Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/165

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ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE.
117

ment, within a few inches of it. The cement in which the pavement was set is extremely fragile, and probably the constant action of moisture and drought which continued for so long a period in the hollow between the two lands, materially tended to render it so. At a few yards distance, towards the east, fragments of a similar pavement were dug up, of which I have sent specimens for inspection. These were found much better cemented together than the former, owing perhaps to their having been in a drier situation, under one of the lands. The tesserae of one specimen are much smaller than any of the rest. Whether the white and blue tes- saræ are composed of natural stone or artificial, I cannot pretend to deter- mine; the red ones evidently are bits of brick. If they are natural, the white may be oolite, and the blue, probably, are has. If artificial, the white may have been made of either macerated oolite, or of a species of fuller's earth called "walker's clay[1]," which is found in some places in this county; but I am at a loss to guess of what material the blue may have been made, unless it were macerated has.

"There were red sand-stone foundations of a building at the spot, which appeared to have been of considerable extent, but we did not discover any Roman bricks. A small piece of the transparent talc (said to be the lapis specularis of the Romans) was found amongst these remains, but whether, as it has been conjectured, it was used in the windows of the building in question in the same manner as we now use glass, I cannot pretend to decide. I am informed that at a short distance from these foundations a layer of human bones, in a state of crumbling decay, was discovered. Various relics, such as iron spear-heads, a fibula, key, bronze pins, fragments of the scored with lines, and of pottery of various kinds, usually found near sites of Roman occupation, including a portion of "Samian" ware, ornamented in relief, were found near these remains[2]. Amongst the earthenware, may be noticed a fragment of one of those singular fiat vessels, formed of whitish clay, with a broad recurved margin, and a spout, frequently discovered with Roman remains[3] ; also red pottery ornamented with chevrons, circles, and dots of white clay, in relief. A portion of a small vessel of red ware was found, resembling one preserved in the Museum at "Worcester, which was found in one of the cists in the Roman burial-ground at Kempsey, and is figured in my " Antiquities of Worcester- shire[4]." Another specimen, in my possession, was found with Roman re- mains during the formation of the Severn navigation lock, at Diglis, near Worcester. An ornamental bronze pin, double-pointed, like the nock of an arrow, and perforated at the other extremity, was foimd in the eaith where the pavement lay[5]. A bronze pin was found amongst Roman relics,

  1. ↑ "A walker, (Walcher, Dutch,) a fuller."—Hailey's Dict.
  2. ↑ A considerable number of these remains, with specimens of the tessellated pavement, were kindly sent by the Rev.William Lea, of Droitwich, and Mr. Allies.
  3. ↑ These vessels are usually marked with a stamp near the spout. Representations of some found in London may be found in the Archæologia, vol. viii. pi. x., vol. xii. pi. li.
  4. ↑ Plate ii. fig. 20. p. 17.
  5. ↑ This may possibly have been the acus of some kind of fibula. The pin found at
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