bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Netherlands Maiolica Vase from the Tower of London
Authors: Rackham Bernard
Published: January 2012

Amongst a quantity of broken pottery of various periods found last year during excavations in the moat of the Tower of London is a vase which throws some light on the obscure question of the origin of Netherlands maiolica. The vase is complete except for the foot, which was missing and has been restored in plaster in what is probably a correct reconstruction of its original form. The shape is well enough shown in the accompanying illustrations (pls. LV, LVI) to call for no description. It is virtually the same as that of a vase in many respects similar which was dug up some years ago in the City of London and was bought for the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1938 at the sale of the collection of the late Mr. William Ridout (pl. LVII); of this second vase also only the body and neck remain, the missing foot having similarly been made good in plaster.
Decorated Prehistoric Pottery from the Bed of the Ebbsfleet, Northfleet, Kent
Authors: Burchell J. P. T. , Piggott Stuart
Published: January 2012

Pumping operations conducted by the Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers Co., Ltd., in the large chalk quarry situated between Brook Vale and the Southern Railway track to the east resulted in the normal water-level for the immediate vicinity being lowered by approximately 50 ft. This volume of pumping, however, had the effect of filling to capacity all streams and conduits connected with the outflow, so that archaeological investigation of the low-lying deposits of the neighbourhood was rendered impossible.

In the summer of 1938 operations in the quarry were abandoned, and the pumps were withdrawn for installation in Baker's Hole, half a mile to the west.

Upon the cessation of pumping the water-level immediately began to return to normal at the rate of about 9 in. every twenty-four hours, whilst the beds of the streams and conduits promptly dried up.

Such a state of affairs rarely presents itself to the archaeologist, and I forthwith decided to make two excavations at what I considered were likely to prove ‘key’ sites in the bed of the Ebbsfleet. The first spot chosen lay at the junction of Brook Vale and the Ebbsfleet, and the second was at a point a quarter of a mile farther upstream.
The Excavations at Ur, 1924–1925
Authors: Woolley C. Leonard
Published: January 2012

The Joint Expedition of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania restarted its excavations at Ur on 1st November 1924 and closed down on 28th February 1925 after a most successful season. For the epigraphical side of the work I had associated with me this year Dr. L. Legrain, of the University Museum, to whose help I owe much more than I can express: even in this preliminary report it will be clear how greatly our discoveries gained in interest and value from his study of the inscriptions. Mr. J. Linnell, who was in the field for the first time, assisted on the general archaeological side and kept the card index of objects. Unfortunately there was no architect on the staff, and we had to make what shift we could without, in a campaign peculiarly rich in architectural results; all the time I had reason to regret the loss of Mr. F. G. Newton, whose skill and experience had proved invaluable in former years. The main reason for the lack of an architect was shortness of funds: the British Museum was unable to provide from its own resources its due half of the cost of the Expedition, and we could not have taken the field at all but for the generous help given by friends in London; and even so I should have been obliged to bring the season to a premature end in January had not the British residents in Iraq come forward with subscriptions for the British Museum's side of the work which, met by Philadelphia with an equal sum, enabled me to carry on for another month. To all these I wish to acknowledge my gratitude.
The Goodman and other grasshopper rings
Authors: Hemp W. J.
Published: January 2012

Gabriel Goodman, Doctor of Divinity, Dean of the Collegiate Church of Westminster, ‘a sad grave man’ according to Archbishop Parker, was born at Ruthin in Denbighshire about 1529, being the second son of Edward Goodman, burgess and mercer of that town, by his wife ‘Ciselye’, daughter of Edward Thelwall of Plas y Ward. Although a Welsh origin has been claimed for the Ruthin Goodmans, it is probable that like the Thelwalls they were descended from English settlers in the Vale of Clwyd.
The University Museum of Archaeology and of Ethnology, Cambridge
Authors: Clarke L. C. G.
Published: January 2012

The University Museum of Archaeology and of Ethnology at Cambridge, of which I was appointed Curator in 1922, is comparatively little known.

That it is not known as well as its contents deserve by the Fellows of this Society is not surprising when it is even less appreciated by the University to which it belongs. Whilst a very large number of classical students take a great interest in the Museum of Classical Casts, there is great difficulty to get them to take an interest in the Museum of Archaeology and of Ethnology. Half of the teachers of Classics in the University have never been in the Museum, and many do not know where it is.
Tufa Construction in Roman and Norman Times
Authors: Winbolt S. E.
Published: January 2012

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the Roman buildings excavated last year at Folkestone is the construction of the early walls of calcareous tufa blocks. These walls underlay later buildings which were erected certainly not later than A. D. 100. The tufa walls then were probably built, not necessarily for Romans but perhaps in Roman style for a British noble, roughly between A. D. 1 and 100.
An Early Iron Age Inhumation-Burial at Egginton, Bedfordshire
Authors: Gurney Frederick G. , Hawkes C. F. C. , Cave A. J. E.
Published: January 2012

