120 The Thirty-third General Meeting. 
contained, and for their kindness and hospitality; to which the 
Prestpent suitably responded: and then en route was the word 
given; and, some on foot for Binknoll Camp direct, and some in 
the carriages for the base of the hill on which that strong little 
triangular camp is perched, all started from Bassett Down: but 
again the delay of the morning was repeated, and before the last 
straggler had descended from Binknoll Camp and the carriages 
Were in motion for Wootton Bassett, that town should have been 
reached. However, once arrived, the archeologists soon found 
objects of interest : the Church, indeed, handsome structure as it is, 
did not delay them long, as it has been re-built in recent days, and 
contains but little of the old fabric. But in the primitive building 
used as the Town Hall were exhibited for the gratification of the 
Society some interesting objects belonging to the Corporation—an 
institution that at the end of a few months will cease to exist owing 
to the operation of the new Municipal Act of Parliament. Besides 
an elaborate sword of state there was a pair of curious small silver 
maces. They are of an earlier date than is usually found; they 
measure l4in. in height, and consist of a shaft with two knops 
surmounted by a bowl with a cresting of fleur-de-lys, a good deal 
of this ornament, however, has worn away. Within the bowl is 
engraved a shield bearing the royal arms surmounted by the date 
1603. There is no hall mark, but this probably indicates about the 
time they were made; the letters r,s. are also found engraved on 
them. At the lower part of the mace are five projecting flanges. 
These are somewhat curious, as they represent really the origin of 
the corporation mace, which is the military weapon turned upside 
down. In later and more common examples the bowl is much 
enlarged, and is surmounted by the royal crown, but the Wootton 
Bassett examples clearly indicate the transition by retaining the 
flanges at the bottom in a diminished form. These constituted the 
head of the flanged or laminated maces of iron and steel used in 
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The core of these maces is of 
iron covered with plates of silver. In their present form they might 
be used as weapons with considerable effect, and from the worn 
appearance of the cresting they almost look as if they had been so 
