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Placed on a rising ground, overlooking the valley of the 

 Colne, the appropriateness and beauty of the site at once 

 commend it to the taste of the beholder — a sentiment which 

 gives place to surprise when, on a nearer approach, the eye 

 reahses the extent and perfection of the existing remains, to 

 which additional importance is given by the substantial buildings 

 erected over them by Lord Eldon, to protect them from further 

 decay or wanton destruction. Here every object which has been 

 brought to light has been most carefully preserved. The original 

 waUs are stUl standing to the height of three or four feet. The 

 chambers, the corridors, the baths, the offices, are all there as 

 they existed 1400 years ago, with the very flights of stone steps 

 worn by the feet of Romans and Britons, who, to judge by the 

 marks of usage, must have trodden them for a very lengthened 

 period. The tessellated pavements are in good preservation, 

 and in the principal apartments exhibit much beauty of design. 

 The bath establishment is very complete, and unusually extensive 

 — indeed there appears to have been two sets of baths, one 

 perhaps for the family, the other for the domestics. All, indeed, 

 from its extent and completeness, points to occupation by a 

 proprietor of rank and wealth. The offices, besides baths, 

 bakeries, and other chambers of unknown appropriation, have 

 one of a singular and possibly unique description, in which a floor 

 of large tiles is supported upon stone props about two-and-a-half 

 feet high, which was warmed by hot vapour supplied by flues 

 underneath. Some antiquaries have suggested that the purpose 

 of this apartment was for drying corn in wet seasons. It seems 

 at least as probable that it was used for drying clothes, or as a 

 sudatorium in comiection with the bath establishment for the 

 domestics. In an apartment placed at a somewhat higher level 

 than the rest of the offices is an octagonal tank or reservoii-, 

 into which, the pipes having been restored, water again flows as 

 of yore. Whether this chamber served for a laundry, as seems 

 probable, or was appropriated to other purposes, as has been 

 suggested, is a matter for consideration by antiquaries, of whom 

 a large gathering was present from Bath, as weU as from 

 Gloucestershire. The Eev. S. Ltsons and Mr. Niblett, of the 



