field, under an aged yew tree, which leans, through the force of prevalent winds, in the same direction as the grave-slab at its foot. The dimensions are 4 feet by 17 inches. Tradition affirms that a lady was there buried, who came from London infected with the plague and died here. Another tale is, that seven persons were there interred at some remote period.
Cross Head-stone, St. Margaret's Park, Herefordshire.
Mr. W. B. Dickinson communicated, through Mr. B. Nightingale, a notice of various ancient reliques lately found in the bed of the river Sherborne at Coventry, during the dredging of the stream. He sent for examination the following objects, chiefly from that locality, and now in the possession of Mr. Hampden, of Leamington. A pair of small iron shears or scissors, length nearly five inches, in perfect preservation, the metal retaining its elasticity. Two spoons of pewter, from the Sherborne, and one of copper, originally perhaps gilt, found near Worcester, Of the former, one has a six-sided handle, the finial being an acorn; the other has a round handle terminating with a knop ornamented with spiral lines, and the copper spoon has a termination like that of a flat-topped mace or a small column. With these were sent three silver coins, one of Edward III., struck at York, and a penny of Henry V.; several jetons or counters, of lead or pewter, of an early period; also a small circular plate of brass, with a double-headed eagle on one side, and underneath is an escutcheon charged ​with a fess (? Austria), the date 1590, and over the eagle is the initial G.; the reverse plain. Mr. Dickinson observed that he had previously seen a similar plate with the same date, and with the blank reverse; he conjectured that these objects served as ornaments upon horse trappings. He adverted to the fashion of the spoons, as compared with the description of such objects in the Winchester Inventory, given by Mr. Gunner in this Journal (vol. x. p. 236), and the earliest form of spoon described by Mr. Octavius Morgan (see his remarks given in vol. ix. p. 301), to which the example from Worcester bears a general resemblance. Mr. Morgan observed that the spoons which had been kindly sent by Mr. Hampden did not appear earlier than the XVIth century; the shears were probably of more ancient date.
Antiquities and Works of Art exhibited.
By Mr. Bartlett, of Burbage, Wilts, through Mr. Quekett.—Two coins and a diminutive bronze axe, dug up in 1821 with some other coins much decayed, by Mr. Bartlett, at the Eastern gate of Silchester. A space about three feet square was excavated, and within the depth of three feet these reliques were found amongst ashes and fragments of bones, deers' horns, &c. One of the coins is a second brass of Maximian (A.D. 286—310) struck at Treves, and in good preservation; the other is a British coin of silver. Mr. Bartlett stated that he saw several miniature axes at Silchester, in 1821, in possession of the widow of the schoolmaster, Mr. Stair, who had formed a considerable collection of coins. A bronze securicula, also found at Silchester, has been figured in this Journal, amongst the illustrations of Mr. Maclauchlan's Memoir (vol. viii. p. 245). The example now produced is of ruder workmanship (see woodcut, orig. size); on one side diagonal lines are cut, the other side is plain. One of these bronze relics was found in the villa at Woodchester, and is described by Lysons as "a little votive axe." Similar crepundia have likewise been found with Roman remains in France and Germany, and a large variety of such objects, including axes, adzes, &c., may be seen in the Museum at Bonn.
We are indebted to the Rev. Beale Poste for the following remarks on the ancient British coin, which claims notice both as being struck in silver, and as having been found in such close juxtaposition with Roman remains. "This coin is of a type considered as belonging to the Karnbrê class, as sometimes designated from the remarkable discovery in Cornwall in 1749, recorded by Borlase. It seems nearly similar to those in his "History of Cornwall," pl. xix. (pl. xxiii., 2nd edit.) figs. 9, 10, and 11; but it is exactly the same as ​the coin engraved Ruding, pl. i., fig. 9. All these examples were of gold, but that represented in the Numismatic Chronicle, (vol. i. p. 209, pl. i. of British coins, fig. 9,) is of silver. The coins of this class are usually found in the southern parts of the kingdom, and it would appear that these types were struck in gold, silver and bronze; those in the two last metals seem the rarest. One of the bronze specimens of these types is engraved in Stukeley's plates, pl. i. fig. 2, but it varies from that found at Silchester. An account of several coins of this class, found in Dorset and Wilts, including some of silver and copper, was communicated to the British Archæological Association and may be found in their Journal, vol. ii. p. 336."
Mr. Bartlett sent also an impression from a Chinese seal of white porcelain, a cube with a monkey seated upon it, being precisely of the same form as the seals frequently found in Ireland; it was found many years since in turning the soil in his garden at Great Bedwyn, Wilts. One other example only has been recorded of the discovery of such a porcelain seal in England, namely, at a ruined mansion near Padstow, in Cornwall. That seal is in the possession of Mr. Kent, of that place.
By Mr. Robert Fitch.—A little relic of the Roman period, found not far from the Rectory at Caister, near Norwich, a few months since. It is a miniature bronze bust laureated and draped over the left shoulder. The features are full of expression, and it is supposed by Mr. Akerman to represent the Emperor Geta. It measures about 11/2 inch in height. At the back there is part of a pin by which it was attached to some flat surface. An account of this object has been recently published by the Norfolk Archæological Society in their Transactions, vol. iv. p. 232, accompanied by accurate representations of both sides; these woodcuts were given by Mr. Fitch's obliging permission in the last volume of this Journal.
By Mr. Franks.—A singular stone ball, found at Ballymena, co. Antrim, in 1850. The material is the hornblende schist of Geologists. This object presents six circular faces, which have a considerable projection, and are placed at uniform distances. Diam. 23/4 inches. A similar relic of stone, found in Dumfriesshire, is figured in Dr. Wilson's "Prehistoric Annals," p. 139. The projecting discs on its surface are less strongly cut than on the Irish example, but the two objects appear identical in purpose.—A flint knife, found in co. Antrim; length 21/2 inches. An oval bronze brooch, of the "tortoise" form, one of a pair found in the Phœnix Park; the other was obtained by Mr. Worsaae, and is now at Copenhagen. Dimensions, 41/4 in. by 21/2 in. These brooches are very similar in their form, size and general design, to that found near Bedale, now in the Duke of Northumberland's collection at Alnwick Castle, and another example found near Claughton Hall, Lancashire, both figured in this Journal.—A bronze bow-shaped fibula, found at Clogher, co. Tyrone.—Four specimens of Irish penannular "ring-money," two of them of solid gold, the others of copper cased in gold plate. The whole of those antiquities from Ireland have since been added to the collections in the British Museum.
​By Mr. Edward Hoare.—Representations of three examples of "ring-money" of silver, one being a perfect ring, the others penannular, or with disunited ends. The weights are—2 dwts., 2 dwts., 4 grs., and 3 dwts. respectively. Two of these rings (see woodcuts, figs. 1, 2) were found in co. Waterford, in Jan. 1853, in making a railway-cutting; the third, fig. 3, in June following, in cutting a trench for irrigation on the lands of Carrigsohane, about four miles west of Cork, on the estate of Sir Edward Hoare, Bart. These rings are now in Mr. Edward Hoare's collection. Silver rings of this description are rare in Ireland; notices of several specimens of various weights and form are given by Mr. Windele in his Memoir on "Irish Ring-Money," in the Transactions of the Kilkenny Society, vol. i. p. 332. Annular objects of that metal are, however, usually of much larger dimensions than the specimens recently obtained by Mr. Hoare, one of which is described by him as the smallest hitherto known.
| Fig. 3. Weight, 52 grs. | Fig. 1. Weight, 72 grs. | Fig. 2. Weight, 48 grs. |
Silver "Ring Money," in the collection of Mr. Edward Hoare.
By the Rev. Thomas Hugo.—A fragment (measuring about an inch in each direction) of the gold corselet found in October, 1833, in a cairn known as the Fairies' or Goblins' Hill, at Mold, Flintshire. This portion appears to have formed part of the upper edge around the throat or over the shoulders, as shown by examination of this remarkable corselet now in the British Museum. The facts connected with the discovery are highly curious, and are related by Mr. Rokewode in his Memoir in the Archæologia, vol. xxvi., p. 422, where representations of this "aurea vestis" are given. It is much to be regretted that several small pieces of this unique object were broken off and carried away, rings and ornaments having been formed from them, as stated in the letter to Mr. Rokewode from Mr. Clough, vicar of Mold. There spoliations have materially impaired the value of the corselet, and caused great difficulty in ascertaining its precise use.
By Mr. Bright.—A circular silver brooch set with garnets (?) or red glass of brilliant colour. It was found on the confines of Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. A representation of this beautiful ornament will be given hereafter.
By Mr. Le Keux.—A series of drawings representing Stonehenge in its various aspects; views of ancient architectural examples in Salisbury and Wiltshire, and a view of the open timbered porch at Haslington, Middlesex, the approach to a Norman door with recessed mouldings.
Dial placed over the South Porch, Bishopstone, Sussex.