The village of Egginton (now officially spelt Eggington to distinguish it from Egginton in Derbyshire) lies some three miles east of Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire. By the courtesy of the former owner of the manor, Mr. Harry Sear, and more lately by that of his son, Mr. Gains Sear, I have for some years been able to watch the more or less incidental disclosure of archaeological remains in the excavation of sand on a site near Egginton Manor Farm. This site, where the large Sand Pit is marked on the map, 1 fig. (after 6-in. O.S. Beds. XXVIII SE.), lies upon the top of the Gault hill which rises along the north side of the village. The summit is here just above the 400-ft. contour-line, and the Gault has a thick capping of glacial sand, which dies out westward within about 200 yards, but extends for some distance to the east. This sand consists of redeposited and current-bedded material, derived mainly from the escarpment of the Lower Greensand two miles or so to the north, but of course including many stones and fossils from the Gault of the intervening valley. The bed has been superficially worked from medieval times, no doubt chiefly for building purposes, but it is only of recent years that it has been systematically and deeply dug.
Exeter Cathedral: A Conjectural Restoration of the Fourteenth-Century Altar-Screen, Part II
Authors: Morris Percy
Published: January 2012

Before attempting a conjectural restoration of the first altar-screen it was necessary to try and recapture the plan of the fourteenth-century sanctuary and the positions of the two lateral altars which are known to have existed on the north and south sides of the high altar, also to trace the changes of floor level which have taken place during the intervening centuries.
The Grünenberg Wappenpuch : Some Corrections
Authors: Collins S. M.
Published: January 2012

The following are some identifications that eluded the editors of the 1875 edition. This fine armorial is not widely known to English readers; for with few exceptions its contents are exclusively continental, and in the great majority German, arms. Its compiler was a wealthy amateur armorist of the fifteenth century, of the Patriciate of the city of Constance, in which he discharged several important offices of the municipality. He was also a considerable traveller, and made the pilgrimage to the Holy Land, leaving an illustrated account of it. The armorial, which he completed in 1483, is the work of a joyous and accomplished heraldic draughtsman, with a great facility for design and the fertile invention of damascening patterns. Conrad Grünenberg sets out all his coats as complete achievements, with helmet, crest, and mantling in colour. They number over two thousand, and constitute the fullest and best-executed epitome of German heraldry of his time. But he was omnivorous for coat-armour and scavenged widely throughout the medieval world for his collection, from Scandinavia to Africa, from Ireland to Russia, and beyond to the East and to lands of fable.
Prehistoric and Roman Finds at Aston Tirrold and Didcot
Authors: Walker J. W.
Published: January 2012

During the last two years gravel for building purposes has been taken from a field at Aston Tirrold; and large quantities of pottery of second- and third-century date, animal bones, parts of two human skeletons, and three coins have been turned up by the spade. Below the gravel the teeth and bones of prehistoric animals have been found.
A Hispano-Arabic Silver-gilt and Crystal Casket
Authors: Hildburgh W. L.
Published: January 2012

In A.D. 1483 Abu Abdullah [Abdilla] Muhamad, better known to us under his Spanish name of ‘Boabdil’, who, as the head of a faction, shortly before had proclaimed himself king of Granada, attempted an attack on Medina Lucena. His attempt, ill conceived and badly conducted, failed; he was taken and, conforming to the usage of his time, yielded his arms to his Christian captors. Amongst those arms was a sword, still preserved, whose golden mounts are of rare beauty, those of both hilt and scabbard being adorned with little plaques of delicate cloisonné enamel, individually framed in stout metal, set in fields formed of tiny pellets of gold (see pl. XLII, a, reproducing a part, magnified, a little above the blade, of the hilt; similar work is on the scabbard and its accessories). A number of other swords, similarly ornamented with work of the same kind, but of less value and importance, have survived, as well as some isolated specimens of such work no longer in place on the sword (or swords) for which they were made. The hilt of Boabdil's sword is of gold, enriched with enamels of blue, white, and red; but the mounts of at least some of the other similarly ornamented swords are of gilded copper studded with little panels of delicate silver-cloisonné enamel. Besides the swords mentioned above there is, in the British Museum, a splendid head-stall, of gilded copper, composed of small framed panels of cloisonné enamel alternating with similar panels of granulated work (one corner of this is reproduced in pl. XLII, b), which has been described by O. M. Dalton, and a pair of stirrups in the Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan, at Madrid.
Stonehenge and the two-date theory
Authors: Cunnington B. H.
Published: January 2012

In a recently published paper the conclusion was reached that Stonehenge was built at different periods, and that the Aubrey circle with the bank and ditch represent an older monument. In conclusion it is said ‘that Stonehenge was built after the Aubrey circle is certain’. There is, however, evidence that leads to a different theory, and this being so, it is desirable that it should be stated; otherwise it might appear that those interested agreed with the conclusion, or at least had no evidence to the contrary. A fact used to support the two-date theory is that the end of the ditch overlaps the avenue. There is general agreement that this ditch was levelled and obliterated on the surface in order that it should not obstruct the avenue. The critical point is when this filling-up took place. According to the two-date theory it was only when the later Stonehenge. was built, and therefore a long time after the ditch was first dug. But if the evidence from the excavation is carefully examined it becomes plain that this part of the ditch must have been refilled almost immediately after it was made.
Ship-burial in the Isle of Man
Authors: Kermode P. M. C.
Published: January 2012

