Chap. IV. OF ANCIENT BUILDINGS. 201 



a hypocanst was found by my son to have 

 been penetrated by many worm-burrows. 

 The remains of this villa stand on land which 

 slopes at an angle of about 3° ; and the land 

 appears to have been long cultivated. There- 

 fore no doubt a considerable quantity of fine 

 earth has been washed down from the upper 

 parts of the field, and has largely aided in 

 the burial of these remains. 



Silchester, Hampshire. — The ruins of this 

 small Roman town have been better pre- 

 served than any other remains of the kind 

 in England. A broken wall, in most parts 

 from 15 to 18 feet in height and about IJ 

 mile in compass, now surrounds a space of 

 about 100 acres of cultivated land, on which 

 a farm-house and a church stand.* Formerly, 

 when the weather was dry, the lines of the 

 buried walls could be traced by the appear- 

 ance of the crops ; and recently very exten- 

 sive excavations have been undertaken by 

 the Duke of Wellington, under the superin- 

 tendence of the late Kev. J. G-. Joyce, by 

 which means many large buildings have been 



* These details are taken from the ' Penny Encyclopgedia,' 

 article, Hampshire. 