By Mr. William Figg, of Lewes.—Drawing which represents the dial on the south side of Bishopstone Church, placed over the so-called Saxon porch, and supposed to he of the Saxon period. A sketch of this relic was also sent by Mr. Sharpe, who had examined this curious fabric during his survey of the churches of Sussex, in August, 1853, on the occasion of the meeting of the Institute at Chichester. He remarks that "this is probably a dial set up at the time of the Norman or Transitional additions to the church, more probably the latter; and the name which occurs on it, EADRIC, may be that of the early founder thus commemorated. It is not formed of the rough yellow sandstone of which the long and short work of the porch and west end of the church is constructed, but of Caen stone. The church is interesting as having remains of Saxon work, and for other architectural features." The precise position of this dial may be seen in the elevation of the south-side of Bishopstone Church, accompanying the memoir by Mr. Figg in the "Sussex Archæological Collections," published by the County Archæological Society (vol. ii. p. 272), where a description of the architec​tural details is given, as also a representation of the early sculptured slab found during the restorations in 1848, and now preserved within the church. This slab has been noticed in this Journal, vol. vi., p. 186.
This curious dial, as is shown by the accompanying woodcut from Mr. Figg's drawing, indicates four divisions, each of three hours, and marked by crossed lines. A similar indication of four principal divisions, marked in the same manner, is seen on the Saxon dial over the south porch of Kirkdale Church, in the North Riding of Yorkshire; but in that instance the intervening spaces are divided by a single line instead of two, as at Bishopstone. The dial there is supposed to have been made between the years 1056 and 1065, and an inscription beneath records that it was wrought by Haward, and Brand the presbyter. The name EADRIC upon the dial at Bishopstone church may possibly denote likewise the maker. It is probable that the principal divisions on both these early dials, marked by the crosses, indicated those five of the seven great divisions of the day whence the canonical hours are named, that a vertical dial on the south side of a church could show at any season of the year, namely,—prime (6 A.M.), undern or tierce, mid-day or sext, none, and even (vespera), three hours intervening between each of these divisions of time into which the day was distributed according to ancient usage.
By Mr. Westwood.—A volume of fac-similes from illuminations in various Anglo-Saxon and Irish MSS., illustrating the progress of calligraphy and the peculiar types of ornamentation, as displayed in the minutely detailed drawings, which throw much light upon the age and classification of works in metal, sculptures, and other remains of an early period. The binding of this remarkable book is of wood elaborately carved and enriched with fac-similes of certain Saxon and Irish ornaments of metal.
By Mr. W. J. Bernhard Smith.—A cut-and-thrust two-edged rapier, of the time of Charles I., with a cross-guard at the hilt; and a small rapier, with three-edged poniard shaped blade. The guard of the last is of steel, embossed with figures of cavaliers, masks, and foliage; the gripe is covered with a matting of silver wire over gold thread. Date, t. Charles II.
Matrices and Impressions of Seals.—By Mr. Yates.—Bulla of Pope Alexander IV., lately found amongst the pebbles on the beach at Brighton. He was elected in 1254 and died in 1261. (Engraved in Wailly's Eléments de Paléographie, vol. ii. p. 376.)
By the Hon. Richard Neville.—Brass matrix of the seal of Edmund, Prior of Bilsington, Kent, 1349, lately found at Clavering, Essex. Also a massive gold signet ring found at Easton, Essex; the impress is the initial E (of the "Lombardic" form) under a coronet, within delicately cusped tracery; the hoop is inscribed externally—* in * on * is * al. This beautiful ring was found in ploughing, about 1850, and lately presented by Lady Maynard to Mr. Neville's dactylotheca, already rich in examples of rings found in Essex and Cambridgeshire. The sepulchral brass of Sir John Wylcotes (1410) at Great Tew, Oxfordshire, presents a device introduced twice in the canopies,—a hand holding a scroll inscribed In. on. is. al. The posy on Mr. Neville's ring appears to be the same as that inscribed on a gold ring belonging to Mr. Hopkinson, of Edgeworth—on. is. al. the ​device being a figure of St. Catharine. A small plain hoop of gold found at Beverley, and belonging to Mr. Ellison, of Sudbrooke Holme, Lincoln, bears the words—tut. "dis. en. bn. This posy may be classed with the "resoun"—Une sanz pluis, and en un sans plus, inscribed on certain ornaments enumerated in the Kalendars of the Exchequer. Camden states that it was the "word" of Henry V. (Remains, under "Impreses").
By Mr. Bright.—A brass seal, probably Italian, XIVth century, of pointed oval form; the device is a rudely designed representation of the capture of the Unicorn, according to the fable of romance, by a fair virgin. The lady is seated on the ground, and the unwary creature is about to repose on her lap. The inscription is as follows:— + S' FRATRIS. AB'TINI. D'. ASADIS. The popular notion regarding the capture of the Unicorn is found in the "Bestiaire." by William, a trouvère of Normandy in XIIIth century.
January 6, 1854.
The Lord Talbot de Malahide, President, in the Chair.
In opening the Proceedings of the Meeting, the noble President expressed the gratification which he felt in being enabled to take part in the first assembly of the Society at the commencement of a new year. He regretted that pressing occupations, more especially in connexion with the Industrial Exhibition and the arrangements for the "Archæological Court." had precluded the possibility of his being present at their Monthly Meetings during the past year. He would take this occasion to advert to the success which had attended the formation of the collections at Dublin, illustrative of Antiquity and Art, in which he acknowledged with pleasure the cooperation and warm interest shewn by the Institute. He had witnessed with great satisfaction the gratification afforded to many members of the Society and to other English Antiquaries who had visited Dublin during the past summer, and had availed themselves of the opportunity, then for the first time presented, of examining an extensive series of the singular antiquities of the sister kingdom, and of forming a comparison with those more familiar to them. Lord Talbot expressed his conviction that important advantages in the extension of Archæological Science must accrue from the impulse which had been given, and the friendly intercourse established between persons engaged in kindred pursuits in the two countries; and he looked forward with satisfaction to the prospect that on an early occasion the Institute might extend the range of their Annual Meetings, and visit Dublin, where numerous Archæological attractions were presented to their attention. Meanwhile he would urge all who took interest in the advancement of the Society to use their best exertions in giving full effect to the meeting of the present year at Cambridge. He had received encouraging assurances of the cordial disposition there evinced towards the Institute; and he felt no slight anxiety that their Meeting in his own University ​should prove as successful as that at Oxford, so memorable amongst the Annual Assemblies of previous years, through the gratifying welcome with which they had been received in that ancient seat of learning, and the encouraging recognition of the value of Archæological researches.
In connexion with the display of Antiquities in the Dublin Exhibition, Mr. Westwood stated, that having on a former occasion directed the attention of the members of the Institute to the extraordinary rudeness of the drawings of the human figure contained even in the finest of the Illuminated MSS. executed in Ireland (See Journal, vol. vii., p. 17), he had been anxious to ascertain whether the same style of Art prevailed in the sculptures of Ireland, executed either in metal or stone, of both of which numerous examples occurred in the Dublin Exhibition. This he had found to be completely the case, in proof of which he exhibited a number of casts in gutta percha, which he had been enabled to make of different objects of art in the Exhibition, by the kindness of their respective owners. Amongst these were several figures of the Saviour suspended on the Cross, of which the proportions of the body and limbs were most unnatural. In some the arms seemed to be simply formed of bent or flattened wire. The majority, however, of these crucifix figures agree in several curious particulars. The head is almost always crowned, the body naked to the waist, with a short tunic reaching nearly to the knees, and the feet pierced separately. In all these respects these figures bear a great resemblance to the enamelled crucifix figures of the Saviour executed at Limoges in the XIIth century, of which a very remarkable example was exhibited by Mr. Forrest at the previous November meeting of the Institute (Journal, vol. x. p. 369). The repeated occurrence of the crowned head is curious, as it is of very great rarity in the illuminations of contemporary MSS., and it was probably founded upon some legendary or symbolical theory, which it would be interesting to trace. Didron is silent on the subject. These figures are generally of bronze and gilt, and the features are entirely destitute of expression.
