The President's Address, 



129 



the kingdom : while to go still further back into remote ages, you 

 will see in the Museum at Cirencester a large stone coffin which was 

 dug up out of the brook flowing through the Charlham meadows, 

 when that stream was diverted, about four years ago from its natural 

 course. Now it seems to me very probable that many of the neigh- 

 bouring villages might have ancient remains of kindred interest, if 

 educated persons who live on the spot were to make searches for them, 

 as history tells us that all that district formed part of a Roman 

 colony in ancient times. The village of Kempsford, which you will 

 also visit on our homeward journey on Wednesday, contains a very 

 noble church, with its traditional horse- shoe story, and its connexion 

 with the old Lancastrian family, having been erected in the middle 

 of the fourteenth century, by Henry, Duke of Lancaster. Many of 

 you who have seen it will remember that it was restored, and a chancel 

 aisle added to it, during the late incumbency of Dr. Woodford, since 

 Vicar of Leeds, and just now consecrated to the see of Ely. It 

 possesses a remarkably fine square tower rising from the centre, and 

 a noble chancel, and is also richly ornamented with fine painted 

 glass windows, and therefore deserves your minute inspection. The 

 picturesque Vicarage garden, too, wi th its little green terrace, should 

 also be visited. 



I will now proceed to offer a few observations with reference 

 to our second day's excursion. I must, therefore, transport you 

 for awhile to Cirencester, which, with its surroundings, will form 

 the subject of much interesting matter. Cirencester, as you are all 

 doubtless aware, is a town of great antiquity, and was evidently, 

 during the Roman rule, a city or station of great importance, possess- 

 ing very many highly interesting remains of that period, which have 

 within a comparatively recent period been discovered in excellent 

 preservation. Coriniwm, which was its ancient Roman name, was 

 supposed to have been built by a Roman general, in the time of the 

 Emperor Claudius. It was strongly fortified, and possessed walls and 

 a castle, some vestiges of which still remain. The tesselated pave- 

 ments, baths, columns, and statues, which have at various times been 

 found, clearly prove it to have been a favorite dwelling-place during 

 the Roman occupation; and that their civilization and great knowledge 



