60 PAPERS, ETC. 
wall, the boundary of a new villa, just beyond the church. 
The situation of them is on the declivity of a hill, and a 
little lower down are the remains of a Roman villa, which 
was begun to be disinterred a few years since, but, for some 
reason, the work was discontinued. The builder who has 
taken the land, and intends constructing a modern habita- 
tion on it, has assured me that the old foundations 
shall be examined with the greatest care, and any 
objects of antiquity preserved. The site is very pic- 
turesque, looking direct south, and shielded on the north 
and east by gently sloping hills, having an open view of 
Mitford Castle to the south, with the Wiltshire downs in 
the back ground. Just above the site of this villa the 
coffins were found, and with them several pieces of broken 
pottery, and an entire small earthen vessel, now in the 
possession of the Rev. W. L. Nichols, of Lansdown 
Crescent, and undoubtedly Roman. Also a coin of the 
Emperor Licinius, now in my keeping. The cofäins are 
three in number. These are all that have been at present 
discovered, but as the excavations are continued along the 
hill side, in a westerly direction, probably more may be 
found. They were not many inches under ground, the 
end of one having been struck by the cart-track, which 
went close past them. The coffins were placed directly 
north and south, with the feet to the south, so that the 
faces looked toward the mid-day sun. 
In each of the two which lie towards the east, were 
skeletons of females, one said to be about forty-five years 
old, apparently, and the other thirty. These two coflins 
were of a large size, and the skeletons large also. They 
were three feet apart, and nine or ten inches from them 
lies a coffin somewhat smaller, square-headed, and of much 
better workmanship, which contained a male skeleton, 