Mr. Westwood also exhibited casts of two small bronze sculptured groups of the Crucifixion, which quite agree in general treatment and details, as well as in their excessive rudeness of execution, with the curious representation of the same subject in the Irish Psalter at St. John's College, Cambridge (copied in Palæogr. Sacr. Pict.). The Saviour in both is represented of large size in comparison with the other figures; in both the head is uncrowned, with long hair, and in one the face has long moustaches curled at the lips, and a long forked beard; in the other the body is ornamented with interlaced riband-work. The feet are separately affixed, and the middle of the body clad with a tunic. On either side of the Saviour are the two soldiers with spear and sponge, and over his outstretched arms are two winged angels. We have here another striking peculiarity, as the ordinary mode of representation of the Crucifixion in the Latin Church, from the earliest times, has been to figure the Blessed Virgin on one side, and St. John on the other, whilst the two soldiers are more usually found in the representations of the Eastern Church, and we find them likewise on all our own earliest stone monuments, as on the curious carved cross found at Woden's Church, Alnmouth, a cast of which was exhibited in the Dublin Exhibition; the original fragment is at Alnwick Castle, in the Museum formed by the Duke of Northumberland. They appear likewise on the Cross at Aycliffe, co. Durham, represented in ​this Journal (vol. ii. p. 260). The former of these two carved stones might reasonably he ascribed (from the style of the inscription) to the VIIth or VIIIth century, and the latter was certainly not much, if at all, more recent. These observations are, however, at variance with Didron's assertion, that the Crucifixion was never, or hut very rarely, represented before the Xth or XIth century (Iconogr. Chrétienne, p. 266) whilst the fact, that in the famous Syriac MS. of the VIth century at Florence, the crucifixion is represented exactly as it appears on these old British and Irish relics of art, and that in one of the finest of the Charlemagne Gospels of the IXth century (figured by Count Bastard), we find a similar illumination, renders it impossible to come to any other conclusion, than that the supposed non-existence of such representations results from the subsequent destruction in Western Continental Europe, or that their existence in the early relics of our own country, and in works actually executed in the East or which evince an Eastern influence, is the result of early communication between the Irish and British, and the Eastern Christian churches. Didron has, indeed, had the sagacity on two other occasions to hint at a supposed influence of Byzantine over English Art-works (Icon. Chrét., p. 389, n., and 557, n.), and the preceding observations will shew another instance of the same influence. The same treatment of the Crucifixion also occurs on most of the grand Irish sculptured stone crosses, whilst on the reverse of many of them we see another figure of the Saviour with outstretched arms, which had in some instances been considered as a repetition of the Crucifixion; but there are none of the usual accessory details, and it has been lately suggested by some Irish antiquaries, that this figure was rather intended as a representation of the Ascension. This is, indeed, a probable explanation, but until we have a correct series of delineations of these crosses, we cannot hope to arrive at a clear explanation of their sculpture. Thanks to Mr. O'Neill, this want is now likely to be in a great measure removed by his publication on the Irish crosses. These, of course, would be useless to the Archæologist unless they are strictly accurate in their details; but we know that Mr. O'Neill is fully convinced of this, and that fidelity in the minutiæ of the ornamentation, &c., will not be sacrificed to picturesque effect indeed, we have occasion to know that one of the plates in his first number will be replaced by another, some of the details not having been quite correctly given.
Mr. W. Figg communicated the following notice of the discovery of a British urn near Lewes, and sent for examination a drawing of this relique, which is similar in general form to other cinerary urns found in Sussex.
"On the 24th of October, having received information that some labourers, digging flints, had opened a barrow in which was a large urn, I went to visit the spot, accompanied by Mr. M. A. Lower; we found the men at work in a barrow to the south of Mount Harry, on the brow beyond the sheep pond at the turn of the race course, on Sir Henry Shiffner's hill, close on the southern side of the track leading to Plumpton plain.
"They had laid bare a largo British Urn, which the drawing represents; its height was 1 foot 2 inches, greatest diameter 1 foot; its exact pro​portions are shown, the drawing being made to a scale of 4 inches to a foot. It was found in the usual position, that is, bottom upwards; it was very much cracked, and, upon an attempt being made to remove it, it fell to pieces, and, such was its state, that all efforts to collect the fragments in order to its restoration were ineffectual. I therefore took the dimensions, and completed the drawing from a fragment which we brought away. The mode in which this urn is ornamented is unusual, being a variation from the ordinary zig-zag fashion in the rudely scored ornament on the surface. This is the second urn found on this part of the Downs within about eighteen months." The rim, or upper portion above the projecting shoulder of the urn is scored with straight lines alternately horizontal and perpendicular, and at some distance below the shoulder a row of horse-shoe markings runs round the urn. The ornamentation by lines alternating in this manner occurs on the urns found at Broughton, Lincolnshire, figured in this Journal, vol. viii. p. 199.
Several sepulchral urns of the earliest period have been discovered on the Sussex Downs, the most remarkable being that disinterred at Storrington, measuring 21 inches in height, and those found at Alfriston, recently purchased for the British Museum. (Sussex Archæol. Coll., vol. i. p. 55, vol. ii. p. 270). See also Horsfield's History of Lewes, p. 48, p. 5.
Mr. Bartlett, of Burbage, Wilts, communicated a note of some ancient horse-shoes in his possession, considered by the late Mr. Bracy Clark and others to be Roman. One was found at the foot of Silbury Hill, between Marlborough and Beckhampton, in removing the boundary of the meadow on which the hill stands. It lay in a bed of chalk, and the nails remained in the shoe, but no trace of hoof or bones was found. The other was found in gravel on Beckhampton Down, about two miles distant from Silbury, nearly three feet under the surface. These shoes are so much alike in form and size as to give the idea that they might have belonged to the same set. The late Dean of Hereford obtained a similar horse-shoe, found with others and a skeleton, a short distance north-west of Silbury, and it is figured amongst the Illustrations of his Diary, given in the Salisbury Transactions of the Institute, p. 110, fig. 19.
The Hon. W. Fox Strangways communicated an account of Castel del Monte, near Ardria, in Apulia, an ancient hunting-seat of the Emperor Frederic II., illustrated by ten views drawn for the late Hon. Keppel Craven by a Neapolitan artist, Carlo Paris. It is a structure of octagonal form, with a central court, and angle-turrets, each side of the octagon forming a separate chamber. "This interesting building (Mr. Strangways observed), now in a state of partial ruin, seems to have been erected in the early part of the XIIIth century. It is remarkably well constructed and perfectly symmetrical. Built of the rough limestone of the country, it is, within, partially lined and decorated with white or grey marble, of which the windows and other enriched portions, not very numerous, are composed. The whole appearance of this deserted palace suggests the idea of its having been formed for enjoyment, but with a certain view to defence; the taste that appears in many features is that of a court in which the arts and refinements of luxury were appreciated. The great entrance especially shows an intention of an approach to the classical styles, and the coins of Frederic II. exhibit a desire to return to the Roman type rather than to retain the Gothic forms of mediæval monetary art. The situation of the castle, though not picturesque, is ​striking; it is placed upon an insulated hill rising in the midst of the vast grassy plain of Apulia, more like the Downs of the South of England than the general scenery of Italy, and far from any village or habitation larger than a shepherd's hut, and it is in consequence very conspicuous over a large extent of the province, and even of the Adriatic.
"The walls of the best rooms are of rough limestone and probably were covered with hangings, for the base and cornice are of marble; and the upper parts or lunettes, immediately under the vaulting, are lined with marble, not actually built in the manner of the opus reticulatum, but scored, in imitation of it, over the surface of the square slabs. This gives the work a resemblance to the triforia of Chichester cathedral, to some work in the west front of Lincoln cathedral, and other Romanesque buildings, and shows that the diagonal form was used as ornament as well as in construction. Unfortunately the artist has given no representation of an interior. The details are not unlike those to be found in England of the XIIIth century. Trefoiled foliation and plate tracery, approaching the principle of the geometrical, as also an early style of capital are conspicuous features.
"The Castel del Monte may be easily visited by any traveller going from Naples to the Ionian Islands by Barletta, Bari, or Brindisi, the usual ports of embarkation."
Mr. Spencer Hall communicated an account of the discovery of an extensive series of mural paintings in Pickering Church, North Riding of Yorkshire; they were brought to light about September, 1853, in the course of repairs. A description of these paintings was also received from Mr. W. Hey Dykes, of York, accompanied by carefully detailed drawings, representing the sides of the nave and the entire series of subjects with which its walls were decorated. The church, not noticed by Rickman, is of various dates; the plan consists of a spacious nave and chancel; the nave having north and south aisles, with transeptal chapels at the east ends of the aisles, a fine west tower, and a south porch. The arcade of the nave and lower part of the tower are Norman; the chancel, aisles, and transepts, and upper part of the tower are early decorated; the clerestory of the nave plain perpendicular. The nave communicates with the aisles by four arches, those on the north are round-headed and spring from massive cylindrical piers with square cushion capitals: the piers on the south are composed of clustered shafts with foliated capitals. Above these arches the entire face of the wall and the space between the clerestory windows had been decorated with sacred and legendary subjects, painted in distemper on a thin coat of plaster laid on the ashlar walls. They formed a series, extending from the west end to the chancel arch, and their date, as shown by the costume and character of the design, appeared coeval with the clerestory, probably about 1450. The subjects of the paintings were thus described by Mr. Hall, commencing on the north side from the west end:—St. George and the Dragon, a spirited design, occupying the entire height from the spandrel of the arch to the wall-plate; St. Christopher; Herod's Feast, in one part of this design St. John appears in the act of reproving Herodias, in another his head is brought to her daughter: this and the following subjects are designs of smaller proportions than the two first, and are painted in two tiers; the subject above the Feast is supposed by Mr. Dykes to have been ​the coronation of the Virgin.—The martyrdom of St. Thomas of Canterbury; an interior of a church, with an altar at one end, a mitre is placed on the altar, and in front of it are two ecclesiastics, one kneeling; the knights are in the act of drawing their swords.—The martyrdom of St. Sebastian, or, as Mr. Dykes supposes, of St. Edmund; this subject had been much injured by the insertion of a mural tablet. On the south side, beginning from the east, appeared a series of subjects from the Life of St. Catharine, partly destroyed by the monument of a London citizen affixed to the wall. An inscription ran along these paintings, which were arranged in two tiers. The next is supposed by Mr. Spencer Hall to represent St. Cosmo and St. Damian; two persons appear in the garb of pilgrims, and seem to ask hospitality from a man who stands at the door of a house; beyond is seen another figure at the entrance of a house. The following subjects are, a death-bed scene, possibly representing the Sacrament of Extreme Unction; an interment, the shrouded corpse is marked with a red cross. Beyond, on the same level, are subjects of Sacred History—Christ healing the Ear of Malchus; Christ before Pilate; the Flagellation; Christ bearing the Cross; the Crucifixion; the Descent from the Cross; the Entombment of our Lord. Beneath, occupying the spandrel between the second and third arches from the west end, appeared the Descent into Hell. These paintings formed three rows divided by ornamental borders; the first row occupying the spandrels of the arches; the second fills the space between the arches and the clerestory; the third the spaces between the clerestory windows. It is to be regretted that the preservation of these works of early art was deemed impracticable or undesirable.
