48 
Mediaeval Department. 
The foundation of the present archaeological collection was made 
during the excavations carried on in Salisbury a few years since, 
for the purposes of the drainage operations. Unusual opportunities 
then occurred for recovering some of the stray objects which had 
for several centuries been accumulating in the soil. Happily, 
persons were found who carefully preserved all the relics which 
were then brought to light. That portion collected by Mr. Brodie 
has been acquired for the Museum, and consists exclusively of 
mediaeval objects; the removal of the city from Old Sarum to its 
present site in the thirteenth century rendering it improbable that 
much of an earlier date would be discovered. The collection is 
made up of a large number of objects of everyday use, some of con¬ 
siderable interest, the greater portion necessarily of an ordinary 
kind, but all serving to illustrate more or less the habits of our 
forefathers. The great value of a collection of this sort being, 
that there is no question of their genuineness, also the certain 
knowledge of the locality in which they were found. 
It is probable that many other specimens, besides the fine collec¬ 
tion contributed by Mr. E. T. Stevens, are still in the hands of 
private persons, and it is hoped that some of these, though not in¬ 
trinsically valuable, may be added to the Museum, thus giving 
them a permanent resting-place, and contributing very materially 
to the value of the collection as a whole. 
CASE A A. 
The entire contents of the first division of Case A A, and 
all the specimens in Case L L, are deposited by Mr. E. T. Stevens; 
they consist principally of objects discovered in or near Salisbury. 
All the objects in the second and third divisions of Case A A, 
not otherwise indicated, are part of the Brodie collection, and all 
obtained during the excavations for the drainage in Salisbury, are 
so marked upon the cards. 
Spurs. 
The earliest form of spur, of which, however, there is no speci¬ 
men in the Museum, is the prick, a long pointed shank of metal 
projecting from the heel; this was generally in use during the 
thirteenth century. The rouelle , or wheel spur, an afterthought 
or improvement on the prick, was worn occasionally with it as 
early as the time of the Conquest. In the middle of the fifteenth 
century spurs of five or even seven inches in the shank, with 
rowels of six or eight points, were in vogue; this great length of 
shank was necessary in consequence of the mode of barbing or 
caparisoning the horse, whose sides could not be reached by a 
shorter spur. In Edward the Fourth’s reign the difficulty was 
obviated by curving the shank and lengthening the spikes of the 
