152 Archceologia. 



ARCH^EOLOGIA. 



The season is very far from, favourable to any new archaeological 

 discoveries, and we are obliged to fall back upon some of tbe later 

 explorations of tbe past autumn, which are still occupying the 

 attention of antiquaries. Among these may be specified the less 

 recent discovery of the foundations and floors of buildings in 

 Chester, the Deva of the Romans," under whom it was the station 

 of the twentieth legion. Two lectures on local antiquities have 

 recently been delivered at Chester j by Dr. Brushfield, a prominent 

 feature in the second of which was a searching inquiry into the 

 grounds upon which Mr. Tite founded his opinion, that a building 

 laid open during the last year in the heart of the town was a 

 Roman temple. Mr. Tite had published his reasons in a paper read 

 before the Society of Antiquaries, and Mr. S earth, in his " Roman 

 Bath," has drawn attention to its analogy to a temple discovered 

 years ago in that city. Dr. Brushfield disputes the correctness both 

 of Mr. Tite's conclusions and of his facts, and the close attention 

 he and his coadjutors gave daily to the remains during the dis- 

 covery adds weight to his views. The lectures, wibh illustrations, 

 are about to be published by tbe Chester Archaeological Society. 



"We have already described the excavations at Bradwell juxta 

 Mare, which appear to have brought to light at last the remains of 

 the lost Roman military station of Othona, the Ythancester of 

 Bede. These researches are, we believe, still continued as the 

 weather permits. Some antiquaries had already conjectured that 

 it stood somewhere near this locality ; but what caused others to 

 pause before deciding was not only the fact that no vestiges were 

 to be seen here, but the conflicting fact, as it seemed, that at Felix- 

 stowe, on the Suffolk coast, the sea had overthrown a Roman 

 castrum, parts of the walls of which are still to be seen at low 

 water. At one place, therefore, remains existed without historical 

 evidence or any affinity in names ; at the other, the site on the river 

 Pant is pointed out by Becle, but no remains were to be seen. The 

 site at Bradwell had, as we have stated in our former notice, a ruined 

 church named St. Peter's-on-the-Wall, apparently of late Norman 

 work, and constructed in part of Roman materials. It was hardly 

 supposed that this church was so termed from standing upon one 

 of the walls of a Roman station, yet this turns out to have been the 

 case. Further investigation will no doubt throw more light on this 

 interesting question. 



In these days of universal explorations, it is something note- 

 worthy to bring to light a Roman walled station ; but it is probable 

 that, even in our own country, remains of this kind are yet to be 

 found for the trouble of excavating ; and this is the case, to a more 

 remarkable degree, in some parts of France. It is only a few 

 years ago, a French antiquary, M. Boilleau, discovered at Larcay, 

 near Tours, a fine and very well-preserved Roman fortress, with its 

 massive walls almost entire. It stands a short distance out of the 