On Sept. 14th, Mr. Spencer Hall found a workman employed in concealing them anew with a coat of whitewash; they have been wholly destroyed; and the drawings exhibited to the meeting through the kindness of Mr. Hey Dykes and Mr. Procter, and specially prepared for the Yorkshire Architectural Society, now form the sole memorial of these curious examples of design. There were likewise in Pickering Church some vestiges of painting of earlier date. On the south wall of the north transept, a large representation of the Last Judgment was brought to light some years since; it appeared to have been superior in design and colouring to the subjects recently discovered in the nave; but it was condemned to destruction, and at the time of Mr. Hall's visit last year, only a pair of wings were visible. On the soffit of the arches on the north side of the nave were traces of figures, one on either side, immediately above the capitals, with a trefoil-headed canopy of Norman or Transitional style, and a foliated pattern filling up the head of the arch. There were also figures of apostles and saints painted on the splays of the clerestory windows. So remarkable an example of the prevalent introduction of mural coloured decorations in England has perhaps never hitherto come under observation. It would have been very desirable to have preserved at least some portion, which previous injuries had not rendered wholly unsightly to the eyes of modern "restorers," and which might have supplied evidence in regard to the arts of design in the XVth century.
Pickering Church, Mr. Spencer Hall observed, contains some tombs with effigies well deserving of notice. In the north aisle lies a cross-legged effigy. in good preservation. On the north side of the communion table, there is an alabaster tomb with figures of a knight and lady, of the early part of the XVth century; the knight wears plate armour, a collar of SS. and an ​orle around his helmet; on his surcoat appear three lions, according to Gough's description (Sep. Mon. vol. i. part 2. p. 179.) Leland mentions, in his Itinerary, two or three tombs of the Bruces at rickering, one of whom with his wife lay in a chapel on the south side of the choir; "he had a garland about his helmet;" this description seems to identify the tomb with that now removed to the north side of the chancel. It was still in the south chantry when Gough visited the church in 1785; but that chapel has been converted into a vestry, and the tomb displaced. Another tomb, described by Leland as in a chapel under an arch on the north side of the choir, was probably that of which the mutilated remains are now seen on the south side of the communion table, where it had been placed previously to Gough's visit, and the chapel destroyed. The more ancient effigy is not described by Leland, who, however, speaks of seeing "two or three tumbes of the Bruses," and this may be the third thus adverted to in his Itinerary. Gough describes it as a cross-legged figure on an altar-tomb against the north wall, in a round helmet with a frontlet, gorget of mail, plate armour, round elbow-pieces, mail apron and greaves; on the shield a chief dancetty. There was a branch of the Bruce family settled at Pickering; and Leland states that he saw the ruins of a manor-place there, called Bruce's Hall. These effigies claim the attention of the Yorkshire antiquary, and deserve to be carefully examined and identified.
The Rev. Edward Trollope gave the following account of the recent discovery of a mural painting in Lincolnshire, and exhibited coloured drawings, carefully executed when this curious work of art was first brought to light:—
"During the process of cleaning down the walls of Ranceby Church, near Sleaford, preparatory to their being fresh painted, so as to shew the stonework in the interior, portions of an older coating of plaster were dis- covered below the more modern surface, which was condemned. It appears that the walls had been prepared in so slovenly a manner for the reception of this second coating, that whenever any portions of the first still remained in a tolerably sound state, these were allowed to remain, although wholly concealed by the new work above them, until they were once more separated in my presence by a skilful workman, who, having discovered remnants of painting, in consequence of the flaking off of a portion of the upper surface, carefully removed the remainder, so as to disclose the figure represented by the drawing which I send for examination. It formed a part of a subject 20 feet in length, and 51/2 feet in breadth, enclosed by a red band or frame, and was painted in distemper upon the wall of the north aisle; but the only portion remaining perfect, or indeed intelligible, was one extremity (to the right), which is the subject of my drawings. When first the object seemingly resembling a bag caught my eye, I hastily imagined that the figure was that of Judas, and that the curious tufted monster was intended to portray the instigator of his betrayal; but upon observing the noble character so strongly stamped upon the countenance of this holy person by the artist, and after due consideration, I believed him to be St. Matthew, who, when painted as an Apostle, has usually a purse or bag in his hand, whilst the Book seemed to point to his character as an Evangelist, or Gospel writer, by the power of which the Devil was to be abased. The dress is ​curious, being partly of the Monastic and partly of the Priestly character; it is, indeed, difficult to determine whether the outer robe partakes most of the fashion of a cloak or of a cope, whilst underneath are visible the ends of a stole, and something like an alb, divided up the centre so as to display a red robe beneath. The dark train-like appurtenance is a little obscure, blending, as it does, into the ground below. The whole painting has been produced with the aid of three colours only, Venetian red, neutral tint, and reddish brown, employed in a very effective manner. The background is powdered or diapered with red stars, in the disposition of which the artist took particular pains, as he had twice or thrice partially erased his work by passing a white tint over the stars, and had then put them in afresh in a slightly different position. I believe, however, that they were stamped or stenciled on the plaster in the same manner as borders, flowers, &c., are now executed on ceilings, and in mural decorations in Italy, so that he could afford to be prodigal of his use of them. The date of the aisle in which this painting is displayed is about 1320. Though the execution of the design is somewhat coarsely and carelessly executed, it is effective, and I regret that much of its force is lost in reducing it to so small a scale. The head given in the larger drawing is a fac-simile of the original."
The representation of the animal at the feet of the Saint is mutilated, and it is difficult to determine with certainty what it may have been the intention of the painter to portray; it has been suggested, however, that the figure may represent St. Anthony, accompanied by his usual symbol of the pig. The other customary accessories, described by Dr. Husenbeth in his useful "Emblems of Saints," are here wanting; and the book carried in the hand is more commonly the emblem of an Evangelist, as Mr. Trollope has observed, whilst in representations of St. Anthony a book occurs suspended with his bell on his Tau staff, or attached to his girdle.
Antiquities and Works of Art Exhibited.
By Mr. Yates.—An engraving by Bartoli, representing the Rape of the nymph Theophane by Neptune, from an antique sculpture in rilievo, and illustrative of the ivory acerra in the British Museum, found at Mayence, as described by Mr. Yates at the previous meeting (See p. 53, ante). The attitude is slightly varied, sufficiently to shew that the subject on that interesting relic is not an imitation of the sculpture given by Bartoli. It is a subject of rare occurrence in antique works of art, and there is scarcely any allusion to the myth in ancient writers, with the exception of Hyginus, in whose fables the tale of Theophane is found.
By Mr. Way.—A small Merovingian coin of gold, lately found in a garden at Brockham, between Reigate and Dorking. It is a triens, or tiers de sol, struck at Metz, of the coinage of the French kings of the first race, and of considerable rarity. Another coin of the same type occurred, however, in the remarkable collection found in 1828 on a heath in the parish of Crondale, Hants, as related in this Journal (vol. ii. p. 199). On the obverse appears a head, with a fillet on the forehead, and the legend METTIS CIVETATI. Reverse,—a cross, the letters C and Λ over the transverse limbs, and the name of the moneyer,—+ ANSOALΔΛS MONET. The occurrence of the Greek Δ as a D in the name Ansoaldus may deserve notice; Gregory of Tours speaks of the use of Greek letters ​as introduced by Hilperic. The weight of this triens is a little more than 19 grs. It has been purchased for the British Museum. A representation may be seen amongst the Crondale coins given in the Numismatic Chronicle, vol. vi. p. 171.
Stone Cross, found at Cambridge Castle.
By Mr. Westwood.—A rubbing of the sculptured head of a small stone cross, at present preserved in the collection of the Architectural Museum in Canon Row, Westminster. The fragment is 18 inches high, and about 14 inches wide at the head. The arms are of equal size, and dilated gradually, being very wide at their extremities, which are united together by a narrow fillet, the intervening spaces being pierced. In the centre is a small boss, the remainder of the disc being sunk, within a marginal raised ridge of about an inch wide, extending all round the arms. On the portion of the shaft still remaining is the commencement of a simple interlaced riband pattern. (See woodcut.) The fragment is about 6 inches thick, and the reverse is plain. It was found in 1810, in excavations at Cambridge Castle, where the curious early coffin slabs were found, of which drawings are preserved in Mr. Kerrich's Collections, Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 6735, fol. 189, 190, engraved in the Archæologia, vol. xvii. pl. 15, 16, p. 228. The fragment here represented came into the possession of the Cambridge Camden (now the Ecclesiological) Society, and was transferred with their collections to London. On the formation of the Architectural Museum, the Society presented it with several casts, &c, in aid of so desirable an object.