The northern end of the Isle of Man is a low plain, a legacy of the Ice Age, consisting of boulder clay, sands, and gravels, bordered round the coast by a range of sandhills rising from 100 ft. at the break made by the Lhen to over 300 ft. where they cluster around the little village of Kirk Bride. The mouth of the Lhen at a distance of five miles from the foot of the hills, the pre-glacial coastline of the Island, is the reputed landing-place of the Scandinavian settlers who came sailing down from the western isles of Scotland; and for their small and shallow vessels the gravel beach, still known by their name of ‘the Ayres’, was admirably adapted.
The Church of Quintanilla de las Viñas
Authors: Whitehill W. M. , Clapham A. W.
Published: January 2012

The ermita of Santa Maria de Quintanilla de las Viñas, although one of the most important examples of pre-Romanesque architecture and sculpture in Spain, was unknown to archaeologists until 1927.

Padre Enrique Flórez, writing in 1772, mentioned the building in connexion with the reported existence of Roman inscriptions in its vicinity, but, as he had not seen it, gave no description. J. A. Cean Bermudez, who likewise had not been on the spot, published a somewhat confused account of certain inscriptions. From Cean Bermudez, Hübner copied three enigmatic monograms said to be ‘in aedicula S. Mariae de las Viñas prope Quintanilla, non longe a Lara oppido’, and published them both in his Inscriptiones Hispaniae Latinae and Inscriptionum Hispaniae Christianarum Supplementum.
Double-looped Palstave found at Curland near Taunton
Authors: Gray H. St. George
Published: January 2012

The bronze palstave here figured was found, in 1934, in digging a hole for a wooden post in the yard of a small holding known as ‘Mount Pleasant’ in the parish of Curland, 6 miles SSE. of Taunton and about 600 ft. above sea-level. ‘Mount Pleasant’ is not named on the 6-in. Ordnance Sheet (LXXX, S.W.), but it is the building 530 yards SSE. of Curland Church, and, as the crow flies, it is only 680 yards NNE. of the ‘Beacon’ of Castle Neroche. The implement was found about 3 ft. deep by the owner of the holding, Mr. D. G. Dicks, who gave it to Dr. Richard A. Fawcus of Chard. Through the instrumentality of Capt. W. S. L. Henderson, Dr. Fawcus presented it to the Somerset County Museum in April 1935, in which collection a similar implement, having two loops (from South Petherton), had been exhibited for many years.
Excavations at Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorest, 1939
Authors: Richardson Katherine M.
Published: January 2012

Poundbury Camp is situated on a bluff of the Upper Chalk overlooking the river Frome and its water-meadows (pl. LXVII). The approach from the south and west slopes gently riverwards, but to the east the site is separated from the outskirts of Dorchester by a shallow combe. Though its situation is hardly that of a hill-fort, usually isolated on a detached hill or promontory, nevertheless the camp holds a commanding position in relation to its immediate surroundings, and its multiple defences, now sadly defaced, must once have presented a considerable obstacle to enemy attack. Though not comparable in size to the oppidum of Maiden Castle, for it encloses an area of only 15 acres, the existence of such a stronghold less than two miles distant from the major hill-fort seemed to require investigation. By whom had it been constructed, for what purpose, and to what extent had it been occupied, were questions demanding explanation. It was with the intention of bringing some light to bear on these problems that excavations were carried out at Poundbury in the spring of 1939.
Note on a Type of Spanish Altar-ornament
Authors: Hildburgh W. L.
Published: January 2012

In Spain of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there were employed, for the adornment of the altar, certain objects which would appear, although perhaps originally designed for another purpose, to be closely related to the altar-cards now commonly (and even in the sixteenth century to some extent) a feature of the celebration of the Mass. Their employment would seem to have been fairly extensive, since a good many examples, of one kind or another, still survive. The Spanish name for them—sacra—is the same as that for the altar-cards, three in number, now ordinarily set upon the altar in Roman Catholic churches, in other countries as well as in Spain; and, correspondingly, the name I have heard applied to them in English is ‘altar-card’. They are of considerable interest, not alone because, as often, of their design or their workmanship, but also, seemingly, from their position as relics of a step in the liturgical history of the Roman Church in Spain.
A Claudian Site at Needham, Norfolk
Authors: Frere Sheppard
Published: January 2012

Needham lies on the Norfolk side of the Waveney valley, not far west of Harleston. East of the village is the large gravel pit owned by Mr. H. Dean which has revealed the site (fig. 1) here to be described. This pit has already produced a Bronze Age food vessel, and is known as the site of a microlithic industry and of a first- and second-century Romano-British village. Commercial working has laid bare from time to time dark pits and ditches on the surface of the gravel, which have yielded the normal debris of the Romano-British peasant settlement. One of these ditches, however, lying to the south of the area of later occupation, has yielded remains of the Claudian period which throw considerable light upon the manner and date of the earliest attempt to romanize East Anglia.
Report on a Late Bronze Age Site in Mildenhall Fen, West Suffolk
Authors: Clark J. G. D.
Published: January 2012

