receive a plaster moulding, and also a wall, 6 ft. in thickness, of good masonry, with a shallow plinth on the outer side, extending for a considerable distance towards the south. This portion of the site yielded a quantity of pottery, from red Samian down to rude handmade ware,1 a number of coins, some of the Antonine age, but mostly of the early part of the fourth century, a few spear-heads, two engraved gems, some bronze fibulae, and other ornaments.

Another site was explored in the south-west quarter of the city, close to the filled-in fosse; and here were found the remains of a house of large size and good quality, the different floor-levels showing that it had been rebuilt more than once. The walls of at least two of the rooms had been faced with painted plaster, some of which has been recovered, and seems to show a low dado of dark marbled red, surmounted by a geometrical pattern in two or three colours on a light ground. The heating arrangements of one of these rooms are of great interest. There was at least in later Roman times-no hypocaust proper, but against the north wall was a range of flue-tiles, communicating with a horizontal flue below the floor level. The tile-flues, twenty-three in number, were set side by side without interval,2 every tile having an opening at either side, corresponding with openings in the adjoining tiles. The horizontal flue was traced to the north-east part of the house, where there were indications of an ordinary hypocaust. A remarkable feature of this house was a large block of concrete, 5 ft. in thickness and about 12 square yards in area, enclosed within the building. It is slightly trapezoidal in shape, and its purpose has not been satisfactorily determined. This site yielded less pottery than the other, but against the south wall was found a fine pipe-tile, bearing the stamp of the Sixth Legion-LEG VI V.

Built into the western part of the south wall of this house were two arch-stones, originally belonging to a massive archway of 12 ft. 6 ins.

span.

Each stone has a moulding on the outer face, and the larger of the two is 2 ft. square and 17 ins. thick at the broader end of the arch face. These stones are of great importance, as proving the origin of similar stones which have been used in the construction of post-Roman buildings in the neighbourhood, and they show that Corstopitum possessed structures of remarkable size and workmanship: a point of some moment in view of the controversy as to whether the Roman

1 This was found with other pottery of undoubtedly Roman origin, and not so as to suggest pre-Roman occupation, of which no traces have yet been discovered.

2 This arrangement is not common in the North of England, but examples have been found at Vinovia (Binchester, near Bishop Auckland), the second mansio south of Corstopitum.

stones incorporated in Hexham Abbey came from this city, as Mr. C. C. Hodges holds, or from a Roman town at Hexham, of the existence of which there is no other evidence.

Speaking generally-and it is yet too early to speak otherwise— Corstopitum seems to have been, at least for the greater part of its history, rather a civil town than a military station. Horsley mentions a square enclosure, called the Cor Bow, within the city, and this may have been the original fortress. It is hoped that the Cor Bow may be discovered at some future time; but it appears likely, that after the construction of the Great Wall, Corstopitum was partly a commissariat distributing-centre, partly a mansio on the road from Eboracum to the frontier, and partly a town to which the men of the neigbouring Wall garrisons resorted when on leave.

Not the least interesting or least important feature is the bridge which carried the great road, now commonly called Watling Street, but known as the Deor or Dere Street in early times,1 across the Tyne to Corstopitum. A great part of the foundations may still be seen in the bed of the river, and a survey of these remains has been conducted by Mr. T. E. Forster, one of our Associates, with the important result that the line laid down in the Parish Ordnance Map has been proved incorrect. The true line crosses the present river obliquely (probably there has been a considerable change in the course of the stream since Roman times), but less obliquely than was supposed; and the direction renders it probable that on reaching the northern bank the road skirted the western side of the city, and did not pass through it. The foundation of the south abutment is almost wholly in the present river, but cuts the bank at the south-east corner, where three courses are still in place. It forms a parallelogram, with a river-face of over 36 ft., composed of large stones of unknown thickness, firmly set in the almost stone-like gravel of the river bed. Traces of five water-piers have been found, and probably a sixth remains in the river, covered with stones and shingle. The piers, so far as can be ascertained, are about 29 ft. long (including the pointed end), and 15 ft. 4 in. broad on the foundation course.

Some years ago Mr. Coulson, the discoverer of the east abutment of the North Tyne Roman bridge at Cilurnum, excavated what he took to be the core of the north abutment here. Remains of this core are still to be seen in a hedge-bank, about 60 yards north of the present

1 Symeon (Hist. Dunelm. Eccl. II, xiii) mentions a grant by Guthred in A.D. 883 of all the land between Tyne and Wear "a Deorestrete usque mare orientale." In the Black Book of Hexham (A.D. 1479), "le Dere-strete" is five times mentioned as a boundary of property held by the Convent a few miles north of Corbridge.