By Mr. Edward Hoare, of Cork.—A representation of a silver penannular brooch, dug up in 1853, about three miles south-east of Galway, and now in Mr. Hoare's collection. It was stated to have been found amongst the remains of a tumulus; the metal is of base alloy, the workmanship is curious, the extremities where the ring is divided being formed with circular ornaments, with a small central setting of a translucent substance, which Mr. Hoare believes to be amber. A third little boss of the same material ornaments the middle of the hoop. Around the circular terminations are set three crescents, and small heads of some animal, which has been regarded by certain Irish antiquaries as that of the wolf; but it bears more resemblance to the head and beak of a bird. The penannular portion of this curious brooch measures about 21/5 in. in diameter; the acus, which is formed so as to traverse freely round the ring, measures in its present state 43/4 in.; but it appears to have been longer. A correct representation of this brooch has been given in the Gentleman's Magazine for February 1854, p. 147. This kind of brooch occurs in Ireland, remarkably varied in the elaborate character of its ornamentation, as has been well shown by Mr. Fairholt in his Memoir on "Irish Fibulæ," in the Transactions at the Meeting of the British Archæological Association at Gloucester, p. 89. The decorated ends of the hoop frequently assume a form termed a "lunette," as shewn by some of those examples and the bronze fibula found in co. Roscommon, figured in this Journal, vol. vii. ​p. 79, from a representation communicated by Mr. Hoare. He observes, that silver ornaments of this class are of much greater rarity than those of bronze.
By Mrs. Weekes, of Hurst Pierpoint.—An impression from a small oval cameo, described as an onyx, representing two winged genii leaning upon inverted torches (?), with one leg crossed over the other, and seen in profile, looking towards each other. The dimensions of the gem are nearly three quarters by half an inch. It was found in a barrow in St. Leonard's Forest, Sussex, with a Roman brass coin in very imperfect condition, with apparently an imperial head on the obverse, bearing some resemblance to Hadrian, and on the reverse a circular object resembling a buckler, with several concentric rings: no trace of the legend remained. A small etching of these relics, then in the possession of the Rev. Joseph F. Fearon, F.S.A., was executed by the late Mr. T. King, of Chichester.—Also, an impression from a gold trefoil-shaped brooch, found near Brighton Place, at Brighton, in 1811; it is formed of three scrolls, thus inscribed:— + en espoir. ma. vye. endure. (See woodcut.) Date, XVth cent. Mrs. Weekes sent also a sketch of a gold ornament of later date, a plain heart-shaped variety of the ring-brooch, inscribed,—Is thy Heart as my Heart. It was found at Newtimber, Sussex, in 1790. Diam. about 2 inches.
By Mr. Farrer.—A small Saracenic coffer of ivory of the Xth century, elaborately sculptured with eagles, foliated and interlaced ornaments, in pierced work (opus triforiatum). The hinge and the band which forms a fastening are of white metal, inlaid with a kind of niello {?). An inscription in Cufic character surrounds the upper part. This curious object measures 4 inches in diameter; it was formerly in the collection of Eugene Piot. The following explanation of the inscription has been given by the learned archaeologist, M. Reinaud—
"On lit sur le rebord du couvercle du coffret une inscription Arabe en caractères Koufiques, dont voici la traduction.—Une favour de Dieu au serviteur de Dieu Al Hakem Al-Mostanser-billah commandeur des croyants. Le Prince dont il s'agit ici est le Khalife Ommiade d'Espagne, qui regna à Cordoue entre les années 961 et 976 de l'ère Chrétienne. Quant au personnage dont le nom est placé à la suite de celui du prince, c'est probablement le nom de l'artiste."
Mr. Farrer produced also a richly ornamented casket, recently brought from the church of St. Servatius at Maestricht. It is of gilt metal, set with gems, and decorated with enamelled and chased work of beautiful execution. Upon the lock is an escutcheon charged with these arms, Gules, a wall embattled Or. Ginanni gives as the bearing of Dal Muro in Spain, "di rosso con un muro d'oro merlato di 5 pezzi."
By Mr. Wilson.—Several sculptures in ivory, two diptychs with figures of saints, and a figure of the Good Shepherd, placed on the summit of a kind of rocky pyramid with various devices around the base. It measures nearly 9 inches in height. Several of these singular figures have been brought to England within recent years. A more full description of one exhibited in the museum during the Norwich meeting and brought, as it is believed, from Portugal, may be found in the Museum catalogue. (Norwich volume, p. 45.) Also a chalice of gilt metal, with a silver bowl, and four small nielli around the knop; on the underside of the base is the date 1517 (?) in Arabic numerals. (See woodcut.)
By Mr. Charles Tucker.—Representation of the inscription upon the tenor bell in the church of Bedale, Yorkshire. The characters are majuscules, of the form sometimes termed "Lombardic," the "Gothique arrondi" of French archaeologists, and they are probably of the XIVth century. The inscription forms the following Leonine distich:—
✠ IOU : EGO : CUM : FIAM : CRUCE : CUSTOS : LAVDO : MARIAM : DIGNA : DEI : LAUDE : MATER : DIGNISSIMA : GAUDE :
The first word seems to be the interjection IO, the greek ἰὼ, which was used as an exclamation of rejoicing, of applause, or of invocation. Sometimes, but rarely, to occurs as a monosyllabic; it is so used by Martial. This couplet may be thus rendered:—lo! when I am made a guardian (or protector) by the cross, (i.e. am consecrated) I praise Mary. thou! worthy of praise divine, most worthy mother, rejoice.
By Mr. Burtt.—An original document of the early part of the XIIth century, being a grant to the monastery of St. Martin des Champs, at Paris, by Peter de Blois, Bishop of Beauvais, and bearing his seal, a remarkable example of the mode of sealing en placard. This grant, unknown apparently to French writers, will be more fully noticed hereafter. It has been purchased for the British Museum.
By Mr. Franks.—An Italian Majolica dish, upon which is represented Phalaris being burnt in the brazen bull. In one corner are introduced the arms of Guidobaldo II., Duke of Urbino. On the reverse is written Perillo, probably erroneously for Phalaris. The date of this fine example is about 1550.
By Mr. C. Desborough Bedford.—A jar of red ware with numerous micaceous particles in its substance, it had originally two handles.—Also, some decorative pavement tiles, of the XIVth century. These relics were found at a considerable depth in the course of recent excavations at Haberdashers' Hall, London.
By Mr. Le Keux.—A green-glazed jar with four little handles or rings round the neck, probably intended for tying down the cover, which as it was said was found closing the mouth of the vessel. it is stated that it had been recently found at Ealing, in preparing the foundations for a new church, and that it was filled with coins, which came into the hands of four labourers engaged in the work. They had absconded, and Mr. Le Keux had endeavoured in vain to ascertain the age of the coins thus discovered.
By Mr. C. Halsted, of Chichester,—Impression from a gold betrothal ​ring, described as having been found in one of the piers of old London Bridge, during its demolition. It is inscribed thus:—In God I trust.
Matrices, and Impressions from Seals.—By Mr. Brackstone.—Impressions from the seal of Joseph, Dean of Armagh, a brass matrix in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. It is of pointed-oval form, the device is an eagle, with the legend, ✠ S' : IOSEB : DECANI : ARDMACHANI. According to a notice by Mr. John O'Corry which accompanied the impression, the matrix was found on the site of "Teampul Breed," or the Church of St. Bridget, in Armagh, about 1820. He considered the date to be about t. Henry II., and the name does not occur in the list in the Registries of the Primates, from the time of Archbishop Colton, in 1308. A representation of this seal is given in the Dublin Penny Journal, vol. ii. p. 112.
By Mr. Hailstone.—Impression from a matrix stated to have been found recently at Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire. The form is pointed-oval; the device is the Virgin and infant Saviour, within tabernacle work; underneath is a seven-leaved plant growing on the top of a hillock (?). Inscription,—✠ s' : BERENGARI : CANO'I : S' : SATVRNI : As no Saint named Saturnus occurs in the calendar, the name may be an error for Saturnini, and the owner of the seal was possibly a canon of the church of St. Saturnin, at Toulouse.
By Mr. Rohde Hawkins.—A seal of polished jet, in form of a blackamoor's head, the impress being an eagle displayed, with the Spanish words around it, ESO ES DE AGUILA REALE.—(This is of the Royal Eagle.) The date appears to be about 1550. On various parts of the little bust, which is carefully finished, are certain initial letters, the import of which has not been explained.
By Mr. Way.—Impression from a seal of pointed-oval form found at Canterbury on the site of St. Laurence's Hospital, and now in the possession of Mr. Austin, of that city. It represents the martyrdom of St. Stephen, who appears kneeling in the midst between two men who are throwing stones upon his head; above is the hand of Providence in the gesture of benediction, and beneath, the head and shoulders of a tonsured ecclesiastic with his hands upraised, SIGILL' : MATHEI : CAPELLANI* Date XIVth century.
February 3, 1845.
The Hon. Richard C. Neville, F.S.A., Vice-President, in the Chair.
