By Mr. Cunnington, F.G.S. 223 
give a satisfactory delineation of it. It was discovered in a meadow 
adjoining Marlborough, called St. Margaret’s Mead, which is situ- 
ate just beyond the first milestone on the road leading to London. 
- According to the original drawing presented to me by Mr. Francis, 
and drawn upon a scale of three inches to one, the vessel must have 
been two feet in breadth, and twenty-one inches in height. It was 
formed of substantial oak wood,! bound with iron hoops, had two 
handles of the same, and a hollow bar of iron was placed across the 
mouth of the vessel, and affixed to the two square upright pieces 
projecting from the circle. It was plated with thin brass,? and 
ornamented with embossed representations of grotesque human 
heads and animals. The deposit of human burnt bones which it 
contained proved it to have been originally destined to sepulchral 
purposes, but I am at a loss even to conjecture thé period to which 
it ought to be attributed. The labourers employed in digging 
gravel for the roads in this mead frequently meet with coins, 
pottery, animal bones, &c., which indicate its having been known 
to the Romans. To Mr. Francis I am indebted for a beautiful 
little cup of bronze-coloured pottery, with six indentures on it; 
and in the collection of the same gentleman I observed many coins 
of the lower Empire and some fragments of the fine red-glazed, 
(Samian,) pottery.” 
The following letter, hitherto unpublished (now in the possession 
of the Society), contains further information on the subject :— 
“ Mildenhall, May 21st, 1812. 
“‘T should have been much mortified if your stay at Marlbro’ would not have 
allowed me to fulfil your wish, that Mr. Crocker might take a draft of the 
fragments of the vessel, a drawing of which you were so kind to accept.* That 
drawing was made on the spot, by ascale of, I think, one inch draft to three 
inches the object, while it was entire, and freed from the surrounding earth, so 
that we had a perfect view of it. As the vessel must have perished if it had 
been left where it was found, I was very desirous of removing and possessing it 
1 Microscopic examination has proved the wood to be coniferous—fir—not 
oak.—W.C. 
? This has been chemically examined, and found to be bronze.—W.C. 
The Roman ampulla which is engraved on the title-page to the ‘‘ Roman 
ra,” Ancient Wilts, vol. ii., was also found in St. Margaret’s mead. 
* This, the original drawing by Tuck, is also in the Society’s library. 