The history of the invasive movements associated with the diffusion of Deverel-Rimbury pottery during the Late Bronze Age in Britain can be studied from two main points of view. We may seek to discover the continental sources of the various components of the general complex, and in this way arrive at the origins of the movement and its chronology in terms of continental cultures; or we may adopt the less spectacular, if no less interesting, course, and see what can be learnt of the impact of the alien on the indigenous culture of the period in Britain. As Dr. Curwen's work on the Plumpton Plain site in Sussex has demonstrated, in conjunction with Mr. Hawkes's analysis of the pottery, the continental affinities of the Deverel-Rimbury folk are best studied within an area of primary diffusion. The mutual relations of the invasive and the indigenous folk, can, on the contrary, be appreciated most easily by working on sites peripheral to the Deverel-Rimbury distribution, such as the one in Mildenhall Fen, West Suffolk, to which attention is drawn in this paper (fig. 1).
Note on two Urns of Overhanging-rim Type found abroad
Authors: Dunning G. C.
Published: January 2012

Dr. Cecil Curwen's discovery in the Late Bronze Age settlement on Plumpton Plain, Sussex, of decorated pottery of the same class as the Park Brow globular vessels, and the recognition of these as being of north French origin, provides a suitable opportunity to draw attention to two urns of British origin found abroad, one of which helps to emphasize this connexion with France. The pottery consists of fragments of overhanging-rim urns which have been found in Holland and north-east France.
An Adulterine Castle on Faringdon Clump, Berkshire
Authors: Leeds E. T.
Published: January 2012

From the market-place at Faringdon the Oxford road mounts steadily, passing under the north slope of the hill known variously as Faringdon Clump or Faringdon Folly. The hill is a rounded knoll, the summit of which stands 505 ft. O.D. and, besides being a well-known landmark in the Vale of White Horse, commands an extensive prospect in every direction. Like Cumnor Hurst, Shotover, Brill and others, it is one of a series of undenuded caps of Cretaceous sands overlying Berkshire oolites that crop out at intervals between Faringdon and Aylesbury. The sands are ferruginous, dark yellow with lighter sands below, divided by a layer of sandstone rock. On the summit of the hill is a clump of beeches and Scotch firs, probably planted here, as on so many similar eminences, in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century.
A Promontory Fort on the Antrim Coast
Authors: Childe V. Gordon
Published: January 2012

Larriban or Larry Bane Head is a limestone promontory rising sheer some 150 ft. above the sea in the townland of Knocksoghey, parish of Ballintoy, about a mile east of the caves recently examined by Dr. Jackson. The neck of the promontory has been cut off by a rampart and fosse about 100 ft. from its extremity. The fort thus formed gives its name to the headland, Leath Rath Ban, the Half White Fort. Before the war more than half the enclosed area and a section of the rampart had been quarried away and the original fosse materially altered. According to the report furnished by Thomas Fagan to the Ordnance Survey in 1838 the defended area measured ‘about half a rood’, and the ‘moat was on an average 23 ft. in width’. One of the workers employed at the quarry remembers that the entrance to the fort was near the centre of the rampart. It has now been destroyed. The quarrying has, however, left an instructive section through the rampart. In this section Mr. Blake Whelan found portions of a pot standing in what seemed to be a sort of kiln in the centre of the wall. The surviving portions of building here might outline the back of a guard chamber opening near the main entrance which must have traversed the wall close at hand (P in fig. I).
Report on the Excavations at Stonehenge during 1925 and 1926
Authors: Hawley W.
Published: January 2012

As the periods during which excavations at Stonehenge were continued in the seasons of 1925 and 1926 were short, it has been considered better to give the results of the two years' work in one Report.

Work began on 1st May 1925, and was continued until 8th September following. The portion of the ditch opened was that remaining between two other excavations in the ditch previously examined and reported upon. It formed part of the general excavation of the eastern segment, but as it was essential to complete the exploration of the interior between the rampart and stone circles separately, the ditch in that quarter was left for later investigation
A Romano-British Settlement at Springhead, Kent
Authors: Jessup R. F.
Published: January 2012

Springhead lies in the valley of the Ebbsfleet, a small stream which joins the Thames at Northfleet, near Gravesend. At Springhead the valley is crossed by the Watling Street in its course from Rochester to Dartford, and the valley between Springhead and Northfleet contained a considerable population in Romano-British times.
Excavations at Ur, 1927–8
Authors: Woolley C. Leonard
Published: January 2012

During the winter season of 1927-8 the Joint Expedition of the British Museum and of the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania was engaged upon two distinct pieces of work; at the beginning of the season, for about nine weeks, we continued the excavation of the early cemetery discovered in the previous year, while for the rest of the time the whole gang was employed on the clearing of the interior of the great courtyard building which lies in front of the north-east face of the Ziggurat. Field work started on October 17 and continued until February 18, the average number of men on the pay-roll being 130 for the first half of the time, and 170 for the second half. This year there was no architect with the expedition, for the reason that the plan of the courtyard building had already been made out and for the digging of the cemetery the services of an architect would not be required: otherwise the staff was the same as last year, my wife being responsible for the drawings, the Rev. E. Burrows, S.J., for the inscriptional material, and Mr. M. E. L. Mallowan acting as general archaeological assistant. The extraordinary richness of the discoveries meant even harder work than usual, and it was at times difficult to keep pace with them, but by occasional shifting of the gang from the graves to the courtyard this was made possible, the respite so gained enabling us to catch up temporary arrears: but I owe it to my assistants to express my gratitude for their whole-hearted co-operation. As usual, Hamoudi of jerablus was foreman, and was invaluable; his two sons, Yahia and Ibrahim, served under him as junior foremen, and the former did all the photographic work also.
A Roman Pipe-burial from Caerleon, Monmouthshire
Authors: Wheeler R. E. M.
Published: January 2012

