Archceologia. 285 



extracting the rather large amount of metal. left in the refuse of the 

 Roman smelters, through their imperfect smelting. The Roman 

 cinders were found to contain, as is the fcase in other parts of our 

 island, where the Romans obtained lead or iron, large per-centages 

 of lead, varying from five or six in the slime of old washings, to ten 

 and even fifteen in the other refuse. A field of about fifteen acres, 

 on the Menclip Hills, four or five miles above JBlagdon, belonging 

 to Colonel Mackenzie, of Clifton, was remarked for the circum- 

 stance that neither cattle nor sheep could live upon the coarse grass 

 which grew upon it. It bore the rather significant name of the 

 Town Field, which arose, no doubt, from the foundations of buildings 

 found in some parts of it. Curiosity having been excited by these 

 circumstances, the ground has been dug into in several places, and 

 it was found that not only was the soil largely impregnated with 

 lead, but lumps of very rich ore and pieces of manufactured lead 

 were found in the earth. With this encouragement, the exploration 

 was continued, and many articles of Romau manufacture were 

 found, among which were enamelled bracelets, a couple of richly 

 chased gold rings, and large quantities of broken Roman pottery of 

 various kinds. It is further stated that there were also found pieces 

 of pots info which they ran the lead, with portions of the lead on 

 them, and some of the furnaces, built of stones, in which the ore 

 was smelted. Two or three well-made drains were found three or 

 four feet underground, intended, no doubt, to carry off the sewage 

 from the houses. Much of the earth has been found to be so rich 

 in lead that it will pay well for working, in the course of which we 

 may expect further interesting discoveries. 



A question has been raised as to the sepulchral character of the 

 great circles of stones, such as Stonhenge, Ave bury, etc., and Mr. 

 William Cunnington, the well-known secretary of the Wiltshire 

 Archaeological Society, stating that he had made numerous excava- 

 tions within the circles at Avebury, and found no traces of sepul- 

 chral interment, and that in Scotland similar searches had been 

 made with the great circle known as the " Stones of Stenness," in 

 Orkney, with a similar result. We would suggest that in both 

 cases the search was made rather under a misunderstanding. Had 

 there been any sepulchral deposit in any of the great monuments of 

 this class, we presume that it would probably have been above 

 ground, and not beneath — perhaps in something resembling a crom- 

 lech, covered by a mound, which in the course of ages has been, 

 through some cause or other, cleared away. We should not advise 

 digging in the expectation of finding an, interment of human 

 remains, but with the hope of finding some articles of man's making 

 which may throw light on the date of the erection of the monument. 

 We confess, however, that though the origin and design of these 

 great monuments is still a profound mystery, we can hardly imagine, 

 from their magnitude, that they are sepulchral. 



Mr. Roach Smith has given, in his " Antiquarian. iSTotes," in the 

 " Gentleman's Magazine " for September, an account of the remains 

 of Roman towns in France, which we strongly recommend to all 

 readers. It is written in the clear and instructive style for which 



