xlv. 



own story. Some were cut and broken, and some, including that of a 

 woman, had been cut off the body and mounted on a spear, which had 

 left its marks on the inside of the hole in the occiput for the admission 

 of the spinal column into the brain. The heads had been cut off, carried 

 on spears, and then probably mounted on the stockade in the barbarous 

 fashion surviving in Britain till the end of the last century. A few 

 human hones found inside the camp had been gnawed by the dogs, who 

 probably brought them in. Two entire skeletons of infants were found 

 buried in the huts. The next question to be considered was the race to 

 which these people, who were at once herdsmen, tillers of the ground, 

 skilful artificers, and hunters, belonged. They were small in stature, 

 with well-proportioned oval heads and delicate features. They belonged 

 to the small dark Iberic stock in the British population, whose remains 

 occurred in the burial mounds of Dorset and Wilts, and whose remains 

 had been discovered by General Pitt Kivers at Woodcutts. They were the 

 representatives in the Prehistoric Iron Age of the people who inhabited 

 the villages on the downs of Wilts and Dorset during the time of the 

 Roman occupation, and who were now represented in the existing 

 population by the small delicate-featured people with long straight 

 noses and black hair, some of whom he had seen that day in Swanage." 



The members then visited Swanage Church, on which the Rev. T. A. 

 Gurney read the following paper : 



" The tower in which you stand is the oldest part of the parish church 

 of Swanage, which was originally founded as a chapelry of Worth. A 

 little way above Newton Manor, to the south, lies the old Press Way 

 or Priest's Way, by which the priests of Worth Matravers used to come 

 down to Swanage for their ministrations. It was a sort of private road 

 which still connects Swanage with its mother parish, Worth. Exactly 

 where the original church or chapel in Swanage was, in which the priests 

 held their service, it is impossible to do more than conjecture now. But 

 there can be very little doubt that it must have been close to or upon 

 the site of the present church. The Rectory orchard has been proved 

 by excavations to be a graveyard, and beneath the older part of the 

 present Rectory are walls filled with windows and doors \\ith stone 

 arches. Possibly this was the chapel in this town. We who belong to 

 Swanage would be very proud to claim in our present church some 

 remains carrying us back to Saxon times, but reluctantly we are 

 compelled by hard facts to forego the claim. There is very little doubt 

 that a service was held in the chapel which I have mentioned from a 

 very early period, possibly Saxon. But that building was not the 

 building in which we stand to-day. The remains of that building are 



