Excursion on Fr'nJa//, August 



153 



Church, and on the north wall is a corbel-table marking* the old 

 cloister roof and the walled -up doorways, while at the east end were 

 traces of other buildings having* existed against the north transept. 

 There are, however, documentary evidences that the conventual 

 Church was destroyed. Could its destruction have been averted ? 

 Some discussion took place as to the want of symmetry in plan. 

 The chancel leans to the north, and the west wall of the nave is 

 set askew, but no satisfactory explanation was offered, instances of 

 leaning', both to north and south, being mentioned, and in reply to 

 the theory that the inclination indicated the rising* of the sun on 

 the day of founding, Mr. Brock said an inexplicable fact was, that 

 in no case known to him where the day of founding was known did 

 the inclined axis exactly correspond with the sun's position. 



After luncheon at the school-room, the visitors walked through 

 the park, by the site of the nunnery to the earthworks known as 

 " Vespasian's Camp/'' of which Professor Rupert J ones gave an 

 interesting account. These ramparts follow the contour of a hill- 

 side overlooking the Avon, and are on plan an elliptic curve, with 

 closed end, containing an area of 39 acres, and commanding the 

 river and opposite bank : they are formed by a vallum with outer 

 ditch, but are much obscured and broken by the planting of trees 

 and the formation of pleasure-grounds upon them. Lord Nelson 

 pointed out the resemblance to B ration Camp, allowing for the 

 existence of a river here, and suggested a common origin. Mr. 

 Brock said these earthworks had been much misunderstood. This 

 camp was certainly used by the Romans, as a few of their coins 

 found on the site proved, but here and elsewhere they simply utilized 

 works already existing, formed by the Britons, not as mere military 

 stations, nor yet burial places, but as oppida, lines of defence on the 

 hill-tops, within which they erected their wigwams of branches or 

 dug out pits, and folded their cattle at night. They followed every 

 contour of the ground in their trenches and banks, and where a river 

 was not at hand, probably got water as the shepherds on the downs 

 did now, by puddled "dew ponds," wherein the rainfall was stored. 



The Members then proceeded to Stonehengc, the whole area of 

 which was literally crowded with archaeologists. Standing upon a 



