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Correspondence of Sylvanus Urban.

[Correspondents are requested to append their Addresses, not, unless agreeable, for publication, but in order that a copy of the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE containing their Communications may be forwarded to them.]

THE EXCAVATIONS AT WROXETER.

MR. URBAN,-In the last Number of your Magazine I briefly drew the attention of your readers to the state of the excavations at Wroxeter, a subject which has been fully brought before the public in your columns and elsewhere by Mr. Wright, to whom the initiation of the enterprise is owing; and who has recorded, with a view to distinct and circumstantial publication, the discoveries hitherto made. I do not therefore propose, in now addressing you, to do more than attempt to convey my own impression of these discoveries, the result of a day's visit to Wroxeter, with a view to urge the continuation of the researches with a high hand, and with as little intermission as possible.

Such a course is perfectly warranted by the results hitherto achieved, and by the discoveries which must inevitably follow a prosecution of the excavations. A considerable sum of money will be needed, more apparently than has been calculated; but the returns of the expenditure will be a gain to our archæology and history of a novel and important kind; and in such a case money should not be weighed too nicely, and every effort should be made to raise funds, both by continued private subscriptions and by grants from the Government. It would be a discredit to the liberality and intelligence of the country and a slur upon its patriotism, if the Committee of Management, after doing so much, be not encouraged to do much more.

It is the first time that a Roman town in England has been so far opened to daylight. Excavations hitherto made have been chiefly confined to military stations or castra, such as those in the south of England, and upon the line of the great Roman Wall. These have added considerably to our knowledge of Roman military life in the permanent camp; but Uriconium bears little relation to fortified posts. It was a town of the widest extent, or city rather; and would appear to have been at least equal in importance to Londinium, to Camulodunum, and to Verulamium; but, unlike these towns, is not mentioned in history, and its very name is unknown except in the Itinerary of Antoninus. The mystery in which it is enveloped is the more striking when its importance is being shewn by the revelations made upon its site.

In former times, in the fields adjoining the spot where the exca

vations have now been made, many rich tessellated pavements have been laid open by the plough. Shafts of columns, capitals, and squared stones of large size indicated that the buildings-of which, doubtless, the foundations yet remain buried-were important public edifices, probably temples; and the recent discoveries give every reason to believe, from the comparatively perfect state in which the remains have been preserved, that the plan of the town might be ascertained, and its public edifices and private dwellings traced with more certainty than has ever yet been done in similar excavations made in this country.

On entering the enclosed site of the excavations, the visitor is struck with the novel and impressive sight before and below him. A corner of the shroud of dense earth is removed; and he has a clear insight into a small portion of the buried city. Close on his right are the foundations of what Mr. Wright considers, with good reason, may have been a market-place. Though close to other buildings on three sides, it is in itself clearly a separate edifice. It is roughly paved and strongly walled, and, at the back, appears to have been supported by buttresses: to this suggestion the attention of the architectural antiquary is directed; and a comparison may be made with the more perfect buttresses of that wonderful piece of military architecture at Jublains in France, of which I have endeavoured to give some notion in the third volume of my Collectanea Antiqua. Enormous squared stones still retain their original position at the entrance, and shew the wear from long and daily ingress and egress of the population of Roman Wroxeter.

On the left, the first object that attracts the attention is the workshop of a smith, with its blast-furnace, the stand for the anvil, and other accessories to that useful calling. From objects found in the shop, Mr. Wright concludes that the occupation of the smith was rather restricted to the fabrication of works belonging to the lighter branches of the business. Further in advance the eye surveys the foundations of a building of great solidity and extent; and is enabled to dissect and understand the admirable system upon which the Roman architect succeeded in defying the effects of the cold and foggy climate of Britain, in counteracting the rigours of its long and cruel winters, and in accommodating the inconveniences of the rude north to the natives of the mild and sunny Italy, and of those other southern countries which supplied so large a portion of the population of Roman Britain. The subterranean arrangements, whereby heat was distributed in a uniform degree to all parts of the house, can here be studied with the greatest advantage, and understood with perfect ease. our modern architects and house-builders who roast us in the summer and freeze us in the winter, and who make our dwellings in other respects so inconvenient, should come and learn. Nearly all the rooms of this great building were heated by hypocausts, the floors being laid

