The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-12 00:00:00

BRITISH

ARCH/MOLOGICA.

ASSOCIATION.

WINCHESTER, Attn. 9.—ln the Town-hall, on Wed-
nesday, the Secretary read a paper by J. G. Ake -mans,
on the mints of Winchester under the Anglo-Saxon and
e ray English monarchs. After reading the paper, Mr.
Smith observed, that he and some other members Stad
I just visited the reputed site of the ancient mint in St.
Thomas's street, now the residence of Mr. Godwin ; the
name of Godwin would he recognised as that or one of
the ancient moneyers. In the cellars of this laouse, a
Roman tesselated pavement had just been discovered.
Mr. Halliwell read a very interesting communication
respecting John Clapstone, a Winchester alchemist,
temp. Henry VIII.
Mr. Wright read a paper by Mr. Thompson, on the
nartnicipal archives of Leicester, and compared them with
those of Winchester and Southampton. The meets tig
then acijourned to three o'clock, when the reading of the
papers saas resumed. Among those read, Mr. Wrigitt's
on the aisstaves was, perhaps, the most important. In
the evening' e W. Betham took the chair, when t.tte
Rev. S. Isaaesed read an account of some incised church-i*
slabs in Darley Churcs, and Mr. Rosser gave some pars.
ticulars respecting the richly decorated monumental slab
in Brading Church. Mt:. i7aigh then gave a description
of the churches in the viatlitY
t their architectural of Winchester, and pointed
ou
peculiasitf.es. Ileadburn Worthy
Church, founded by St. Wili."ed. Mr. Haigh considered
as one of the most interesting to Ste:antiquary, as retain-
ing many architectural evidences of its; Saxon
The meeting then repaired to St. Jo tin's Rooms, where
the president gave a soiree to the entire ;body of mere,
hers and visitors, as well as to some of the neighbouring-
ntry. The spacious apartments were wei.l filled, and
the band of the 55th, under tire command of' Colonel
•S'elioeclde, was in attendance, and during the osrening,
while refreshments were being supplied, played several
popular airs. The tables were completely covered with
antiquities of various kinds, chiefly local, among which
were some urns and other remains discovered near A,l-
- by the Rev. A. B. Hutchins ; Anglo-Saxon!
sword, spears, fibule, Sze., from the Isle of Thanet, by
Mr. Rolte ; Roman inscriptions. &c., by Mt. Bell, of
Newcastle ; a MS. volume of drawirga of psmernents,
a'tars, &c., discovered by Mr. Dukes, at Wroxotar ;
esloured drawings of Roman tessellated pavameuts at
Westdean, Hants, at Northampton, at Biguor. ,SUS,SeX,
end at Bramdean, contributed by Messrs. Ifatclser,
Pretty, King, and Colonel and Miss Greenwood. Mr.
Arts,: also forwarded for comparison drawings off
some of those discovered by him at Castor. The,
v. ails were hung with rubbings of ornamental brasses.
om St. Cross, and other places in Hampshire, exhibited'
by Mr. Madden ; and from St. Albans and various loca-
lities, by Messrs. Rosser and Richardson. Mr. Williams
exhibited some beautiful drawings of places and objects
of local interest. The Rev. A. B. Hutchins furnished
some interesting objects of ancient art, taken from har-
rows, in Wilts, and a superb gold ring, of large size and
novel shape, discovered at Bossington, Hants; it bore a.
design of a male filleted head, surrounded with the its-
scripti sn, " Nomen Ahella Cho. Fid."

On a _..citint of the extra•:,rdi:cary supply of papers, the
c-ntreittee had resolved to postpone the reading of some,
and to hold extra meetings for the ctscussien of others.
On the present occasion, Mr. Smith gave the substance of
his i aper on tesselated pavements in Hants to the com-
pany, and illustrated his remarks by the beautiful draw-
ings su=pended on the walls, Other members ,superin-
tended and explained the objects in other departments,
and the numerous assembly did not separate until a late
hour.

On Thursday the meeting divided into two sections,
The one, under the superintendence of Messrs. Asbpitel,
Bally, Rosser, &c., visited Romney Abbey Church (an
account of which had been jut:t published by Mr. Spence,
and dedicated to the association.) The other and larger
portion of the meeting, including the president, Mr. Buc-
kingham, Mr. Ainsworth (the traveller), Mr. Harrison!
Ainsworth, Mr. M. F. Tupper, Mr. Pettigrew, Sir J.
Annesley, Sir F. Myers, Mr. Arden, Mr. Planch,
and a considtrable number of ladies, proceeded to Bit-
tern Manor House, the seat of Mrs. Stuart Hall, to exa-

mine the Roman antiquities discovered in the grounds
which occupy the site of the station Clamentum. Mr.
Smith conducted the large assembly to the altars, inscrip-
tions, and sculptures with which the walks of this se
questered and beautiful spot are uytefully ornamented.
These remains show the importance of the locality in the
time of the Romans. Dedications to at least eight Empe-
rors have been dug up, and a very large sculptured stone,.
which had been used for an inscription over the gateway
of some public building, was cleaned and discussed by the
members. Messrs. ilaigh and Smith, who arrived early
in the day with a smaller number of visitors, examined
the walls which protect the lower grounds from the high
tides of the lichen, and discovered immense hewn stones,
which hail clearly been taken from exten•ive buildings,
no doubt of a public character, and they also detected
the remains of a Norman ecclesiastical building. Among
the dedica•ory inscriptions, two to the Emperor Tetricus,
found here, have been already published, one by Sir IL
Englefield, the other by Mr. Smith. A third is now
added to the list ; it is on a large columnar stone, four
feet long. The members then were conducted to examine
a large collection of coins, pottery, fragments of glass,
&c. ; after which they partook of a cold collation, pro-
vided by order of the liberal and kind-hearted Mrs. Stu-

art Hall. Netley Abbey was next visited, Mr. Guillaume,
the architect, walking round with one party, and Mr.
Haigh IN Hi the other. These gentlemen, in extempora-
neous lectures, explained the various architectural pecu-
liarities of the building, and Alr. Haigh gave a highly-
inter,sting, though nteessarily rapid sketch, of the his-

tory of Cistercian mo.:asteries and their domestic habits
a!AI customs, which, being illustrated in the heart of one
of the .•1,;‘,4. of this nr•riar ctill
well preserved, atiOrded a high intellectual treat to all
who had the good fortune to hear the lecturer's lucid

wxposition. The company expressed their great satisfac-
tion at finding this beautiful ruin is now in good hands.
Mr. George Hunt. the Jesse-, a member of the associa-

tion, takes the highest interest in its preservation, and
has adopted measures to check the spoliation to which it
was subjected before it came into his possession.
In the evening papers were read in the Town-hall, the
most important of whi,.h were one by Mr. Shipp, of
Blandiord, on a Roman villa, &c., dicovered by him and
Messrs. Hall and Warn', at Tarrant Hint,n, and ono

by the Rev. Beale Post, on the war of Vespasian against
the Belglu. The zeal and energy of the archaeologists
were not overcome by this severe trial of their physical
powers. At nine, P.M., they attended a soiree given by
Mr. Hughes, a gentleman whose taste for the fine arts,
and urbanity in throwing open his museum to the ama•
tour are well known, and were never better appreciated
than on the present oc.mtion. Four rooms, hung with
pictures of the first order, and of historical interest,
were stored with exhibitions of weapons, works of an-
cient art, statues, bronz-s, coins, and an unrivalled col-