Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/150

 ^rcf)ncologfcnI Untdligence. Cambridge Antiquarian Society. — Feb. 18, 1850. The Master of Jesus College, President, in the Chair. Several presents were received, including a "gypcyere," found at Bartlow, and a beautiful figure of the Virgin, which once formed part of a processional cross, found at Chesterford ; both given to the Society by Charles Thurnall, Esq., of Duxford, A stone celt, or hammer, was exhi- bited, of the usual form, remarkable for its size (length IO5 inches, breadth 5 inches, thickness 3i inches). It is formed of very hard stone, and was found in the fens below Burwell, and purchased by the Society. A paper by Mr. Albert Way, " On a Seal of the Hundred of Staploe, Cambridgeshire, now preserved in the Museum of Mr. Whincopp, at Woodbridge, with notices of seals used to authenticate the passes of labourers, &c., when leaving their usual place of residence, in accordance with Stat. 12 Rich. II., 1388," was read. By this statute it was enacted that no servant, labourer, beggar, nor vagabond, male or female, should depart at the close of his term of service out of the hundred, rape, or wapentake where he was dwelling, in order to take service or dwell else- where, or on pretence of distant pilgrimage, unless provided with a letter- patent, containing the cause of his journey, and the time of his return, if his absence were temporary. This pass was ordered to be sealed with the king's seal, assigned for that intent, and deposited in the hands of some proper person {probi hominis) in the hundi'ed, rape, city, or borough. Of such seals few are known to exist, and their intention had not hitherto been connected with the statute in question, which was passed at the Par- liament of Cambridge, and might thus be viewed by the Society as of greater local interest. The example laid before the Society bears the inscription ordered by the statute, viz., on the verge — S : COM : CANTE- BRYGG : Sigillum Comitatus Cantehrvggensis ; and in the centre, trans- versely, the word — STAPYLHO, It obviously refers to the hundred now called Staploe or Staplowe, being the seal appropriated to that local district. Mr. Way expressed his obligation to the kind courtesy of Mr. Cooper, whose extensive researches had thrown so much light upon the history of the town of Cambridge, and by his ready assistance the facts stated had been ascer- tained. He noticed a similar seal in the British Museum used for the hundred of South Erpingham. Norfolk, inscribed — S : REGIS : IN : COMIT : NORFF :— and across the centre,— HUNDR. DE SOUTHERPYNGHAM. A third is represented in the " Reliquiae Galeana^," (PI. iii.) which bears the name of the county of Cambridge, but that of the hundred is difHcult to decyphcr : Mr. Cooper had read it — HIRIMYNGFOR, which would connect it with the hundred of Armingford or Ermingford. Mr. C. C. Barington made a communication on the British and Roman roads which passed through Cambridgeshire, viz. — 1. TheVia Devana, lead- ing from Colchester to Chester ; 2. The Ahcman Street, extending from the coast of Norfolk, beyond Lynn, to Cirencester and the West of England ; both of which passed through Cambridge itself: — and, 3. The Iknield Street, which entered the county at Royston and passed by Ickleton and Newmarket ; 4. The Ermyn Street, passing by Stamford, Huntingdon, Wimpolc and Royston ; 5. Wliat may be named the Fen Road, which went through the Fens by Downham, March, Whittlesea, and Peterborough,