Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/54

26 given to it by the workmen upon the disclosure of its complete figure. Without adopting this notion, or hazarding too strong an opinion as to what might have been the precise use of the building in question, there can be little doubt that it was designed for some public purpose. It stood about 100 yards from the first mentioned villa, and had two walls extending from its eastern side, one in the centre, the other being an elongation of the north end of the structure. Nothing exists to show that this was anything more than an enclosed space of open ground; if it were, it is singular that all traces leading to a different conclusion should have disappeared, so much being left of what is proved to have been a building of regular figure, with exact internal arrangement. But we must accept the remains in the condition in which we find them. As mere foundations, they exhibit nothing more than the solid basement which upheld the edifice, every trace of which is gone, and nothing else was found buried in the earth within or around the walls applicable to any part of the superstructure. The dimensions within the walls, which are 3 feet in thickness, are 78 feet by 36 feet. It enclosed two ranges of pillars 7 feet distant from the blank walls, designed, it would seem, for the support of the floor, the room over having been undivided. This is probable from the slenderness of the pillars and their sustaining basements, which are little more than 3 feet square, of rough flint-work, having tie-walls connected with those of the exterior; and, in one instance, at the north end, the tie is carried from pillar to pillar across the centre. There are seven detached piers on either hand; upon three towards the east, and upon four on the opposite side, are still to be seen the blocks of stone upon which the pillars were deposited; these are nearly 2 feet square, each formed of a single block of Ketton stone. The design presents no particular merit, and the whole is rendered more irregular by the partial manner in which the plinth blocks are uniformly edged on two of the sides. The average height of these remains corresponds with that of those before described. The building, on being reduced to ruins, was left to lie encumbered and overspread with earth and rubbish, screening the remnants from further ravage, and they have remained undisturbed in the condition in which they were left to the present time."

We cannot close these memorials of the successful labours of Mr. Neville, which have contributed so largely to the extension of Archaeological science, and added to the treasures of his instructive Museum at Audley End, without the renewal of grateful acknowledgment for his generous assistance on the present occasion. Our cordial thanks are also due to his zealous and obliging coadjutor in these pursuits, Mr. John Lane Oldham, to whose friendly aid we have been frequently indebted in the endeavour to record the discoveries of which he had been a daily witness.