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Ona Aoman building at Holbury, ueav Dean, 
By the Rev. G. 8. Master. 
N a paper read before the Wilts Archzological and Natural 
a History Society, at their Congress at Wilton, in September, 
1870, upon a remarkable deposit of Roman pottery in Holbury 
Copse, near West Dean, it was intimated that further investigations 
in a meadow at no great distance were likely to result in the dis- 
covery of a villa or other building of some importance. The external 
walls of an enclosure, found by careful measurement to contain an 
area of 59ft. by 48ft. 10in., had already been laid bare, and it was 
naturally expected that the excavation of the internal area would 
disclose some objects of interest, beyond those of which mention had 
. already been made. This conjecture has however turned out to be 
erroneous, the laborious and tedious process of laying bare the 
entire space down to the level of the undisturbed clay, which here 
overlies the chalk, having issued in nothing more than the formation 
of a ground plan, and the obtaining of certain data respecting the 
building. These I proceed now to place upon record. 
By reference to the plan it will be seen that a large slab of 
Portland or Purbeck stone lies across the southern wall of the en- 
closure. It was upon this, curiously enough, that the workmen’s 
crowbar—used for probing the ground in search of foundations— 
accidentally lighted. The turf was removed, and the stone un- 
covered. It lay at the depth of about a foot from the surface ; its 
dimensions were 3ft. 9in. by 2ft. 6in.; its thickness from 3 to 4in. 
It was found to be imbedded in a massive wall of flints set in 
excellent mortar, the foundations reaching to a further depth of 2ft. 
6in. below the stone, which is now supposed to have marked the 
entrance to the building. From this point the walls were traced and 
followed round the angles of the enclosure, until the whole were 
visible. The North and South walls were found to be of the 
