Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/51

Rh the modern appropriation of the ground, be more readily imagined by an examination of the different plans annexed, it will be unnecessary to dwell at greater length upon this part of the subject.

I see no reason to doubt the accuracy of the conjecture that two of the buildings recently discovered were residences of persons of consequence in the immediate neighbourhood of an important station. The extent and order of the plans upon which they were built, would lead to the supposition that they were mansions of no common character. Both houses had their principal fronts facing the east, and, in both instances, the wings advance before the centre, but more boldly in the larger of the two. As the description I am about to give will, perhaps, be more clear by the examination of each separately, I will limit my attention to the one standing nearest to the village of Ickleton, about a quarter of a mile southward of the Church—the remains of which were brought to light early in August of the last year. It measures about 100 feet in length; the extent of the wings is 68 feet, and their width 25 feet, projecting 15 feet from the centre or body of the house. Attached to the south-west angle by a wall of inconsiderable length, in a slant direction, was a building the foundation of which measures 53 feet by 24 feet, unequally divided into three parts by other foundation walls, the largest nearly 19 feet in width in the centre. The west side of the house must have presented a very irregular appearance in elevation. The hypocaust is in the centre, 16 feet square on the inside, partly within the walls of the house, and jutting out considerably beyond their boundary, but falling short of the wings, which are narrower on this side than in front. The western- most extremity of the south wing, 12 feet square within, contained another hypocaust; but, at the time of the destruction of the building, these underground portions suffered so excessively, that only a fragment here and there escaped removal, so that the regular order in which the brick piers were originally placed cannot now be ascertained. This smaller hypocaust appears to have been constructed for the communication of heat to the apartments at the south-west angle, the flue being carried through the oblique wall whereby they are connected with the main building. All the ground-floors of the house were on one level, 16 to 18 inches below the soil, and 12 inches below the present summit of the walls. The floor of the hypocausts is little more than 2 feet lower than the floor of the house, nearly the full depth to which the foundations of all the walls are carried. In no instance is any additional substance given to the walls, for the sake of a broader basement; the tallest fragment does not exceed 3 feet 6 inches in height, and it is of equal thickness throughout. It should be observed that nearly the whole of the work now seen was intended to remain buried in the ground, and that, if the walls above were reduced, the diminution took place on a higher level. The ground, to a considerable extent, slopes away from the village before named, both towards the east and south; the descent is gradual and regular, and it has been proved that the whole area occupied by the building was excavated to one level depth, in order to receive the foundations; and such was its solidity, that nothing, in addition to the thickness of the walls, as already observed, was deemed necessary for their permanent