T74 



PREBENDAL HOUSES AT LITTLE CHESTER. 



Roman part is of the work called opus incertum or antiqumn, and 

 consists of a kind of rubble or concrete (Fig. 2) made up of 

 almost anything in the shape of stone, laid together with little or 

 no order at all, broken stones, boulders, pebbles and gravel, 



Fig. 2. 



flooded with mortar. These two small sketches will explain this 

 better than any description. It will be noticed that there are 

 besides some very large stones (Fig. 3) measuring from 3 ft. 5 in. 

 by I ft. i^ in. up to 4 ft. 10 in. by i ft. 6 in. ; some of them 

 are shown in one of these sketches near the modern steps by 

 which access is gained to the cellar. This walling, we take 

 it, is another kind of building, in which the stones are laid 

 entirely lengthwise, to which the French have attached the term 



Fig. 



■■vjjj-, 



grand appareil. Whether this large work is in its original posi- 

 tion we are unable to say, as there are stones quite as large in the 

 other corner of the apartment, placed on and partially surrounded 

 by the concrete work. We do not feel ourselves competent to 

 speak with any authority on Roman buildings, but having com- 



