By the Bev. G. S. Master. 



41 



were then, I suppose, as now, employed as the handles of doors or 

 cupboards. These things have been reduced by the lapse of time 

 and other causes, to something like the condition of Kimmeridge 

 coal. We found about two hundred coins, all of the third brass, 

 many of them in a condition of decay which rendered their inscrip- 

 tions illegible ; but we made out some of Constanlinus Magnus and 

 Secundus, each with three or four varieties of reverses, and five or 

 six of exergual letters ; of Constans, with five different reverses ; of 

 Martinianus, Delmatius, and Magnentius. Feeling confident that 

 we were on the verge of the wished-for villa, but striking no walls 

 nor foundations, we desisted unwillingly from our search. 



Operations were resumed about a month ago, when by the patient 

 use of a pointed crowbar in various directions, we ascertained and 

 afterwards uncovered the foundations of a large enclosure, about 65 

 feet long by 52 broad, its walls of unusual thickness, those on the 

 north and south sides being 3 feet 9 inches, those on the east and 

 west 2 feet 6 inches in width, built of faced flints strongly bedded 

 in mortar. I am inclined to think that we have not hit upon the 

 villa yet, but that this is an outbuilding of some kind, perhaps a 

 barrack or stable, for the only portion of the internal area we have 

 been able to examine has disclosed a chamber of about 12 feet square, 

 without any floor but the natural clay of the soil, which appears to 

 have been undisturbed. Broken roofstones and nails, with all the 

 debris of a fallen building, destroyed apparently by fire, lay upon it, 

 and amongst the rubbish we found a whetstone, a portion of a quern 

 or hand grinding stone, some fragments of a very delicate and thin 

 glass vessel with a red coloured stain upon them, and this singular 

 object, which, at first sight, looks like a Gothic poppy-head in stone, 

 but may, for all that, for aught I know, belong to earlier times. 



I have succeeded in obtaining from Sir Francis H. Goldsmid, 

 Bart., M.P., whose ready kindness I gratefully acknowledge, full 

 permission to examine this portion of his property, to the extent of 

 one third of an acre ; and so I trust, at no distant time, to have 

 additional information to lay before the Society. 



