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been swept away by the waters of the Mein. Including its ram- 
parts and ditches the station must have occupied seven or eight 
acres. Its form is that of a parallelogram, its angles are rounded, 
it has four entrances, one on each side; it is situated on a bluff 
near a running stream, and it slopes gently to the south. All 
these are features that go to establish its Roman origin. The 
work of exploration was begun by driving a trench through the 
north rampart and ditches, so as to ascertain the materials com- 
posing the former as well as the shape and size of the latter. In 
the same way the inner edge of this rampart. was exposed, as also 
the entrance through it into the station. Such stone work as 
occurs here is of a very rude kind. The structure of the main 
body of the rampart reveals several points of interest. Other 
incisions were made in it, and in the mounds on the east and west 
sides. Everywhere there were found to be certain marked resem- 
blances, but at the same time differences which seem at present to 
forbid the conclusion that the enclosing rampart had been constructed 
at one time and on one uniform plan. But further examination and 
the study of various questions involved are required. As yet no 
remains of a stone wall, such as surrounds the Roman stations in 
the north of England, have been met with. So thoroughly has 
almost every square yard of the enclosed space been turned over 
in the search for building materials or perhaps for expected 
treasures, during the many centuries Birrens was uncared for, 
that the “finds” have been few and of no value to any one but 
the archeologist. Among them are a large bowl hewn out of 
freestone, the use of which is uncertain ; a portion of a small 
bronze figure of Mercury ; pieces of sculptured panels and other 
ornamental work ; portions of querns, made of the so-called 
Andernach stone, one of them hooped with iron ; two pieces of 
an inscribed stone with well cut letters ; a small stone with the 
name of the Sixth Legion marked on it in punctured letters; a 
small portion of a bronze vessel ; an altar with inscription defaced, 
or a pedestal ; large nails and other objects of iron much corroded; 
fragments of glass; bones of domestic animals; together with 
numerous pieces of pottery—Samian, “biscuit,” grey, and dark, 
the Samian uniformly occurring in the lowest strata. It would 
be premature to attempt as yet to say how far the successive 
periods in the history of Birrens as a stronghold have been made 
known by these still unfinished excavations. Much, however, 
has been accomplished that is of permanent value. Birrens must 
