XXX11. 



reception is built. There are three tesselations, but one only at present 

 can be exhibited. There is also a very rare object recently introduced. 

 It is a vase of blue and white glass, the colour of which is of 

 great beauty. There is also a bottle placed in the centre of ?54 silver 

 denarii, which were found in it. It is one of the most, if not the most 

 remarkable, finds of a hoard of Roman coins yet found in this country. 

 On leaving the Museum the party were conducted over the Town Hall, 

 the church of St. Lawrence, built about A.n. 1190, the earlier church of 

 the town having been in A.D. 1120 removed to make way for the Abbey 

 buildings. A curious palimpsest brass is placed on the north side of the 

 Chancel Arch. The University Extension College was next visited, part 

 of which was originally the dormitory of the hospitium of St. John, 

 attached to the Abbey, used as a stable by Queen Elizabeth and as a 

 barrack during the civil war. After inspecting the massive ruins of the 

 Abbey and Greyfriars Church, founded by the Franciscans, who settled 

 at Heading in A.D. 1233, the party returned to dinner at the G.W. 

 Hotel. At 8.30 p.m. a conversazione was held at the Abbey Gateway, 

 the headquarters of the Berks Archaeological Society, by whom the club 

 was hospitably invited to partake of tea and light refreshments, and to 

 hear a lecture by Mr. Theodore White, the President of the Heading 

 Literary ami Scientific Society. The lecturer dealt with the History of 

 Silchester, and an abstract is given as follows : Silchester appears to 

 have been originally the Caer Segont of the Segontiaci, a Celtic tribe, 

 which was about 300 years B.C. subdued by the Atrebates, a tribe of 

 Belg.iJ, from Gaul. The town was situated on the edge of the wild track 

 of sandy heathland, still found on the borders of Berks and Hants. It 

 occupied high ground, falling away rapidly to the north-east and 

 south, and was fortified by a high octagonal rampart of earth, 

 enclosing an area of about 100 acres. The district now called Hamp- 

 shire was conquered by Vespasian, and we may conclude that before 100 

 A.D. Caer Segont had become a Roman city, defended by lofty walls of 

 flint and stone, which are still standing in wonderful preservation. 

 "Within this enclosure there sprang up a town with streets intersecting 

 one another at right angles, thus forming " insulte," with a large forum 

 and a magnificent Basilica, and in later times at least one Christian 

 church. Without the walls was a spacious amphitheatre, measuring 15Cft. 

 by 120ft. Roman roads ran from the town direct to London, to Venta 

 Belgarum (Winchester), to Sordiodunum (Sarum), and to Aqua 1 Solis 

 (Bath), via Spinae (Speen, Newbury) and Cunetio (Marl bo rough). Sil- 

 chester corresponds with the position of Calleva, as given in many of the 

 old Itineraries. The etymology of the name Calleva has been 