upon numerous pillars of square tiles, upon the tops of which were laid larger and broader tiles, and upon these a flooring of thick concrete. Alleys ran through these substructions to admit easy ingress for the purpose of regulating the heat; and the heated air was carried up the sides of the rooms through oblong hollow tiles, so that the whole of the apartments were thoroughly warmed, and apparently with trifling cost and labour. In addition to these means to ensure a warm temperature, double external walls were provided; which also served another purpose, that of excluding the noise and bustle of out-door life, a common source of annoyance in large and populous towns.

Baths, the indispensable adjunct to the conveniences of the Roman dwelling-house, are, of course, to be seen at Wroxeter. But two rather uncommon features in Roman domestic architecture in Britain occur in the large villa. The one is the coloured tessellated work upon the walls ; the other the inscriptions upon the wall-paintings in another apartment. The former, we know, was not unusual among the luxuries of the villas of the wealthy, but I had never before met with an example; the latter shews that the pictorial decorations of the rooms were of a very superior kind. The inscriptions (destroyed by the stick or cane of a walking gentleman almost as soon as they were uncovered) may have been invocations to deities or genii, or the names of personages represented.

The fine fragment of wall which heretofore was the chief conspicuous vestige of Uriconium, and respecting which, as of the Jewry wall at Leicester, and of the Mint wall at Lincoln, such conflicting opinions have prevailed, can now be well understood. The excavations have approached, on the south, to within a few yards of this lofty mass of masonry; and it can now be seen that it formed part of the northern wall of the great villa. Further researches will complete the groundplan, and shew, probably, that one of the doorways to the villa was where the wide opening in the high wall seems to indicate its position.

The inscriptions found at Wroxeter, many years since, are those of soldiers of the twentieth and fourteenth legions, and of a Thracian cohort; with one or two of civilians. The present excavations have added another. In this two soldiers are recorded; the one to whose memory the stone was set up, the other the heir or executor of the will of the deceased. It is unfortunately much defaced, but can be read with tolerable certainty, except the last two lines, which appear to be pentameter verses. It is not likely that the legions or cohorts to which these soldiers belonged were ever permanently stationed at Uriconium. The quarters of the twentieth legion were at Deva (Chester). The fourteenth legion was, for a long period, in Germany. Two cohorts of the Thracians were in Britain in the time of Trajan, and probably subsequently. They are traced in monuments found in Gloucestershire, as well as at

Wroxeter, all of which are sepulchral. These Thracians, and probably the soldiers of the twentieth and fourteenth legions buried at Uriconium, may be considered to have been retired veterans to whom the rights of Roman citizens had been granted. I cannot here venture to particularize any of the numerous and interesting miscellaneous remains from the late excavations; they will soon require, apparently, more room than the Shrewsbury Museum will be able to afford.

With so many inducements to prosecute the excavations, I repeat, it would be a discredit to the good taste and patriotism of the country and of the Government, if the explorations are not vigorously prosecuted. As yet, when the extent of the area is compared with the space laid open, the work can only be said to have commenced. It has been carried on, however, most successfully, and the results obtained are quite commensurate with the expenditure. But much larger sums are wanted; thousands must be contemplated where hundreds only have as yet been calculated on: for the researches are really of national importance, and are watched with interest by continental antiquaries as well as by those of England. It is to be lamented that the numerous archæological societies have never kept in mind the grand principle upon which they were originated; it was the main principle, indeed, upon which they based, and which in the early days of the archæological movement was the chief watchword; it was to omit no opportunity of impressing upon the Government the claims of our national antiquities: but as yet we have not noticed one single petition or address from any one society on behalf of the Wroxeter excavations, although some have made good capital out of them. This is not as it should be ; and such chronic apathy in associated bodies should induce every true lover of his country's antiquities and history to use every possible interest with Members of Parliament, for it is the Government that can help, and no doubt would help, if urgently solicited.-I am, &c., C. ROACH SMITH.

