414 



§i$co()eric$ near Joiitljill 



By B. Stallybrass. 



DuuiKO the years 1902-4 a Jacobean Manor House, which 

 stood in a half-ruinous condition at Berwick St. Leonard's,^ Wilts, 

 has been removed to a site on tlie south side of Little Kidge, near 

 Chihnark. In the course of rebuilding, discoveries of Eomano- 

 British remains were made on the site, which will hereafter be 

 referred to as the Withy Beds — the local name for the field. 



In order to tlirow further light on these discoveries, special 

 excavations were made from the beginnnig of December, 1903, to 

 the end of January, 1904. Subsequently an irregular square en- 

 closure on the outer Ashley Wood down was dug and yielded 



' The removal of the Manor House at Berwick St. Leonard was effected 

 in the following manner. Very accurate drawings of the house, as then 

 existing, were made to half-inch scale, and every stone figured. In the case 

 of the ashlar work on the south front, and coursed axed stonework on the 

 west and north fronts, the courses were distinguished by letters of the alphabet 

 and the stones then numbered in rotation. The east front being of rubble 

 this method could not be adopted, and it was accordingly numbered only. 

 Demolition then began, and as each stone was uncovered, but before it had 

 been disturbed, the upper bed was cleaned and a number painted on to 

 correspond with the number on the drawing, with a letter to indicate its 

 course, and a sign for the front to which it belonged. As an additional 

 precaution the stones were laid out in order, so that they presented a rough 

 picture of the building as they lay in the field. They were then carefully 

 packed with straw in trucks and conveyed by steam traction to the new site, 

 where they were again laid out as above, liebuilding then commenced, 

 constant supervision being exercised to see that every stone went back into 

 its right place, great care being taken that the original face of the stone 

 was untouched and the joints made of the same character as before. It can 

 thus be claimed that the old building with all its features has been preserved, 

 excepting only the mortar and the handiwork connected therewith, and those 

 more shadowy associations which still link its memory to its former site. It 

 is still a moot question whether its ghost " as big as a calf and as white as a 

 blossom " (as I heard it described) was substantial enough to accompany it 

 into its new life. 



