By the Bev G. S. Master. 



247 



and secondary flues (marked x and xx), respectively 4ft and 3ft. in 

 depth, constructed between and within substantial and solid pilse of 

 flint and chalk. Upon these were lying several large fragments of 

 pavement (marked xxx), the tesserae lin. square, arranged in 

 parallel bands of red, white, and grey ; and portions of a finer centre, 

 the tessera} of which were iin. square, had fallen in ruin to the 

 bottom of the flues. These were covered over with large pieces of 

 Portland stone, those at x x remaining in situ, while the others had 

 been battered down by the fall of the roof and walls. The arch of 

 the prefurnium had collapsed, but its sides were perfect, constructed 

 of thick and large tiles. From the position of this chamber, the 

 unusual thickness of its walls, its southern arcade of piers — a portion 

 of the tiled passage between two of them remaining at x x x x — I 

 am led to the conclusion that it formed the entrance-hall, or principal 

 reception-room of the villa ; and, as it was the first to be discovered, 

 so was the most important portion of the whole. 



A second series of baths was discovered at y. Here were two 

 hypocausts in very perfect preservation, the suspensura in both in- 

 stances destroyed. The chamber yy contained fourteen pillars of 

 tiles, and communicated, by three well-turned arches, with that 

 marked y y y, in which the sustaining piers were of flint and chalk. 

 The cisterns y were constructed of tiles, and lined with salmon- 

 coloured concrete. 



At z a perfect piece of tesselated pavement, about 4ft. square, was 

 successfully exhumed entire, and is now in my possession. It 

 formed the centre of a larger floor, the outer part of which was 

 composed of forty rows each way of inch-square stone tesserae. 

 The finer portion, of Jin. tesserae, red, white, grey, and black, repre- 

 sents a double-handled urn or cup, surrounded by a circular twisted 

 guilloche border, within a square of the same design. The walls of 

 this chamber could not be defined. 



The " Villa Rustica," as I presume to call it, was a large oblong 

 enclosure, built askew from the lines of the main building, and 

 measured internally 107ft. by 32ft. Its walls, 2|ft. in thickness, 

 were strongly constructed of flint with coigns of red sandstone. Its 

 western end was occupied by a long chamber or corridor, perhaps 



