14 PAPERS, ETC. 



referred to the reign of Domitian. This remarkable object 

 belongs to the Archaeological Society of Chester, and is 

 preserved in tlieir museum.* 



SHROPSHIRE. 



A pig was found at Snailbeach Farm, in the parish of 

 Westbury, where lead is still obtained, part of the mine 

 being known as the Roman Mine. It is preserved in 

 the British Museum, having been presented in 1798, by 

 John Lloyd, Esq., and is inscribed as follows : 



IMP. HADRIANI AVG. 

 Sir Henry Ellis has given a transverse section and a draw- 

 of it, and observes : " Its greatest length is 22 inches by 7 ; 

 the upper surface 19 by 3^; its'weight 191 lb."f 



A highly interesting account of a visit to the Roman 

 lead mines in the parish of Shelve, in Shropshire, by Thos. 

 Wright, Esq., M.A., P.S.A., is published in the Illustrated 

 London News, of October 4th, 1856, p. 351. 



According to Mr. Wright's description, " two or three 

 veins had cropt out almost parallel to each other, and the 

 Roman miners actually cut the mountain from top to 

 bottom into great ridges or grooves. We might suppose 

 from the appearance, that they began at the bottom, and 

 then, after they had followed the metal in one spot as far 

 as they could, they commenced immediately above, and 

 filled up the previous excavation with the waste from the 

 new one. As we approach the top of the Hill, the remains 

 of these excavations take the form of vast caverns, which 

 have evidently gone to a great depth ; but the entrance 

 has been clogged up with fallen rock." Mr. Wright 



* C. Eoach Smith, in Journal of tlie Arcliceological Association, vol. iv., 

 a.D. 1849, p. 51. 



t Townley Oallery, vol. II., p. 291. 



