173 
Ordinary Meeting, April 1 8th, 1876. 
Edward Schunck, Pli.D., F.KS., President, in the Chair. 
“Note on a Church Bell, at North Wooton, Somersetshire, 
dated A.D. 1265, in Arabic Numerals, and on a MS. dated 
A.D. 1276, in which they are freely used,” by William E, 
A. Axon, M.K.S.L., &c. 
The date at which Arabic numerals were introduced into 
this country has been a matter of considerable doubt and 
discussion. There are very few to be found upon our monu- 
ments and public buildings earlier than the 16th century. 
Dates have frequently been cited, such as 1090, 1102, a.nd 
so forth, but closer examination has proved that they have 
been misread. There is a doubtful date which may be 1417 
given in the Archseological Journal, Vol. YI, p. 291. Heath- 
field church contains the date 1445, and Lych-gate, at Bray. 
Berkshire, is dated 1448. In documents the Arabic nume- 
rals are only occasionally met with in England in the 
fifteenth century, and only two examples are known belong- 
ing to the fourteenth century. Mabillon, after examining 
six thousand European MSS., found no earlier instance of 
the use of these figures than one of 1855, in the hand- 
writing of Petrarch. Having written an article on the 
history of the Arabic numerals in the Companion to the 
Almanac for 1875, in which these dates were given, I re- 
ceived from Mr F. W. Dunkerton, an interesting rubbing 
of a bell inscription, which I now exhibit. The bell is in 
the church of North Wootton, near Wells, in Somersetshire, 
