By the Rev. G. S. Master. 



245 



with its stripes laid in the contrary direction. In the centre o£ the 

 apartment d was a circular design like a star, its rays of three 

 colours — red, white, and yellow, radiating from the centre to the 

 circumference, where they were interrupted hy segments of smaller 

 circles in grey stone. The large hall p, measuring internally 46ft. 

 by 20ft., was heated throughout by flues, as shown in the plan, the 

 central one 2ft., the lateral ones from 9in. to 12in. wide, the pilae 

 supporting the floor being solid constructions of flint and chalk. 

 The pavement, which had fallen in by the subsidence of the flues, 

 was of an elaborate character, and of varied patterns, divided into 

 squares and circles by interlaced borders, but not, as far as I know, 

 containing any figures. It had an outer border of a coarser kind. 

 In the furnace-room g a stag's horn and a small metal duck were 

 found. These discoveries were then considered final. 



It was in the summer of 1871 that, in fencing a newly-made 

 plantation, I struck accidentally upon another foundation, part of 

 the chamber marked X upon the plan, and from that time until 

 October, 1873, when the excavations I had made were necessarily 

 filled in, was engaged at intervals in the investigation of further 

 portions of this important villa. I was unsuccessful in tracing, with 

 the help of a light tubular crowbar, made for the purpose, any 

 connecting walls between the excavations of 1845 and my own — ■ 

 and am therefore inclined to think that they appertained to two 

 separate dwellings ; and further, that this place, eight miles distant 

 from Sorbiodunum, was probably a Roman station — the first on a 

 road from that town to Clausentum, the nearest seaport. 



Reverting to the ground-plan. The group of small chambers 

 marked I to n were baths, and their appliances, the floors of u and k 

 being sunk to the depth of 3ft. Their walls, of flint with sandstone 

 quoins, approached to within Gin. of the surface of the ground, and 

 from their uniform level suggested the probability of having sup- 

 ported a timber superstructure. The furnace-room I, had a floor of 

 beaten chalk, sloping basin-wise to the fire-place i, and in the 

 thickness of either pier a narrow seat for an attendant slave. The 

 arch of the fire-place had fallen in. The curved wall of the steam 

 bath j showed the position of the stool upon which the bather sat,, 