In May 1927 Mr. J. R. Gabriel, of Caerleon, drew my attention to a Roman burial which had just been discovered during building operations in the village of Ultra Pontem, the bridge-head suburb of Caerleon on the southern bank of the Usk. The eastern edge of this village has long been known to impinge upon an extensive Roman cemetery, and fragments of Roman tombstones are still found here from time to time. The new discovery was made some 60 yards east of Yew Tree House and 550 yards east-south-east of the south-east end of the bridge (Ordnance Survey 6-inch map, Mon. XXIX, S.W.), during the digging of a cess-pit for bungalows then under construction on the hill-side south of the Bulmore Road. At a depth of about 2½ feet the southern side of the pit was found to consist largely of a vertical slab of stone, which, as the digging proceeded, fell downwards and disclosed a stone cist containing a lead canister (figs. 1 and 3). The cist and its contents were then left in position until Mr. Gabriel and I had seen and recorded them, and with the consent of the owner of the property (Mrs. Lewis), who rendered every assistance, both cist and canister were removed to the Caerleon Museum.
Some hitherto unpublished Implements
Authors: Moir J. Reid
Published: January 2012

During the early part of this year (1928) Mr. Maurice Sainty, son of Mr. J. E. Sainty of Norwich, found lying upon the upper portion of the beach at Sidestrand, Norfolk, the Acheulean hand-axe here described (fig. 1). The specimen, of which one edge is twisted, while the other exhibits a zig-zag outline, is coloured a rich tawny brown, and shows upon its surfaces cherty patches which have resisted patination and staining. The implement cannot have been long upon the beach before being found, as it does not exhibit any marked signs of rolling such as are prevalent upon stones subjected to wave-action.
Akeman Street and the River Cherwell
Authors: O'Neil B. H. St. J.
Published: January 2012

The exact course of the Roman road called Akeman Street in the neighbourhood of the river Cherwell, some 9 miles north of Oxford, for a distance of a little over a mile, has long remained uncertain. The road is traceable from the west as far as the south-east corner of Tackley Park, and from the east as far as the north-west corner of Kirtlington Park. Between these two fixed points the road is, conjecturally, marked on the Ordnance Survey map merely by two parallel dotted straight lines, drawn with the aid of a ruler.
Early London Fire-Appliances
Authors: Karslake J. B. P.
Published: January 2012

Until a comparatively late date in the history of London appliances for dealing with outbreaks of fire were very primitive. Barrels of water kept outside the larger houses in summer or times of drought, ladders, and strong crooks of iron with cords and chains attached to pull down burning buildings, were the only means available to extinguish a fire.
Further Unpublished Flint Implements
Authors: Moir J. Reid
Published: January 2012

The implements described in this note have an important bearing upon the antiquity of man, and were derived, respectively, from the Suffolk Bone Bed, beneath the Red Crag, the Cromer Forest Bed of Norfolk, and the Upper Chalky Boulder-Clay of the Ipswich district.
The Stone Age in Cyprus
Authors: Gjerstad Einar
Published: January 2012

Rich remains from all periods of the Copper and Bronze Age have been found in Cyprus ever since archaeological excavations began there, but hitherto there has been no evidence of a Stone Age. A few implements of stone, some celts and one flint-knife, have been found, but none of them in a Stone Age stratum; those of known provenance are all from the Copper and Bronze Age, and no tombs or other deposits of the Stone Age have been discovered at all. As the Stone Age is represented all round on the mainland, a priori one might be inclined to suppose its existence also in Cyprus, and therefore its non-appearance would be strange in view of the frequent finds of the Copper and Bronze Age.
An Indulgence Inscription in Clapton Church, Gloucestershire
Authors: Rushforth G. McN.
Published: January 2012

The inscription reproduced in the accompanying plate is cut on the abacus of the northern pier of the chancel arch in the little church of St. James at Clapton, set on the hill-side above Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire. Attention wasfirstcalled to it by the late Mr. Ulric Daubeny, who assigned the building to the last quarter of the twelfth century. The lettering is of the Early Gothic (popularly called ‘Lombardic’) type, which prevailed from about 1200 to 1350, and therefore the inscription is probably not older than the thirteenth century. But the forms of the letters are sometimes peculiar, if not unique; and they seem to have been produced partly by the use of compasses. Some letters (e.g. E and 1) are not always formed in exactly the same way; while others, as we shall see, appear to be minuscule forms, such as are found in manuscripts of the period. The whole gives the impression of being the work of an amateur rather than of a professional carver.
The Roman Villa at Lockleys, Welwyn
Authors: Perkins J. B. Ward
Published: January 2012

