224 Archceologia. 



They all give us the notion of their being rather late Roman, or of 

 the period immediately following, but to what kind of settlement 

 they belonged here it is very difficult to guess with the extent of 



our present knowledge. The cave is 

 contained within an area surrounded 

 by a ditch or fosse, and containing 

 about half an acre of ground. Its,, 

 position, and the passage from which 

 it was entered, will be best under- 

 stood by the slight plan here given, 

 where a represents the cave, h the 

 passage, and c c the ditch of inclo- 

 sure. Numerous fragments of bones 

 were found in the cave, some evidently belonging to a large animal, 

 but in general they were so much calcined that it was difficult to 

 decide upon their character. Some fragments were supposed to be 

 human, and the directors of the excavations appear to be inclined 

 to the belief that the cave has been at some time used for sepulchral 

 purposes. 



A short time ago, the remains of a Roman Villa were uncovered 

 near Tract Park, in the neighbourhood of Bath. The farm on which 

 it was situated was named Cold Harbour, a name often found at- 

 tached to Roman sites. At a recent meeting of the Bath Natural 

 History and Antiquarian Field Club, the Rev. Prebendary Scarth 

 gave an interesting account of the discoveries made in the course of 

 the excavations. Before they were undertaken, numerous fragments 

 of Roman pottery, tile, and cut stone, were seen lying about an 

 arable field adjacent to the pasture field in which the villa stood ; 

 and in the next arable field are the remains of an ancient cromlech, 

 two upright stones of which now only remain, although within 

 memory there existed a third, and the whole was capped by another 

 large stone. All these remains, as we understand, were inclosed 

 within a rectangular earthen boundary, inclosing a space of about 

 two acres. Walls within were soon traced, running at right angles, 

 and the excavations, as they proceeded, disclosed no fewer than 

 thirteen or fourteen rooms upon the same level, two of the floors of 

 which had been provided with hypocausts. The floors had been 

 broken up and destroyed, but some of the tessellae were scattered 

 among the earth, and part of the columns which had supported 

 them, which had been made of bricks of the usual height and form, 

 though older materials had also been used up along with them, and 

 the portion of a pilaster, or small column, was found employed as one 

 of the supports. Prebendary Scarth inferred from this that the villa 

 had been, at some epoch, rebuilt or enlarged, and, as one side of the 

 pilaster was weather-worn, it seemed to have formed part of a build- 

 ing of earlier date. At the south-eastern angle of the villa, when 

 the walls had been traced to their limit, a stone water-course was 

 laid bare, and followed until its outlet was ascertained. At the 

 south-western end, the paved court was found, which had contained 

 within it a small garden, probabty for flowers. On the north side 

 of the larger hypocaust was found a solid block of masonry, which 



