The San Francisco call., 1896-06-10
BURIED PALACES BXHUMED.
Remains of Roman Grandeur Found in
England.

! England.
The discoveries and results of the last
years explorations in the ancient Roma
no. British city of Snchester, which are
now on view at the Society of Antiquarles
at Burlington House, are far more impor-
tant than those of any previous years
! labor's. The area of the site-about 100
| acres-is for exploration purposes divided
into a number of equal squares or insulse,
and III the Insula XIV, near the west gate
! of the city, two unusually fine large resi-
| dences have been eXhumed from the foun-
daton to the height of the dado of the
| principal rooms.
The two houses are situated between
! the main street running west and east
! from the western gate and another road
! parallel with 1t on the south, the entrances
to both being from the south street re-
ferred to and not from the main street,
toward which are the stables and ether
outhouseS.
The westerly house presents the re-
maTka bic feature OF being built com pleteIy
round central court, instead of on three
sides of il, or with, as in some cases, a
wall on the fourth side. The area of the
building is practically square of $50 feet.
On the sides Of the central open-air court
are two broad wings, with the principal
rooms placed between an outer and an
inner corridor-the grand entrance and
vestiDules being central on the south front
and the rear on the north being closed by
two large rooms within corridors as at the
sides of the edifice.
The inner court, or garden, is also parted
from the yeStihules by a corridor By
these corridors access is freely afforQed all
over the ground floor of the building. In
the five principal rooms of the eastern
wing were five magnificent tesselated
&c IS ,oI 81
feet square, have been wholly removed
and put together again in sections-the
half OF each pavement being as much as
can be displayed in the society's rooms
These are now on view with the rest of
this years collection.
To give some idea of the extent of this
Roman residence, we may note that this
western wing of the editice alone is as
large as the whole of the Duke OF Devon
shire's grand town house in Piccadilly.
We may also observe that there have
never before been tesselated pavements of
such magnitude deposited for inspection
in any temporary exhibition.
The second or easternmost mansion is
not quite a parallelogram in form, being
100 feet in length but broader at the north
than at the south end, the breadth aver
aging about 100 feet. This also has some
remarkable features.
1t is two stores in height, the principal
rooms being on the west from about the
mldlength to the south extremity, hand
some tesselated gallery passing at the
north across TO a central block of rooms
on the east side. The court Is large and in
the southern area, there being a gate in
the eastern wall. In the southeast angle
OF the area Is the entrance to the resi-
dence, all the ground-foor rooms being
accessible by a corridor, in the course Of
which are traces OF two stairs, which gave
access to the upper rooms. There is also
on the ground floor, entered from the cor
dor, an interior temple for domestic wor-
ship and square altar for the household
gods.
This residence had, like the western
house, an outer court on the north, with
wide gate leading into the main street.
The eastern wall of the one house and the
western side of the other abutted on
streets running north and south, and the
two houses together occupy the whole of
one insula.
1t is singular to notice in their designs
and construction the notifications of the
typical Roman house of southern climes
to the eXigencies of our northern region.
The Roman house in Pompeii has its
windows opening to the ground, toward
the central court with its fountain, and
the sunshine which enters the court is re-
hected from It's paving to the ceilings of
the rooms, and every device is defense
against heat and light. In these two
Silchester mansions everything is done to
shelter and to screen from draughts and
winds; and the salons of the western
house, sandwiched as they are by cor
ridors on each side of them, must have
been lighted by some sort of clerestory ar
rangement from above
The western house has yielded further a
most notable relic-a Roman pump, repre-
senting completely, with its four lead
pipes, their valves, and central cistern in
a large piece of timber the force pump de-
scribed in Vitrnvius as the machina Ctesi-
bica. 1t is OF exceptional interest, as being
the first example of Roman hydraulic ms
chinery that has been met with in Britain.
Our notice would be incomplete In even
the most interesting points if We omitted
the high praise due to the restoration of
the wall-painted dado-the floral and still
lie designs of which are singularly beauti-
full Of pottery, glass and coins there are
many examples, which, in ordinary collec-
tions, would be noticeable; but the two
grand residences absorb present atten-
Standard,
From some figures Just issued it appears
that the coal shipped from the Tyne
foreign, coastwise and for ships use-last
year amounted to 11,011, ITO tons, a de-
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