The Rev. William Turner, Vicar of Boxgrove, communicated an account of the discovery of a cemetery and cinerary urns of remarkable workmanship on Ballon Hill, co. Carlow, by Mr. J. Richardson Smith, in June last. Twelve of these urns were exhibited in the Archæological Court, at the Dublin Industrial Exhibition. The hill is remarkable from its insulated position in a rich plain, commanding an extensive view; nine counties may be discerned from the summit. The granite of which it is composed had been quarried at the top of the hill where the soil is of little depth. The first account of any discovery of urns or relics of antiquity was given by an old man living near the place, who said that forty-six years since when digging in a Rath, or mound of earth, he saw a granite slab under which was found an urn of beautiful fashion; he destroyed it from a superstitious notion which still exists in Ireland that such urns were made by witches. Since that time it is stated that large numbers of such ​ancient vessels have been destroyed in planting trees with which the hill is partially covered. One man reported that he smashed four perfect urns in a day; and a quarryman said that he had broken eleven found close together in the quarry. In consequence of these reports, Mr. Richardson Smith commenced his exploration of the hill on June 14, 1853. The diggings commenced at a large block of granite on the hill-side: it proved to measure 22 feet by 12 feet, greatest breadth, the thickness being 10 feet; it was called by the peasantry, "Clochymorra haun," or little stone of the dead. It proved to be supported on granite blocks at each end; and, on clearing away the soil, so as to make search beneath, three skeletons were found, huddled together in a small space not above 2 feet in length. There was no trace of cremation. On further excavation, so that a person could sit upright beneath the great covering-stone, four large blocks of stone were turned over, and at a considerable depth a bed of charred wood appeared, with broken urns of four distinct patterns. At another spot also a fine urn was found deposited in sand, but it could not be preserved.
The next excavation was made at the top of the hill, and a large bed of charred wood and burnt bones was found two feet under the sod. The quarry was also searched and an um was found, laid on its side in the sand; it was quite hard and perfect; the ornamental pattern upon it very curious. Many bones lay around this urn and a few within it. The old Rath was then examined; here digging proved most difficult, as it was paved with great blocks of stone fitting close together. Great quantities of burnt bones and charcoal appeared between stones set on end, under the pavement. The moiety of an urn was found and fragments of two others. The excavation was carried on to the depth of six feet; bones were still found at that depth, but no urn. On June 23 a large urn was uncovered, placed in an inverted position and quite perfect. The sod which had been used to cover the mouth of the vessel and prevent the bones falling out still held together. This urn was decorated with a diamond pattern and two rims round it; it measured 151/2 inches in height, and nearly 14 inches in width; near it was found a second, of large size but broken, of very strong pottery. There were many beds of bones, &c. After various trials in other places, the work was resumed at the old Rath and a great layer of burnt bones and charcoal found: at last a large slab (above 2 cwt.) appeared, and on turning this over a grave was discovered under it, very carefully made, measuring 2 feet long, and 1 foot wide. Its direction was north and south, and it was filled with fine sand in which lay an urn of very curious and elaborate pattern, but squeezed in on one side, and it appeared to have been placed in the sand whilst in a soft or unbaked state, an observation which may lead to the supposition that these urns were fabricated on the spot, and at the very time of the interment.
In the course of further investigation a five-sided chamber was found, walled in with long slabs placed in a workman-like manner, and covered over by a large stone. This was removed; the cist was filled with sand, a bronze spear much decayed lay near the top: deeper in the sand was a very small urn, of remarkable character and carefully finished workmanship, appearing as fresh as if newly made; it contained very small bones. At a greater depth in the sand was found a large urn, placed inverted, and perfect, less striking in form and in the design of its ornament than the former. On raising this larger urn there were seen on the flag-stone beneath, three round highly polished stones, placed in a triangular position, ​with a few pieces of burnt bone around them. The colour of these stones is black, white, and green, the latter being thinner and of less weight than the others. It was conjectured that they might have been deposited as a charm, or they might have been sling-stones, a purpose for which they appeared suitable.
The workmanship of these examples of ancient pottery is far more elaborate than that of the Celtic urns with which we are most familiar in England. The ornaments are not simple scorings, zig-zag or other patterns, but tooled or chiselled, so as to present portions in high relief; amongst the forms frequently occurring on Irish urns are lozenges and escalloped patterns, with strongly projecting ribs, much decorated; the inside of the mouth of these vessels is usually ornamented with much care. In these particulars some analogy may be noticed amongst the sepulchral vessels found in Northumberland, preserved in the museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle and that formed at Alnwick Castle by the Duke of Northumberland. A certain resemblance may also be traced in the urns found in North Britain. The examples found at Ballon Hill surpass for the most part in richness and preservation those hitherto found in Ireland. The facts here given will suffice to shew the very curious character of the interments; a full account of Mr. Smith's investigations there will be published, as we believe, by the Kilkenny Archaeological Society, with representations of the urns.
The description of the cist enclosing a diminutive urn with bones of small size, probably those of a child, with one of large dimensions, will recall to our readers the interesting relation by the Hon. W. O. Stanley, of the interment at Forth Dafarch, Holyhead Island, in 1848. (Journal, vol. vi. p. 226.) The deposit of the burnt remains of an adult, it will be remembered, were there found with those of an infant, placed in a kind of rude cist and in separate urns; this interment was moreover supposed to be a vestige of the Irish, to whose predatory incursions the coasts of Anglesea and adjacent parts were much exposed.
Mr. Henry O'Neill stated that Mr. Richardson Smith had subsequently prosecuted his researches in co. Carlow with great success, and had succeeded in preserving a large number of beautiful urns. The sepulchral chamber rudely formed with stones had been noticed in other ancient Irish interments; and one of the most remarkable examples is the cromlech discovered in a tumulus in the Phœnix Park, Dublin, known by popular tradition as the "Hill of the Mariners." The bodies had been deposited unburnt; near the heads of each were a number of small shells, the Nerita littoralis, perforated to form necklaces. They might, however, have served as a kind of currency like the strings of cowries in Africa.
Mr. O'Neill desired to bring anew before the Institute the important class of remains of a later age, the sculptured crosses to which he had invited attention on a former occasion, and to which the notice of antiquaries had recently been attracted by the exhibition at Dublin of several casts of these remarkable early Christian monuments, which have since been transferred to the Sydenham collection. Mr. O'Neill produced a series of "rubbings" from the most characteristic examples, namely the stone crosses of Graignamanagh, Kells, Graigue, Monasterboice, Kilklispeen, &c., and some of the plates prepared for the forthcoming second part ​of his work on "Irish Crosses." He pointed out certain curious details in these sculptures, and stated that a tradition existed at Monasterboice that the crosses existing there, which are amongst the finest monuments of their class, had been obtained from Rome. Mr. O'Neill observed, however, that if any argument were wanting to disprove the notion of their foreign origin, it might be found in the fact that the Irish crosses are formed of granite and other materials obtained in Ireland. He showed one example from Kells, representing the type of the Sacrifice of Isaac. Amongst the most singular forms of the peculiar ornamentation may be cited a portion of the cross at Kilklispeen, on which four human figures appear interlaced together. Subjects of the chase occur amongst these sculptures, intermingled with those of a sacred description; of these Mr. O'Neill noticed an instance on the base of a cross at Kells, in which also a chariot and horsemen are represented; there are similar details also amongst the sculptures on the base of the great cross at Monasterboice, which had been whollv concealed by accumulated earth around it, until its recent removal under Mr. O'Neill's directions. Of these sculptures he exhibited a facsimile.
Mr. Westwood remarked that the close analogy between the peculiar ornamentation of these sculptured monuments, and that of Irish illuminated MSS. of the same period, may serve to demonstrate the fallacy of the notion that they are of Italian or foreign workmanship. He had pointed out, on a former occasion (see p. 64, ante), the conventional features of design by which these Irish works of early art are characterised as compared with those of an Eastern type. One of the latest writers on the subject had gone so far as to affirm that these sculptures are Italian and that no Irishman could have executed them. Mr. Westwood was firmly convinced that such a conclusion is unfounded.
Mr. Westmacott observed that this remark appeared worthy of most careful consideration, as it opened a very interesting question. "The character of the rilievi, as well as the style of the ornament, certainly exhibited many points of difference when compared with the Italian types of similar subjects, of what might be assumed contemporary date. The latter especially (referring to the ornament) is very peculiar, and has little or no resemblance to that which usually occurs in early monuments of Italy. But it has enough in common with some of the Art met with in the East to make it worth inquiry whether the design of these ornamented crosses may not have been derived, directly or indirectly, from that source. Among the reasons that would somewhat strengthen this speculation, the stiff, hard, and ugly forms given to the human figure, wherever it is introduced, are, in my opinion, very powerful. We know that the Art representation of sacred persons was, at a very early period, a subject of considerable discussion. The greatest difference of opinion prevailed among the highest authorities and most learned and pious ecclesiastical writers, as to the character of form that should be admitted for this purpose. Certain of these, chiefly of the Eastern Churches, insisted that the Saviour should not be represented under a form of beauty; but, on the contrary, of a repulsive character. This stranger opinion was founded on the literal translation of that passage in Isaiah, which declares—'He hath no form or comeliness . . . and there is no beauty that we should ​desire him.' From this they seem to have concluded that our Saviour's person was even deformed! and the followers and admirers of the advocates of this strange doctrine—especially the monkish orders of St. Basil for instance—adopted these views to their full extent. Thus, a peculiar character of stiffness and even ugliness is found to pervade the illustrative Art of the Eastern schools, as well as wherever the same influence extended. Happily for Art, another and entirely different view was taken by other learned doctors of the Church, of quite equal authority and orthodoxy, They rejected the reasoning of the Eastern divines and adopted the more philosophical principle, that beauty of sentiment should be illustrated by beauty of form; and argued that no beauty could be too great to represent the founder of Christianity, or to illustrate so divine and perfect a religion as that which He had taught. The influence of Pope Adrian I., supported by the high authority of St. Ambrose and others, went far to establish this opinion; and fixed, indeed, that type or character of representation which has prevailed generally in the Latin (or Western) Church—and which led, eventually, and by slow degrees, to those affecting and beautiful representations of the Saviour, the Virgin, the Apostles and other holy persons which are found in the painting and sculpture of the Italian schools of the purer times of Christian Art. With respect to the strange adaptation of the human figure to the tortuous shapes of the ornament on those crosses, I am disposed to think that no particular meaning is intended by it. It is probably a mere exercise of ingenuity on the part of the artist to try bow far the figure could be made to fill or fit into the spaces. I am further confirmed in this opinion from seeing the outrageous liberty that is taken with the human form in order to accommodate it to the very inconvenient and distressing postures it is made to assume."
