Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 1.djvu/87

Rh bronze fibula and a patera of the well-known red Roman pottery, with the ivy-leaf pattern on the rim.

These sepulchral interments, although so contiguous to each other, would appear to belong to different times. The urns are unquestionably Roman, and their contents warrant their being referred to the Romano-British epoch, but the skeletons would appear to indicate a burial of a later period.

Mr. Martin also contributed a sketch of the excavations which uncovered part of the remains of the ancient pier of Ramsgate, with the depth in feet, the nature of the soil, the specimens of coins, and other objects found.

At the depth of from seven to eight feet, coins of the Henrys and Edwards were met with; three or four feet lower, large flints and bricks (presumed to be Roman); at the depth of from sixteen to twenty feet, piles of wood sunk in the solid chalk were discovered, and among them Roman coins, in small brass, of the Constantine family.

Mr. C. R. Smith informed the Committee that in consequence of a communication from Mr. W. Bland, of Hartlip, in Kent, he (Mr. S.) had visited the village of Stowting, in the same county, and inspected some ancient remains recently discovered in cutting a new road up the hill leading towards the common.

They consist of long swords, spears, and javelin-heads, knives, and bosses of shields, of iron; circular gilt brooches, set with coloured glass and vitrified pastes; buckles of bronze, silvered; beads of glass, amber, and coloured clay; a thin copper basin, and three coins, of Pius, Plautilla, and Valens. These objects were found deposited by the sides of about thirty skeletons, at from two to four feet deep, in the chalk of which the hill is composed. The graves in which the skeletons were found were filled in with mould. One of the bosses, like a specimen noticed in Douglas's Nenia Britannica, is ornamented on the top with a thin plate of silver, and the tops of the nails or rivets, which fastened the boss to the shield, are also silvered.

Since Mr. Smith's visit, an urn has been found and some other objects, of the whole of which careful drawings will be made by the Rev. Frederick Wrench, who has promised to forward them, as soon as the excavations are completed, for the inspection of the Committee.

The village of Stowting is situated in a secluded nook in the chalk hills called the Back-Bone of Kent, about two miles from Lyminge, and seven from Folkstone.

In a field below the hill where the antiquities before mentioned were discovered, two skeletons were dug up, many years since, together with iron weapons; and in a field called Ten-acre Field, some hundreds of large brass Roman coins were ploughed up. Five of these, now in the possession of Mr. Andrews, the proprietor of the field, are of Hadrianus, Aurelius, Faustina Junior, Commodus, and Severus. Coins are often found in the adjacent fields, and in the village. Two small brass coins of Carausius and Licinius, picked up in a locality termed the Market-place, are in the possession of the Rev. F. Wrench. On the hills are barrows, some of which seem to have been partially excavated.

Mr. John G. Waller made three communications. The first related to the state of the monument of Brian Rocliff, in Cowthorpe church, twelve miles distant from York. Mr. Waller observes, "The monument to which I allude is one of peculiar interest. It records the founder and builder of the church, as the inscription states, fundator et constructor hujus ecclesiæ tocius operis usque ad consummacionem. It is fortunate that this curious portion of the legend yet remains, or did at the time I visited the church, nearly four years since. The founder is represented