The Roman villa on Lockleys Estate, Welwyn, was discovered accidentally in 1930. On that occasion a small portion of it was uncovered; but it was not until 1937 that, by the permission, and with the very generous co-operation, of the Welwyn Garden City Company, it proved possible to examine the site scientifically. The building was completely cleared; and although it was not sufficiently well preserved to justify the expense of preservation, the Garden City Company have undertaken to keep the site free of building, and the complete plan has been laid out on the surface in turf and brick. Of the many persons who by their help made the excavation possible I can only here record the work of Mr. W. R. Hughes, the secretary of the excavation committee, who bore the whole burden of the preliminary arrangements and gave invaluable help in the actual work of excavation and later in the preparation of this report; of Mr. A. E. Hick, who did nearly all the photography; and of Mr. Clarke, who undertook the whole of the surveying. My debt to Dr. Wheeler at all stages of the work is so apparent as hardly to need statement. To Dr. Davies Pryce also, to Mr. K. P. Oakley, and to Mr. Derek Allen I am deeply indebted for reporting respectively upon the Samian, the foreign stone, and the coins; to Mr. Hawkes for much help and advice, particularly in relation to the Colchester material; to Miss Kenyon for examining the fourth-century pottery; to Miss Scott for her collaboration upon many points of detail; and to all others who have given me their advice.
An Anglo-Saxon Hut on the Car Dyke, at Waterbeach
Authors: Lethbridge T. C.
Published: January 2012

Considerable interest attaches to the Car Dyke as it has been claimed as a Roman work by several authorities (Dr. Cyril Fox, Archaeology of the Cambridge Region, p. 179). In June of this year I attempted to make sure of the date by cutting a section through the fosse.

When a well was sunk through the bank of the dyke at the Lodge, Waterbeach, many years ago, the workmen cut through a boat of some kind. It seems reasonable to suppose that this boat dates from the time when the dyke was still full of water, and had been left moored in some little creek or dock probably near a settlement site. I therefore cut a section as near as possible to the well, that is, within a few yards of the south-east corner of the Lodge. It has not been possible to complete the section or reach the bottom of the ditch owing to the wet summer. The water-level was found at a depth of 4 ft. The section, however, cut through the middle of a small dwelling on the very lip of the ditch, debris from it forming a thin stratum separating different layers of silt. From the contents of the midden which formed the floor of the hut it was evident that the site was one of the Pagan Saxon Period.
A Wall-painting at Idsworth, Hants, and a Liturgical Graffito
Authors: Wormald F.
Published: January 2012

On the north wall of the chancel of the small chapel at Idsworth, on the borders of Hampshire and Sussex, is a fine fourteenth-century wall-painting executed in distemper in red and yellow on a white ground. The composition is divided into two broad horizontal bands by a narrow zigzag band. In the top half is a scene with huntsmen, dogs, and a wild man, and what appears to be the arrest of St. John Baptist. In the lower part is St. John Baptist put in prison and a long scene showing Salome dancing a sword-dance before Herod and Herodias (pl. I). The scene of the huntsmen and the wild man requires rather closer examination, because it is commonly and wrongly described as showing a scene from the life of St. Hubert.

On the extreme left of the picture are the remains of horsemen and dogs, then there is a figure of a crowned man winding a horn with his left hand and holding in his right hand a long bow which he rests on the ground. Behind him are two men. At his feet are dogs, and in front of him to his left are three men who bend down towards an old man covered with long hair who is emerging from some bushes on all fours. The attribution of this scene to the legend of St. Hubert requires full consideration, because an examination of the lives of that saint printed in the Acta Sanctorum yields no indication of any legend bearing the remotest resemblance to this scene. There seems, moreover, to be every indication that the whole painting represents something quite different.
Two Fires of Roman London
Authors: Dunning G. C.
Published: January 2012

From time to time excavations in the City of London, particularly in the region of King William Street and Lombard Street, have revealed at the base of the Roman deposits thick layers of bright red clay, containing burnt roofing-tiles, charred wood, etc., evidently the debris of timber and clay houses destroyed by fire. Hitherto little or no internal evidence for dating these layers has been forthcoming, and from their position it has usually been assumed that they result from the sack of the town by Boudicca. In recent years, however, the burnt layers have again been found in situ at a number of sites, and are now shown by the pottery contained in them to belong to two different periods, namely, the mid-first century and the early second century. It is necessary to recognize, therefore, that the Roman town suffered from extensive fires on two occasions.
T-shaped Corn-drying Ovens in Roman Britain
Authors: Goodchild R. G.
Published: January 2012

The T-shaped furnace or oven is already a familiar feature of Romano-British archaeology. Whether among the huts and pits of Woodcuts, the more substantial dwellings of Silchester and Caerwent, or the farmsteads of the rural areas, this type of oven occurs with such frequency that its place in Romano-British economic life must have been an important one.

It is not proposed to discuss here at length the function of these furnaces. This problem was resolved beyond any measure of doubt when the Romano-British villa was excavated at Hambleden, Bucks., in 1912, and Professor Gowland, in an Appendix to the excavators' report, stated that ‘In my opinion they are flues of drying floors which have been used for drying harvested grain.’ The evidence from sites elsewhere (as at Caerwent and at King's Worthy, Hants, at both of which sites charred wheat was recovered from the flues of the ovens) has provided strong corroboration of Professor Gowland's hypothesis, and it is only surprising to find that the unmistakable corn-drying ovens of Woodcuts village were still classed as ‘hypocausts’ in the 1931 edition of Professor Collingwood's Archaeology of Roman Britain.