Ground-plan of a Roman Villa at Wenden, Essex, excavated by the Hon. R. C. Neville, in 1853.
The Hon. Richard Neville communicated the following notice of a Roman Villa lately discovered in the course of his excavations near Audley End, of which mention had been made at previous meetings:—
"The remains of this building are in a field called Chinnels, on Lord Braybrooke's property, in the parish of Wendens Ambo, which, as ​the name indicates, was formerly divided into two parishes, designated Maqna and Parra. Each had a church and separate parsonage; but in 1662, when the parishes were consolidated, the church of the smaller and the vicarage of the larger, being out of repair, were pulled down. The smaller vicarage was then attached to the larger church, which stands at a considerable distance. The arch of the west doorway in the tower of this church appears to have been constructed with Roman tiles, and this may satisfactorily explain the ruinous condition of the hypocausts in the adjacent villa now laid bare. As the smaller church seems to have stood within two fields of the foundations recently discovered in Chinnels, a large portion of them were in all probability used in its construction. The only vestige of this church now remaining is a curious piscina, the bason of which is placed on a stone column, being formed within the capital, which is ornamented with foliated patterns of a Romanesque character. This stands on the lawn in the vicarage grounds; and, in a part of the same garden, some years since a number of skeletons were found, doubtless indicating the site of the grave-yard of the demolished church; an old door in a barn on the opposite side of the road may probably have been taken from the sacred structure thus demolished in the XVIIth century."
We are indebted to Mr. Neville's kindness for the ground-plan of the villa which is here given (See woodcut). The site lies west of Wenden church, and to the south of the road which leads from that place to Arkesden. Several Roman relics, found in the course of the exploration of this villa, have been noticed in this Journal. A bronze armilla and ring set with a glass paste and there discovered were exhibited by Mr. Neville at the Meeting in April last. Amongst the coins which have enriched his cabinet from this locality may be mentioned one of Cunobeline, regarded by the Rev. Beale Poste as an inedited type. He has kindly given the following observations on this coin. "The reverse is very similar to that of the coin represented by Ruding, Plate V. fig. 33, which has on the obverse the head of Jupiter, whilst the Wenden coin presents an obverse nearly the same as that of figs. 34 and 37, in the same plate, which appears intended to portray Apollo. The coin newly discovered may be thus described.—Obv., head of Apollo to the right; inscription partly obliterated, appearing to read—TA(SC). Rev., a horseman galloping to the right, wielding an object resembling a staff; the inscription partly intercepted by the rim, but apparently reading—V(ER). The object in the warrior's hand may have been the carnyx, or military trumpet, which occurs on some of the coins of Verulam, and which was used by commanders amongst the Celts to rally their troops, as has been shown by the Marquis de Lagoy in his Essay on the arms and warlike appliances of the Gauls, p. 25."
The piscina, mentioned above by Mr. Neville as existing at Wenden, bears some resemblance to that found by Mr. Lower at Pevensea Castle (see woodcut, in this volume of the Journal, p. 83.) The character of the sculpture is of an earlier period.
Mr. Ashurst Majendie gave a short notice of certain tombs of the De Veres, preserved at Earls Colne, Essex, and he exhibited drawings executed by Mr. Parish of Colchester. One of these memorials had attracted the notice of Horace Walpole, as appears in his letters to Montague. These monuments were removed from the Priory church, and Weever notices ​several which no longer exist. The drawings exhibited by Mr. Majendie represented the following monuments:—A cross-legged effigy, a knight in a long surcoat, the feet resting on a boar; date about 1300; the figure is placed on an altar-tomb with deeply recessed niches at the side. An effigy in plate armour, camail, military belt over the hips, the arms of De Vere on the jupon; date late in the XIVth century. On the sides of the altar-tomb are niches in which small figures are placed. Cole supposes this to be the tomb of Robert De Vere, Earl of Oxford, who died 1392. An altar-tomb with effigies of a knight and lady; he wears plate armour, with the arms of De Vere on the breast, an orle around his helmet; in the niches at the sides of the tomb are angels holding rectangular escutcheons, charged with the arms of De Vere; De Vere impaling Sergeaux; De Vere and Warren, quarterly; De Vere impaling Badlesmere and De Vere impaling Fitzwalter. This tomb has been assigned to Richard, tenth Earl of Oxford, K. G., who died 1417; he married the heiress of Sir Richard Sergeaux, of Cornwall. Mr. Majendie brought also for examination a curious fragment of stained glass, of a rich blue colour, found in excavations made by him at Hedingham Castle.
Mr. George Vulliamy brought before the Society some relics of the game of Paille maille, so much in vogue in the XVIIth century, especially in the reign of Charles II., as appears by numerous entries in the Diary of Pepys. These objects had been lately found in an old house in Pall Mall, a street which had received its name from the favourite amusement there practised. Some notices of the game were read, which will be given in this Journal hereafter.
Antiquities and Works of Art Exhibited.
By the Hon. Richard C. Neville.—A silver ring of very peculiar form, lately found at Great Chesterford, Essex, with relics of the Roman age. The pala, or head of the ring, is composed of a small rectangular gold plate, chased in relief, and representing a lion. From one side of this plate is a piece of similar dimensions turning outwards nearly at right angles to it, bearing in chased work, partly pierced, a representation of a vase between two birds (?).
By Mr. Franks.—Two bronze blade-weapons lately found in the Thames, one of them resembling the Irish blade presented to the Institute by Mr. Kyle, and figured in this Journal, vol. x., p. 73.; length, nine inches. The other is of a type found in Wiltshire and other parts of England, of which various forms are shown in Hoare's Ancient Wiltshire, plates 14, 15, 23, 27, and 28. This example has only two rivets to attach it to the handle, but these weapons usually have three, four, or five rivets. The broad part of the blade, close to the handle, is engraved with a vandyked border and hatched diagonal lines. Length, 8 inches. A bronze blade with two rivets only but of longer dimensions, found in the Thames near Vauxhall, was exhibited by Mr. Kirkmann to the British Archæological Association, and is figured in their Journal, vol. ii., p. 60. Mr. Franks produced also a "pomander," or globular frame-work of ​massive gold, chased and wrought with considerable taste; it was intended, probably, to bold an aromatic pastille or preservative against poison and infection. The diameter is nearly two inches; at one end there is a small ring, the attachment at the other end is lost. The weight is about two and a half ounces. An earthy matter was found within, which proved on exposure to heat to be highly aromatic. This ornament, of the close of the XVth or early part of the XVIth century, had been lately found on the Surrey side of the Thames by a bargeman who was endeavouring to fix his anchor in the bank of the river. A good example of the use of such "pomanders" is supplied by the portrait of a citizen of Frankfort, in the Stædel gallery in that city: it is dated 1504. A gold ball of like proportions is appended to his string of paternosters.
By Mr. Forrest.—A Majolica dish, from the Baron collection at Paris, representing the finding of Romulus and Remus, painted by Francesco Xanto Avello, of Rovigo, at Urbino, in the year 1533. It is a beautiful example of gold and ruby-coloured lustre.—A small stove-tile, of Nuremberg pottery, date about 1560, on which is represented in relief a demi- figure of a crowned personage holding a covered cup; two escutcheons are introduced, or (?) a lion rampant azure, and argent, a bend sable.—A small tankard-shaped vessel of stone ware, of the XVIth century, ornamented with a medallion in relief, representing a male and a female head conjoined, their faces turned in contrary directions.
By Mr. W. Deere Salmon.—The iron cross-bar, part of the frame-work of a pouch or aulmonière, found in ploughing at Newark Priory, Surrey.
By Mr. Farrer.—Two fine plates of enamelled copper. One represents the Nativity: Joseph is seen seated at the foot of a bed in which the Virgin is reposing, and above is introduced the infant Saviour in swaddling clothes. The other bears a figure of St. Peter. The field is richly gilt in both examples, which are of the early part of the XIIth century.
