XXX111. 



suggested as a Latinised form of the Celtic " Gual Vaur "the 

 Great Wall. The etymology of the syllable "sil" in Silchester is obscure. 

 That Silchester during the Roman occupation of Britain was a prosperous 

 and important place there was ample evidence. The beginning of its 

 decay must have dated from 410 A.D., when the Romans left Britain. 

 About 480 the Saxon Aella, on his march from Anderida to Bath, is 

 supposed to have taken the place by storm, burnt it, and put most of the 

 inhabitants to the sword. From that time for 1,000 years nothing was 

 heard of the place, save for a brief notice of it in Domesday Book. 

 Leland visited Silchester in the reign of Henry VIII., and gives in his 

 Itinerary a quaint account of it. Camden's description of the place in 

 his " Britannia," written in the reign of Elizabeth, is much longer and 

 more elaborate. Stukeley visited Silchester early in the 18th century, 

 and he was the first to publish a map of Silchester, and his pen and 

 ink sketch, dated 1722, are to be seen in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. 

 Excavations at Silchester before 1S64 were intermittent and comparatively 

 unimportant. In that year the Rev. J. G. Joyce, vicar of Stratfieldsaye, 

 was authorised by the Duke of Wellington, the owner of the land, to 

 carry out systematic excavations. These resulted in several discoveries 

 of interest, notably the Forum, the Basilica, and many houses, large 

 and small. Some of these, unfortunately, still remain uncovered, and have 

 suffered sad ravages from exposure to rain and frost. The excavations 

 were carried on by Mr. Joyce till his death in 1878, after which the Rev. 

 T. Langshaw, of Silchester, continued the work, which was vigorously 

 taken in hand in 1884 by Mr. Hilton Price, who obtained the Duke of 

 Wellington's permission to employ more labour. Some important work 

 was done in his time, but after the Duke's death his successor would 

 sanction for the time being no further operations, so that from 1884 to 

 1890 the work was altogether suspended. In the latter year began the 

 series of excavations by the Society of Antiquaries, under the direction of 

 Mr. G. E. Fox, F.S.A., Mr. St. John Hope, M.A., Mr. Herbert Jones, Mr. 

 Mill Stephenson, and others, which, if continued for a short time longer, 

 will teach us almost all we can hope to learn from the remains of Sil- 

 chester. Since the year 1890, amongst the more important " finds " may 

 be mentioned the following : In 1892, the Romano-British Church ; in 

 1893 the elaborate system of drains in the south of the city and the Ogam 

 stone ; in 1894, remarkable hearths, probably the foundations on which 

 coppers or boilers used in some trade were erected, and a jar containing 

 2o4 silver coins dating from Mark Antony to Severus ; and in 1895 and 

 the present year, other objects which were enumerated by Dr. Stevens in 

 his account given at the Reading Museum. The thanks of the Club 