The main interest of the Hambleden discoveries lies, however, in the great variety of types of ovens excavated, for in all no less than fourteen specimens were unearthed, ranging from the simple and basic T-shaped type to structures of considerable elaboration. Such a variety of types on one single site demands some explanation, and it is not inconceivable that the Hambleden villa was something in the nature of an experimental station.
A Roman Pottery at South Carlton, Lincs.
Authors: Webster Graham
Published: January 2012

The kilns were first discovered by the owner of the land, Mr. W. Nicholson, in the autumn of 1942 while ploughing the field for the first time in living memory. Potsherds and lumps of red clay were noticed in the wake of the plough, and Mr. F. T. Baker, of Lincoln Museum, was notified and excavation arranged and completed by December of the same year.
The Development of Domestic Architecture in Oxford
Authors: Pantin W. A.
Published: January 2012

The development of domestic architecture in Oxford during the late medieval and sub-medieval periods, that is to say, from the fourteenth century to the eighteenth century, will be discussed in the following paper, with a double purpose in view. The first purpose is to report on a certain amount of research work done on old Oxford houses during the last ten years, in which a good many people have taken part. The second purpose is to sketch a plan of campaign, or to indicate certain lines of investigation and classification, which might, I think, mutatis mutandis, be applied to other towns. We badly need a systematic survey of the old houses in various towns in England, with plans, elevations, sections, and analyses. This is particularly needed at a time when so much is in danger of destruction, and it is a work which one hopes the Society of Antiquaries may encourage.
Shields from the Tomb of Archbishop Chicheley, Canterbury Cathedral
Authors: D'Elboux R. H.
Published: January 2012

The tomb of Archbishop Chicheley, founder of All Souls College, Oxford, who died in 1443, has always been maintained by that college. Repairs to it are known to have taken place in 1662–4, sometime about 1836, and, somewhat drastically, in 1897.
Building by King Henry III and Edward, Son of Odo. Part I
Authors: Noppen J. G.
Published: January 2012

This paper is divided into two parts, the first dealing with the procedure whereby the king's works were ordered. There is reference to surviving accounts, to the wardens and viewers, followed by a discussion of the masons. The second part is concerned with Edward the son of Odo, and the Exchequer of Works set up by the king to handle funds for the rebuilding of the abbey church.
A Beaker Interment on Stockbridge Down, Hampshire, and its Cultural Connexions
Authors: Stone J. F. S.
Published: January 2012

The archaeology of Stockbridge Down owes much to the interest of the late Colonel Sir Norman Gray Hill, Bt., M.C., M.B., who was killed in an aeroplane accident in 1944. This piece of downland, recently presented to the National Trust by Miss Rosalind Hill, has, as a result, yielded information of outstanding interest, and it remains for the present writer, who was associated with the work, to record his last find, a Beaker burial at the spot marked y on the sketch-map (fig. 1).
Views of Richmond Palace in the Reign of Charles I
Authors: Toynbee M. R.
Published: January 2012

Among the numerous country palaces sold, desecrated, or destroyed after the execution of Charles I in 1649, the features of Greenwich, Richmond, and Nonsuch are perhaps the most familiar by reason of the various representations of them which have survived. Nevertheless, in spite of the complete dissimilarity of their appearance, views of Richmond and Nonsuch have more than once been mistaken for one another. The difference in design is well shown in the two somewhat archaic engravings of the palaces inset in the top corners of the map of Surrey in Speed's Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine (1611). Yet an oil-painting of Nonsuch, now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and attributed to David Vinkeboons (1578–1629), was wrongly described as a view of Richmond (of which there is a companion painting in the Fitzwilliam) when it was engraved in 1765 and published in Vetusta Monumenta (ii, pl. XXIII) in 1789. Sir A. W. Clapham was the first correctly to identify the Nonsuch painting, which has also been called Theobalds Palace.
Anniversary Address
Authors: Fox Cyril
Published: January 2012

The loss which the Society has suffered by the death of Sir George Hill has been referred to at length, and in very appropriate terms, by the Secretary: but I wish at the outset of this address to pay a personal tribute to his memory, as one who has received many kindnesses from him, and benefited from the wealth and extent of specialized knowledge he was so generous in imparting. Sir George represented the finest flower of that exact scholarship in which the Victorian Age excelled: now, full of years and honours, he has passed on.
Report on Excavations on the Cambridgeshire Car Dyke, 1947
Authors: Clark J. G. D.
Published: January 2012

The excavations described in this report were aimed at establishing more about the character of the Cambridgeshire Car Dyke and at defining the period during which it was in active use. The dyke, which traverses with several changes of direction the low gravel and loam promontory between the fork of the Cam or Granta immediately south of Waterbeach and the alluvium of the Old West River (and present Ouse) north-north-east of Cottenham (fig. 1), varies in character considerably in its five-mile course. Most of it has been degraded to a field ditch, and over some stretches cultivation has overrun the banks on either side and encroached upon the bed, but the dyke survives reasonably intact at Waterbeach and on the site of the present excavations at Bullock's Haste and Setchel Fen.
Testamentary Brasses
Authors: D'Elboux R. H.
Published: January 2012

