The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-16 00:00:00

THE EXCAVATIONS AT MR OXETE.R.

The Midland Counties Archaeological Society (of
Birmingham) recently made an . excursion to
Wroxeter and Shrewsbury. A pleasant drive
brought the excursionists in sight of the Old Wall
at Wroxeter, a fragment of Roman masonry stand-
ing very conspicuously in the centre of the buried
city, and in a few minutes more the visitors were
dispersed in all directions over the enclosure, trac-
ing the course of the excavations, and eagerly
hunting for coins, bits of pottery, fragments of bone,
and the other "small deer" usually to be found in
remains of ancient buildings. So earnest was the
search, so active the gestures, so frequent the sud-
den descents into subterranean chambers and ruined
hypocausts, that had one of the savage destroyers
of Uriconium suddenly returned, he might have
fancied that a new colony of Romans had revisited
and undertaken to re-construct the city of their
forefathers. After amusing themselves in this way
for an hour or so, the visitors assembled beneath
the Old Wall, to hear from Mr. Wright an account
of the excavations. After having sufficiently ex-
plored Uriconium, the visitors went on to the
ancient church at Wroxeter, the gateway of which
is guarded by two massive columns taken from the
ruins. In a garden close by is another column,
probably a Roman milestone, surmounted by a
carved capital evidently detached from some public
edifice at Uriconium. Wroxeter Church is itself
worth a special visit. The chancel is pure Norman,
the nave late decorated, and the tower mainly per-
pendicular, with fragments of decorated, showing
that it has undergone restoration. The interior of
the church is sadly disfigured, especially the nave,
one side of which is choked up by an enormous
pew resembling the huge State bedsteads in use in
the Jacobean period. In the chancel are several
remarkable monuments, consisting of altar tombs,
surmounted by effigies. Of these one was erected
to the memory of Sir Thomas Bromley and his wife.
Sir Thomas was Chief Justice of England, and was
one of the executors to Henry VIII. The next
monument, the tomb of a member of the Berker
family, is noticeable for the touching sim-
plicity of its inscription, which sets forth that
the wife of Philip Berker fell ill and died, being
aged 33 years, and that the next day her loving
husband, " being then in perfect health," also fell
sick, and died 17 days thereafter. Their bodies
now repose in the same tomb, on the top of which
rests their effigies, habited and coloured as in life.
The Berkers were lords of Haughmond Abbey,
which came into their hands at the Dissolution,
and, according to Spelman, did them an ill-turn, for
none of the direct heirs male lived to attain the age
of 21. At last the family died out, and were suc-
ceeded by the Corbets, on which, according to local
tradition, the same ill-fate attends, although they
sought to avert it by ceasirig to live in the Abbey,
which has now fallen into ruins, On the other
side of the chancel is one of those wonderful monu-
ments which discredited the taste of the 17th cen-
tury—overloaded with false ornament and clumsy
statues of weeping cherubs, one of whom is most
ludicrously poking his fat forefinger into his eye. A
walk fro.n the church down a pretty lane led those
who cared to see it to the ancient ford by which
the Romans crossed the Severn, and after this had
been visited the excursionists remounted their car-
riages, and went on to Shrewsbury. Among the
places visited at Shrewsbnry were the Museum
where Dr. Johnson exhibited and explained numer-
ous objects found at Uriconium, and brought to
Shrewsbury for safe keeping. Among them were
pins, brooches, rings, and other articles of personal
use, coins, pieces of pottery, glass, human and
animal bones, Corinthian capitals admirably carved,
and which must have surmounted columns at the
least 20 feet high. Several skulls, remarkable for
deformities eminently puzzling to physiologists
and phrenologists, were also exhibited, and, right
or wrong, the general opinion seemed to be that
they had belonged to some of the savages by whom
Uriconium was destroyed. Next to the Museum,
St. Mary's Church was the chief object of attrac-
tion. This church has a fine nave of the transition
period. The chancel is decorated, and is remark-
able for having on the north side an early Eng-
lish window, filled with stained glass, illus-
trating the life of St. Bernard, supposed to have
been made from the designs of Albert Durer.
Every window in the church is filled with old
stained glass, collected and given by the Rev. W. G.
Rowlands, the late rector. The east window, which
is under repair, is what is called a " Jesse window"
—that is, at the base a figure of Jesse, from the
centre of which rises a tree, on the branches of
which are portrayed patriarchs and prophets, our
Lord himself being placed on the apex. This win-
dow has survived two churches. It was given by
the Charltons to the Grey Friars, thence, at the
Reformation, taken to Old St. Chad's, and trans-
ferred to St. Mary's when St. Chad's was pulled
down, about 70 years ago. The Abbey Church, in
the Foregate, was also the subject of much interest.
Originally a cross church, belonging to a house of
the Benedictine order, it is now simply a Norman
nave, with middle pointed west window. It was
intended to have formed the cathedral of that
Bishop of Shrewsbury (suffragan to Lichfield),
nominated by Henry VIII., but never consecrated.
The abbey buildings were originally very extensive.
—Aris's Birmingham Gazette.

GUY'S HOSPITAL. At a Court of Committees of
Guy's Hospital, held on Thursday, the I Ith inst. his Royal
Highness the Duke of Cambridge was unanimously chosen
a Governor.

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