120 The Thirly-iUrd, General Meeting. 



contained, and for their kindness and hospitality; to which the 

 President suitably responded : and then en route was the word 

 given ; and, some on foot for Binknoll Camp direct, and some in 

 the carriages for the base of the hill on which that strong* little 

 triangular camp is perched, all started from Bassett Down : but 

 again the delay of the morning was repeated, and before the last 

 straggler had descended from Binknoll Camp and the carriages 

 were in motion for Wootton Bassett, that town should have been 

 reached^ However, once arrived, the archaeologists soon found 

 objects of interest : the Church, indeed, handsome structure as it is, 

 did not delay them long, as it has been re-built in recent days, and 

 contains but little of the old fabric. But in the primitive building 

 used as the Town Hall were exhibited for the gratification of the 

 Society some interesting objects belonging to the Corporation — an 

 institution that at the end of a few months will cease to exist owing 

 to the operation of the new Municipal Act of Parliament. Besides 

 an elaborate sword of state there was a pair of curious small silver 

 maces. They are of an earlier date than is usually found; they 

 measure 14in. in height, and consist of a shaft with two knops 

 surmounted by a bowl with a cresting of fleur-de-lys, a goud deal 

 of this ornament, however, has worn away. Within the bowl is 

 engraved a shield bearing the royal arms surmounted by the date 

 1603. There is no hall mark, but this probably indicates about the 

 time they were made ; the letters e.s. are also found engraved on 

 them. At the lower part of the mace are five projecting flanges. 

 These are somewhat curious, as they represent really the origin of 

 the corporation mace, which is the military weapon turned upside 

 down. In later and more common examples the bowl is much 

 enlarged, and is surmounted by the royal crown, but the Wootton 

 Bassett examples clearly indicate the transition by retaining the 

 flanges at the bottom in a diminished form. These constituted the 

 head of the flanged or laminated maces of iron and steel used in 

 the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The core of these maces is of 

 iron covered with plates of silver. In their present form they might 

 be used as weapons with considerable effect, and from the worn 

 appearance of the cresting they almost look as if they had been so 