The importance of wills as a means of identifying unknown or lost brasses has long been recognized. Even for a brass of unquestioned identity, the study of the will often serves to elucidate heraldry, identify children, or, at its lowest, as a bonne bouche for the curious. One will, at least, is printed by Cotman, the first man to devote a book entirely to brasses; others are used by Waller; Haines endeavoured to collect from them indications of the costs of brasses; and later brass manuals have followed suit. The growth of record societies, however, and the consequent printing of wills, wholly or in part, has increased so greatly the information available, that it would seem the subject can endure the attentions of yet another antiquary.
An Open-Work Bronze Disc in the Ashmolean Museum
Authors: Fox Cyril
Published: January 2012

The linear patterns on British mirrors and other bronzes show with what zest the Celtic craftsmen of the first centuries B.C. and A.D. copied and adapted the triquetral design in relief exemplified on the well-known bronze plaque from Llyn Cerrig Bach, Anglesey (fig. 1).

On the other hand, the evidence for the continued use and development of this attractive asymmetric motif in plastic art is but slight, and any additional example of fine metalwork thus decorated is welcome.

Such a specimen, an open-work disc in cast bronze, is here figured (pl. I). It is mentioned by our Fellow Mr. E. T. Leeds in his Celtic Ornament (p. 56), and this led the writer to ask our Fellow Mr. D. B. Harden, Keeper of Antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum, for facilities for its study, and thereafter for permission to publish, both requests being readily granted. The Museum number is N.C. 448. The disc appears, Mr. Harden tells me, in a catalogue of c. 1879–80, at which time, apparently, its origin and date of accession were unknown, as they were left blank in the catalogue.
Christian and Merovingian Gaul, 1940–4
Authors: Lantier Raymond
Published: January 2012

A doctorate thesis sets out the history of towns of Narbonensis prima, Toulouse, Narbonne, Beziers, Agde, and Nîmes, from the Germanic invasions to the second half of the twelfth century. The interest of the work is that it follows, with the aid of archaeological documentation, the stages in the topographic and material development of these towns, which from the fifth century on were attacked by a progressive paralysis, culminating in absolute decay. The Mahometan invasion appears to have had the most disastrous effects in Languedoc. A certain revival manifests itself in the Carolingian period, but is soon countered by the progress of Islam in the Mediterranean and the rise of the feudal system. In this well-defined geographical unit, which is circumscribed by the Rhône, the Ardèche, the Cevennes, part of the Garonne, the Pyrenees, and the Mediterranean, the dominant role belongs to the towns of central and eastern Narbonensis, which were directly in contact with Rome and Italy. The western part of the province, which borders on the old post-Hallstatt cultural centre, has felt Roman influence less strongly and remains a sort of March-land with considerations of security predominating.
The Dering Brasses
Authors: D'Elboux R. H.
Published: January 2012

There is, in the library of the Society of Antiquaries, part of the Franks bequest, an illustrated manuscript by Sir Edward Dering of Surrenden in Pluckley, Kent, of monuments (mainly brasses) and heraldry in various Kent churches noted by him from 1628 to 1634. The Surrenden copy of Philipot's 1619 Visitation of Kent, in Sir Edward's handwriting, was sold, with other manuscripts from Surrenden, at Sotheby's in 1865, the first dispersal of the Dering library having occurred in 1811. J. J. Howard possessed a copy of it which has recently come to rest, as part of the Elgood bequest, in the library of the Kent Archaeological Society at Maidstone. Some pedigrees have been maintained to about the date of this church visitation, and from the note under Robert Master of Willesborough ‘vid: booke of Monuments in Churches’ (he is duly entered in 1628 on folio 28), it is possible that the whole of Philipot's visitation was copied at about that date. Some of the drawings from this Book of Monuments were illustrated in volumes i and ii of Archaeologia Cantiana, at the instigation of the Rev. Mr. Lambert Larking, from facsimiles made of the whole manuscript by Mr. Herbert Smith. The Society of Antiquaries' manuscript is Smith's copy, and his notes on folio 5 and 5a establish the fact; in all his published illustrations, however, there are minor but obvious differences from the manuscript.
Anglo-Saxon Urns from North Elmham, Norfolk: some corrected attributions
Authors: Myres J. N. L.
Published: January 2012

In 1937 I illustrated and described in this Journal two Anglo-Saxon urns from the collection of our Fellow, the late Mr. V. B. Crowther-Beynon. The urns, which had once belonged to Captain Arthur Trollope of Lincoln, had been rescued in fragments by Mr. Crowther-Beynon together with other debris from the Captain's collection when the latter's daughters vacated the rectory at Edith Weston, Rutland, on the death of their brother, Rev. Andrew Trollope, in 1896. No record remained of their original findspot, but in view of Arthur Trollope's Lincolnshire associations we thought it safe to publish them as coming from that county. Though Mr. Crowther-Beynon was rightly more cautious, I was myself rash enough to suggest that they might have come from Lincoln itself since another Anglo-Saxon urn which Trollope possessed (now in Lincoln Museum) was believed to have been found in the Eastgate not far from his house in that city.