3 
opposite bank of the river, in what used to be called the 
Bishop’s Fields. The explorations which began five-and-thirty 
years ago, have, as you know, been recently continued with 
very great advantage to the collections in this Museum and 
the cause of historical inquiry. The extent of this great 
cemetery on the west bank of the Ouse cannot easily be defined. 
It certainly reached from the river as far as the old railway 
lines towards the north, and extended in length for the greater 
part of a mile from the city walls, whilst beyond this dis¬ 
tance graves have been discovered. They were found, for 
instance, on the slope of the hill fronting the Gas Works. I 
told you in a recent paper that the chief approach to this great 
burial ground seems to have been by a carefully prepared road 
running from close to the baths, which were partly on the site 
of the present railway station, towards the north. It was a 
carefully constructed cart-road, able to bear very heavy weights. 
On either side of this road, just across the moat of the city 
wall, graves were found in profusion, but chiefly those of 
women and children, and close to the way were several large 
wrought stones, placed there as if for coffin rests. After this 
the interments spread far and wide in vast numbers. The 
excavations, as you know, have been irregularly made; still I 
cannot be under the mark in stating that the remains of at 
least 2,000 persons must have been disturbed. It was evident 
also that the ground had been used as a cemetery for a very 
long period. 
It is, I believe, generally allowed by scholars that the 
burning of the bodies of the dead was an early method of 
sepulture among the Homans. In a particular part of this 
large cemetery running northwards for about a quarter of a 
mile from a point a little to the north of Mr. Close’s late house, 
we came upon a distinct portion in which none but burnt 
bodies were laid. How far this extended towards the west we 
cannot tell, as we were unable to trace it, but towards the east 
it ended in a line so straight that this could only have been 
preserved by some fence or hedge on the surface. There were 
no traces of a wall. The sepulchral urns found in this inclosure 
were not only numerous, but of a comparatively high style of 