Strood, Kent, Oct. 10, 1862.

THE KNOWE OF SAVEROUGH.

MR. URBAN,-In compliance with your request, I now forward to you an account of my recent discoveries at the "Knowe of Saverough," in Orkney.—I am, &c.

Ingleborough, Lancaster, Oct. 13.

JAMES FARRER.

THE Knowe is close to the sea, and only a few feet above high water-mark. It is on the property of the Earl of Zetland, and about half a mile from the small "town" of Birsay, in the west mainland of Orkney. Small fragments of bone have, it is said, occasionally been observed protruding from the ground, and some years

ago an iron or bronze spear-head was picked up by a child on the top of the Knowe. It is stated that the exact counterpart of this weapon was found many years previously sticking in a skull about a mile to the north-west of the Knowe. The body had been interred near the beach, and was only discovered in consequence of part of the land being washed away by the sea. It is not easy to define the original limits of the Knowe, since its shape is liable to alteration from the frequent shifting of the sand. The diameter may perhaps be estimated at 168 feet, and its greatest height at from 14 to 16 ft. The excavations, which were commenced on July 31, 1862, resulted in the discovery of many human skeletons more or less perfect, and at depths below the present surface, varying from 2 to 8 or 10 ft. Those which were nearest to the top of the Knowe were the most decayed, but owing to the shifting of the sand previously alluded to, it is impossible to say what might have been the depths of the graves when the bodies were interred. Not a vestige of any clothing was discovered. All the bodies had been laid in kists, but in every instance these were broken, owing probably to the weight of superincumbent sand during a long period of time. The sand was only slightly discoloured, but in some instances the decomposed fibrous roots of grasses were found amongst the bones of the skeletons-a circumstance justifying the inference that those kists had been originally constructed on the surface of the ground, and that the sand had afterwards been piled up over them. The heads of all the skeletons faced the north-west, with exception of two, Nos. 8 and 10, which were turned to the north. There were flagstones underneath the bodies only in a few instances. The various skeletons are numbered in this description according to the order in which they were found.

No. 1. The head slightly inclined, and mouth open, the body laid flat, with the arms by its side. The left hand rested on a small flat stone. The vertebræ of the back appeared to be forced up between the ribs, but the body did not appear to have been disturbed since its original interment. Sand and the decayed roots of grasses filled up the interstices between the ribs. No. 2. This skull (which is now in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries at Edinburgh) has a circular orifice at the back of the head, as if from a wound by an arrow or some pointed instrument. At the head of the skeleton No. 2, on the right, was a clay-baked urn, filled up with sand. It was 5 in. high, 5 in diameter, 16 in. in circumference at the top, and 3 in. in diameter at the bottom. It is now with the skull in the Museum at Edinburgh. No. 2 is the skull of a male of about thirty-five years. It is remarkable for its small size and very short round form, being eminently brachycephalic. The face is short and very broad; the lower jaw large, broad, and angular, and has the peculiarity of a disproportionately small chin. The teeth are flatly eroded, as in No. 8.

No. 3. This skull was above No. 2. No teeth were found. It was less well preserved than No. 2, and the size of the skeleton could not be ascertained.

No. 4 was also much decayed: it was deposited above, and not far from, No. 1. No. 5 only some fragments of skull and bones.

No. 6. The legs of this skeleton were uppermost, and within 2 ft. of the surface; they were doubled up over the ribs. A large stone was laid on the skeleton, the skull of which was broken in removing. It was not far from No. 2. The kiststones were displaced, and the body appeared to have been hastily interred.

No. 7. Remains of two bodies, both very near the surface: they were much decayed; the bones were intermixed, and these also appeared to have been interred in a very hurried manner. It is possible that much of the sand originally covering these graves has been blown away.

No. 8. This skeleton was laid flat, and was the most perfect of any that were found; the feet only were missing.

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