Second Day, Wednesday, August IM. 117 



the purpose of looking* for evidence bearing on a theory he had 

 advanced as to the water-supply to Swindon Hill. He did not find 

 what he was looking after, but he found other things which he did 

 not expect to find. At a distance of 460ft. north of the road leading 

 to High worth, and a short distance only from the Swindon Wharf, 

 he found a well-defined circle or circus, having an internal diameter 

 of 110ft. surrounded or enclosed by a mound 20ft. broad and 3ft. 

 hisrh. At a distance of 80ft. northward from this circle there was 

 a second circle, not so well defined, but still sufficiently clear to be 

 easily traced. The internal diameter of this circle was 120ft., 

 surrounded by a mound 6ft. broad, and about 18in. high. Still 

 farther on northward there were faint traces of a third circle, but 

 the traces were so faint that he could give no particulars without a 

 more minute investigation than he had yet given to the matter. 

 Fortunately, when in the field he met with an old man who had 

 known it and worked on it for many years. He had known the 

 circles all his time, but could give no traditionary account of them. 

 But in answer to further enquiries as to other unusual marks or 

 features there or thereabouts, he said he knew of nothing beside 

 what he had always heard called " the old graves/' and he proceeded 

 to take him (Mr. Morris) to the south-west point of the first circus 

 to which he had referred, the one nearest the road, where there were 

 undoubted signs of long mounds like graves, and concerning which 

 there was the tradition that they were old graves. There was one 

 suggestion he would venture to make in regard to these circles and 

 graves, and it was this : that they belonged to the Roman period, 

 and were used for the purposes of sport, amusement, or personal 

 encounters by the people who lived at what we now know as the 

 Nythe, Wanborough, at Stanton Fitzwarren, and other places, and 

 that the graves were those of men who had played their part in 

 these sports or encounters, and who, meeting their deaths thereat, 

 were removed outside the circus and buried. This, however, was a 

 matter which could only be spoken to after careful investigation, 

 and he now only threw out the suggestion for the purpose of showing 

 how teeming their neighbourhood was with matter to interest the 

 archaeologist and the antiquarian. It had been his intention to 



