Chap. IV. OP ANCIENT BUILDINGS. 177 



was ploughed on the northern side of the 

 Severn, not far from Shrewsbury ; and a 

 surprising number of iron arrow-heads were 

 found at the bottom of the furrows^ which, as 

 Mr. Blakeway, a local antiquary, believed, 

 were relics of the battle of Shrewsbury in the 

 year 1403, and no doubt had been originally 

 left strewed on the battle-field. In the 

 present chapter I shall show that not only 

 implements, &c., are thus preserved, but that 

 the floors and the remains of many ancient 

 buildings in England have been buried so 

 effectually, in large part through the action 

 of worms, that they have been discovered in 

 recent times solely through various accidents. 

 The enormous beds of rubbish, several yards 

 in thickness, which underlie many cities, 

 such as Rome, Paris, and London, the lower 

 ones being of great antiquity, are not here 

 referred to, as they have not been in any 

 way acted on by worms. When we con- 

 sider how much matter is daily brought into 

 a great city for building, fuel, clothing and 

 food, and that in old times when the roads 

 were bad and the work of the scavenger 

 was neglected, a comparatively small amount 



