XXVI. 



consisted of several small black-looking- monmls, whicli, on being opened 

 with tlie spade, •were seen to consist of large quantities of bi oken pieces 

 of black pottery, some showing considerable artistic shape and ornamen- 

 tation. Mr. Fane spoke on the subject as follows :— 



" It is very unfortunate that we have no one here to-day who is able to 

 give any assistance in finding any of the objects of interest wdiich lie 

 all about us. The barrows and Romano-British kilns which exist in 

 many parts of the Forest were examined in many cases about forty years 

 ago by the Rev. J. Pemberton Bartlett, and as far as I can make out, 

 by Mr. Wise, who has made an exhaustive monograph on the Forest, 

 about ten years later, or thirty odd years ago. 



Unfortunately, since then the character of the ground surface has 

 greatly changed, and many of the spots of interest have been taken in to 

 the Crown enclosure. Trees, branches, and thorns have grown up to hide 

 all previous excavations, and even the persons who then assisted in these 

 excavations have now lost all knowledge of their whereabouts. 



Mr. Wise opened many of the barrows and shows that these were 

 universally of the most ancient Celtic character, containing a few rough 

 cinerary urns, with no traces of body burial, the urns being so decayed 

 as to be in scarcely any case brought out whole. With the exception of 

 a solitary stonehammer, some doubtful slinging pebbles, and flakes of 

 flint, no tools were found — no iron, bronze, or bonework of any sort, 

 no teeth, bones, or horn cores of animals occur, as they so often do in 

 Celtic barrows. The mounds which contained mortuary urns are, as a 

 rule, more elevated than the others. The primitive rudeness of these 

 burials all point to a people whose living was gained rather by hunting 

 than by commerce or agriculture. 



The Romano-British Potteries exist in various parts of the Forest, but 

 mostly in very inaccessible spots. They are all of the same character.and 

 the mounds contain vast quantities of broken pottery and clay ready for 

 using. Tlie only clue to their dates are coins of Victorinus and Claudius 

 Gothicus, A.D. 268, of which 1,700 were found in one of the thumb pots." 



Mr. Fane called the attention of the party to the abundance 

 of nettles over the pottery mounds, and said that it Avas stated by Mr. 

 Wise that nettles and chick weed grew on the sites of any ancient buildings 

 in the Forest. Mr. E. Cunnington said that the pottery there was not 

 equal to some found in the New Forest at Crockhill, nearer to Fording- 

 bridge, where there was a large pottery for many years, pieces fiom 

 which were marked with flutings made for grasping with the fingers. The 

 black Roman ware was made by the same method as a piece of his own 

 manufacture, viz., by stifle-burning by fires of couch or other vegetable 