By Mr. George V. Du Noyer.—A drawing representing the emblems of the Passion, carved in low relief on the soffit of the arch of a window at Ballinacarriga Castle, Dunmanway, co. Cork. (See woodcut.) The building was erected in 1585, and that date appears with the initials—R•MC•C—being those of Robert McCarty, called McCarty Carriga, carved on stone, as shown by a sketch sent by Mr. Du Noyer. With the more usual emblems,—the scourges, pillar, the ladder, spear-head, hammer and pincers, the foot pierced by a nail, and the pierced hand with a nail pointed towards it,—this curious carving presents some of less common occurrence.
​The crown of thorns has here the three nails (one for each arm, and a single nail for the two feet of the crucifix) inserted in it, the points con- verging towards the centre; by its side appears a heart, transfixed in like manner by three swords. The cock, the symbol of Peter's denial, is introduced standing on a tripod pot, probably representing the vessel of vinegar mingled with gall. According to a strange local tradition, as Mr. Du Noyer observed, it was supposed that the bird was one that had been killed, and was actually being boiled in the high priest's kitchen; but in order to mark the crowing of a cock at that particular time as a miracle, it was restored to life, and issued from the caldron as here shown to fulfil the prophecy. Amongst a series of these emblems on a sepulchral slab, dated 1592, found at Christ Church, Cork, in 1831, the heart occurs pierced with seven swords, explained as signifying the seven wounds of our Lord. With this were the tripod pot and other emblems, and amongst them the uncommon symbol of a rose.
By Mr. Le Keux.—A view of part of St. Ethelbert's Tower, at St. Augustine's, Canterbury, a remarkable fragment of Norman work, with numerous so-called Roman wall-tiles amongst the masonry. The drawing was executed by Mr. Deeble, in 1814, and the greater part of the tower fell two years subsequently. It appears in perfect state in the bird's-eye view taken, about 1655, by Thomas Johnson, and engraved by King for Dugdale's Monasticon.
By Mr. C. Desborough Bedford.—Two MSS., one being an Antiphoner of the XIVth century, with illuminated initials; the other a collection of sermons and theological treatises by St. Ambrose, St. Bernard, St. Anselm, and other writers, bound up together, the writing being of various periods, about the XIVth and XVth centuries. It appears to have belonged to a monastery of friars at Tougres, in Belgium. Also several decorative pavement tiles of the XIVth century, found under Haberdashers' Hall during works now in progress. On one is the coat of Fitzwalter (?) a fess between two chevrons.
By Mr. W. J. Bernhard Smith.—A small model of a helmet with a visor, of the time of James 1., it is of steel with brass studs, and ornamented with gilding and with patterns formed by the punch and graver. An English dagger, date about t. Henry VII, found, as it is believed, in the Thames, near the Houses of Parliament, with the arming-sword exhibited at a former meeting. (Journal, vol. x. p. 368.) Also an English poniard, with a triangular-grooved blade. Three Venetian poniards with triangular or prismatic blades, variously mounted; the blade of one of them has slight cavities on its surface, possibly to hold poison (?), and another has a blade graduated, and the divisions numbered. Some have conjectured that the bravo might have received remuneration according to the depth of the wounds inflicted ; but it seems more probable that such graduated poniards were used in trials of strength by Italian fencers, indicating the force of the stroke by the depth to which the blade penetrated in some hard object. A Spanish dagger with flamboyant blade, fabricated at Toledo.
* ↑ Lyson's Woodchester, plates xv. and xxi. fig. 23.
* ↑ Archæol. Journ. vol. ii. p. 44; Archæol. viii. pl. xxii; in this instance they are described as slates; Lyson's Woodchester, pl. xxviii, fig. 6, these last are of the gritty stone found near Bristol or the Forest of Dean.
* ↑ Davidson, British and Roman Remains, p. 27.
* ↑ The collections formed by Mr. Neville at Wilbraham are represented in his beautiful work, "Saxon Obsequies Illustrated," the first extensive display of Saxon ornaments and weapons found in England, hitherto published.
* ↑ Collectanea, vol. iii., p. 41; Irish Antiquities of the Saxon period.
* ↑ The important character and extent of the Museum in Mr. Wylie's possession is well known to antiquaries by his curious account of the discoveries, entitled, "Fairford Graves," Oxford, J. H. Parker, 1852.
* ↑ See Caylus Recueil, tome iv. p. 281, pl. 86; and Museum Disneianum, part ii. London, 1848. p. 177—180, pl. 78.
* ↑ Vol. ii. p. 379. Compare the torques found in Ireland, and belonging to the Earl of Charleville, Vetusta Monumenta, vol. v. pl. 29.
* ↑ Shaw, Hist. of Staffordshire, vol. i. Gen. Hist. p. 32. Erdeswicke, note on Pattingham. An inset of gold was found in an adjoining field in 1780, round at top and Hat beneath like a pig of lead.
* ↑ See the description of these cavities, Gent. Mag., Oct. 1853, p. 388.
* ↑ See the remarks on these miniature objects,—crepundia, which were possibly charms, or worn merely as fanciful ornaments, rather than children's toys, as some suppose.
* ↑ Lysons's Woodchester Villa, pl. 35. It differs slightly in form; the dimensions are nearly the same. Two miniature bronze axes found with Roman remains at Rennes, are figured by Toulmouche, in his Hist. de l'Epoque Gallo-Romaine de Rennes, pl. 2, figs. 15, 16, p. 112. He supposed them intended for some uses of the toilet.
* ↑ See further the observations in Mr. Poste's recent publication, "The Coins of Cunobeline and of the Ancient Britons," p. 139.
* ↑ Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 373.
* ↑ Arch. Journ., vols. v. p. 220, vi. p. 74. See also examples figured in Vetusta Monumenta, vol. ii. pl. 20; Journ. Arch. Assoc., vol. ii. p. 331; Prehist. Annals, p. 553; and Worsaae's Primeval Antiquities of Denmark, translated by Mr. Thoms, p. 53, where the adjustment of the acus is well shewn.
* ↑ See representations of gold "ring-money" in Mr. Hoare's possession, and remarks on the curious questions connected with these objects, Arch. Journ. vol. ii. p. 198; vol. v. p. 218.
* ↑ This dial has been described by Mr. M. A. Lower, and figured in Gent. Mag., Nov. 1840.
* ↑ See Mr. Brooke's Memoir, Archæologia, vol. v. p. 188; Camden's Brit. ed. Gough, vol. iii. p. 330. Pegge's Sylloge of Inscriptions, p. 20.
* ↑ See Archaeol. Journ., vol. x. p. 332.
* ↑ See "Le Bestiaire Divin," with introduction by M. Hippeau, Caen, 1852, pp. 126, 235. This myth is constantly alluded to by middle-age writers, as in Poesies du Roi de Navarre, t. ii. p. 70. The unicorn was the mediæval emblem of virginity. See the treatise by the Abbé Cahir, entitled "Sur quelques points de zoologie mystique," Paris, 1842. See also various writers cited by Gesner, de Quadrup. lib. i.
* ↑ This peculiarity is likewise to be observed in the very curious fragment found some years since in the Calf of the Isle of Man. Antiquarian Repertory, vol. iv. p. 460. It bears an extraordinary figure of the Saviour on the cross, the feet separately attached, the body clothed in a long tunic. At his right side stands a soldier with a spear. The other side is broken.
* ↑ This interesting building forms one of the subjects in Mr. Lear's volume illustrative of scenery and architecture in Calbria.
* ↑ Leland, Itin. vol. i. fol. 71.
* ↑ See another curious example of bronze, in Mr. Brackstone's collections, which is analogous to Mr. Hoare's "Galway brooch," in the trefoiled ornamentations of the ends, and presents an intermediate type between the ring-brooch and the "penannular." Journal, vol.ix. p. 200. The "Galway brooch" above described is figured, Proceedings Kilkenny Arch. Soc., vol. iii. p. 11.
* ↑ Ginanni, Arte del Blazone, p. 255. It is, however, scarcely probable that the bearing upon Mr. Farrer's casket is Spanish. Wirsberg bore such a coat, but the wall argent.
* ↑ The stops between each of the words are in the original formed with three points placed perpendicularly.
* ↑ See an account of this remarkable tomb in Mr. Wakeman's Handbook of Irish Antiquities, p. 9.
* ↑ The base of this remarkable cross has been excavated since the cast was prepared for the Industrial Exhibition in Dublin. This portion will be added on the cast being placed in the series at Sydenham.
* ↑ Journal, vol. x. pp. 170, 357.
* ↑ Funeral Monuments, p. 614. Coles' account (written in 1746) is to be found in his MSS. in Brit. Mus., vol. x. p. 25. See also Dugdales Mon. Angl. Caley's edition, vol. iv. p. 98. Gough, Sep. Mon. vol. i. pp. 36, 53; vol. ii. p. 49. Morant vol. ii. p. 212. Daniel King made drawings of these monuments of the De Veres in 1653, which came into the possession of Walpole.
* ↑ Hefner, Costumes, Div. iii.
* ↑ The brass of Robert Beauner, at St. Albans, date about 1470, represents him holding a heart pierced with six wounds.
* ↑ Gent. Mag., vol. ci., part i., p. 599.
* ↑ Monast. Ang., vol. i., p. 23, orig. edit.; copied in Caley's edition, vol. i., p. 120. See also Battely's Appendix to Sommer's Canterbury, p. 161.