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behalf and for the members, the pleasure they all felt at the 
renewal of Mr. McMurtrie’s contributions to the Proceedings of 
the Club, and in thanking him for the very interesting paper and 
exhibits invited any members present, who had questions to ask, 
to interrogate the lecturer. Mr. Story-Maskelyne, the Rev. C. W. 
Shickle and others expressed their views as to the value of the 
discovery. 
Various Papers, February 9th, 1898.—An afternoon meeting of 
the Bath Field Club was held, on February 9th, 1898, at the 
. Institution. Canon Ellacombe (president) occupied the chair, 
and there was a good attendance of members. Four papers were 
read, the first two being by the Rev. C. W. Shickle. The first 
of these was “On a Roman Villa discovered under an old Barn 
at Northstoke,” and is published at page 50 of these Proceedings. 
Mr. Shickle described the discovery of what he believed to be the 
remains of a villa The barn below which the discovery was made 
was at the back of a farmhouse now occupied by Mr. Gibbs, and 
existed in the days when Northstoke belonged to the Abbey of 
Bath. The Roman remains were found to form part of the 
foundations of the barn. The entire length of the building or 
villa was about 102 feet 6 inches, and the width between the 
walls was 11 feet 4 inches, the walls being each 2 feet 4 inches 
thick. At the South end were traces of a circular wall, which 
may have been the foundations of a vestibule or portico, as two 
pieces of stone pillars were found here. It was impossible to say 
what was the plan of the villa, but there was similarity between 
_ it and those found at Dry Hill or Cromhall, Gloucester, and the 
_ bit of early walling seen about 19 feet south of the building and 
~ now built on would point apparently to the existence of a large 
house. The Chairman, opening a brief discussion, remarked that 
the whole of the district wherein the discovery had been made 
was full of Roman remains in every direction—there was scarcely 
a field anywhere round without them. For his own part he had 
utterly forgotten about this discovery at Northstoke, but the first 
