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SURVIVALS OF ROMAN ARCHITECTURE 

 IN BRITAIN, 



BY 

 JOHN BELLOWS. 



(Read December 13th, 1898) 



The West of England, especially the district of which 

 Gloucestershire may be taken as a centre, is rich in archi- 

 tecture that shows a historical connection with the past ; 

 and some of its public buildings which more than any 

 other have preserved to us features of a very high antiquity 

 are its pillared market-houses. As a whole they are 

 quaint and homely rather than beautiful ; and possibly it 

 is their very homehness that has caused archceologists 

 to overlook the points which prove their true origin. 



When the Tolsey, or Town-house, of the City of Glou- 

 cester was taken down in 1896, there were exposed under 

 its foundations the remains of some mediaeval structures ; 

 and below these again there were found portions of a still 

 earlier Roman building, which has been decided by George 

 E. Fox and Edward Jones, the explorers of Silchester, to 

 have been a Basilica, or place connected with the city 

 administration in the Roman period. 



If we examine the old engraving [Plate IV., fig. l] of the 

 Tolsey which was built previous to the one that has lately 

 given place to the Wilts and Dorset Bank we shall notice 



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