104 



The Fiftieth General Meeting. 



a Celtic word meaning wood — and that as Silchester is the city in 

 the wood, Silbury is the " bury " in the wooded valley. In support 

 of this derivation he adduced Selborne, Selworthy, and Selwood. 

 After many of the Members had climbed to the top the route was 

 resumed for BISHOPS CANNINGS CHURCH, where a paper 

 describing the architectural features of the building was read by 

 Mr. C. E. Ponting. 1 This brought the programme to a close, and 

 Devizes was shortly afterwards reached after a very pleasant day's 

 excursion, on which the weather had been kinder throughout the day 

 than the somewhat threatening aspect of the morning had promised_ 

 At THE CONVERSAZIONE, held in the Town Hall at 8.30, at 

 which about fifty members were present, Me. W. Heward Bell 

 took the chair, in the absence of Mr. Maskelyne. The first paper read 

 was one on " THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE WYLYE VALLEY," 2 

 by Mr. J. U. Powell, which will be found in this number of 

 the Magazine. This, after an interlude with a song, was followed 

 by a paper read by the Eev. E. H. G-oddard for Mr. A. D. Passmore 

 on certain " ANTIQUITIES RECENTLY DISCOVERED NEAR 

 SWINDON," which were exhibited in a case to illustrate his re- 

 marks. Mr. E. A. PiAWLence then read a valuable paper on 

 " PREHISTORIC INTERMENTS AT PORTON," 3 recently exca- 

 vated by himself, the fine cinerary urn obtained from one of them, 

 of a shape which is not quite matched by any other Wiltshire 

 specimen, being exhibited on the table as he spoke. As both these 

 papers will be printed later on in the Magazine, nothing more need 

 here be said of them. 



FEIDAY, JULY 17th. 



The excursion arranged for the day was a long one, and the 

 party left Devizes at 9.30, the first stop being at POTTERNE. Here 

 Mr. H. JBrakspear, F.S.A., discoursed on the architecture, and 



1 Mr. Ponting's paper on Bishops Cannings Church is printed in Devizes 

 Gazette, Aug. 20th, 1903. 



2 An abstract of this paper is given in Devizes Gazette, September 3rd, 1903. 



3 Mr. Rawlence's paper is printed in full in the Wilts County Mirror, 

 July 24th, 1903. 



