By Mr. Cunnington, F.G.S. 



149 



some eminent Roman family. Such a cup is not likely to have 

 belonged to any one not of the higher classes of the people. The 

 mishap of its breakage is not so remarkable, especially as Stonehenge 

 — we have it on good [Native) authority — is "a terrible place 

 for breaking glass." The other fragment is a good specimen of the 

 art. It also appears to have been a goblet, but it is of a bright 

 olive colour, and was ornamented with rows of small knobs of glass, 

 round the prominent parts of the vessel. 



Roman Pottery at Stonehenge. 



In the "Beauties of Wiltshire," vol. ii., p. 151, it is stated that 

 " Pottery of Roman manufacture was discovered, after the fall of the 

 large stones in 1797, in the soil which served for their foundation. 33 



This statement having been the cause of some misapprehension, I 

 have been requested to publish the following information. 



The late Mr. Cunnington, of Heytesbury, first mentioned the 

 subject to Mr. Britton, but the most important point connected with 

 it seems to have been misunderstood. He consequently addressed a 

 letter to Mr. Britton, in which he explained the matter fully. It 

 is dated Heytesbury, October "22nd, 1801, and is now in my possesion. 

 He writes as follows 1 " I think you should correct the statement 

 respecting the Roman pottery found at Stonehenge. Your paragraph 

 conveys what I never meant it to convey, namely, that the pottery 

 was deposited before the erection of the stones. I conceive it to 

 have been in the earth surrounding the stones, and after the fall of 

 the trilithon the earth containing these fragments would naturally 

 moulder into the hollows, for in this loose earth recently fallen into 

 the cavity, the bits of pottery were found. " This can easily be 

 corrected in your preface to the 3rd vol. of the ' Beauties of Wilts/ 33 



Mr. Cunnington confirms these facts in a MS. note on p. 131 of 

 my copy of the " Beauties of Wilts." 



Willliam Cunnington. 



Clapham, 

 January, 1883. 



