Map, and in every instance confirming the desirability of the adoption of this method of verification. Castlesteads, with its mansion built within the site of the Roman station, proved a great attraction. The collection of objects found on the spot is of unusual interest. Old Wall, Bleatarn, and Drawdykes Castle successively occupied attention, and Stanwix was then reached. Crossing the Eden to Carlisle, the Roman collection at Tullie House claimed examination during the afternoon, and in the evening the united Societies dined together under the presidency of the Right Rev. the Bishop of Barrow-in-Furness. The seventh and last day was devoted to the journey from Carlisle, by Kirkandrews, Burgh-upon-Sands and Drumburgh, to Bowness-on-Solway, the western terminus of the wall and its fosse; and thence the party returned to Carlisle to disperse severally. 1906 20 Proceedings of the Association. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21ST, 1906. C. J. WILLIAMS, ESQ., IN THE CHAIR. The following Associates were duly elected. Signor J. Berardi, Buenos Ayres. R. W. Crowther, Esq., F. R. G.S., Dunwood House, Church Street, J. A. H. Green, Esq., Hartland, The Park, Nottingham. J. H. Johnston, Esq., M.D., 28, Forest Road, Nottingham. M. J. Preston, Esq., 48, The Ropewalk, Nottingham. J. F. Spaulding, Esq., Villa Road, Nottingham. Miss E. M. Thomson, Pioneer Club, 5, Grafton Street, Picca- John Thorpe, Esq., Brantwood, Harlaxton Drive, Nottingham. The Public Library, Melbourne, care of The Agent-General for The Worcester Free Public Library, Mass., U.S.A., care of Messrs. Mr. R. H. Forster exhibited numerous photographs of the excavations recently conducted at Corstopitum, illustrating various points referred to in the Note on p. 202 of the present volume. Mr. T. S. Bush exhibited some fragments of earthenware from the neighbourhood of Bath, which were pronounced to be English ware of the fourteenth century, or possibly later. A collection of Neolithic flint implements, chiefly from Sussex, gathered during the summer, was exhibited by Mr. J. G. N. Clift. The chief items were a series of nine scrapers neatly chipped to a semicircular cutting edge; a small knife, the cutting edge of which had every appearance of grinding; an adze-shaped implement from Cissbury, and two or three partly-worked spear- and arrow-heads, one example being interesting, as there was no apparent reason for its being discarded. Mr. R. H. Forster then read a Paper by Mr. R. Oliver Heslop, M.A., F.S.A., Honorary Correspondent of the Association, on "The Roman Wall Pilgrimage of 1906," which is printed at p. 269. To illustrate the paper, Mr. Forster showed a large series of photographs of the remains of the Wall, and particularly of the stations of Cilurnum, Borcovicus, Aesica, and Amboglanna. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12TH, 1906. C. H. COMPTON, ESQ., VICE-PRESIDENT, IN THE CHAIR. Mr. E. G. Tooker read a paper on "Waltham Abbey: its Architecture and Early History," which was illustrated by a fine series of lanternslides, showing views not only of Waltham and the details of its architecture, but also of similar work at Durham, Lindisfarne, and Dunfermline. Mr. Tooker combatted the view of the late Professor Freeman, that in the existing structure at Waltham we have the nave of Harold's church, and supported the theory which ascribes the present building to Matilda, daughter of Malcolm Canmore and wife of Henry I, to whom Waltham was granted by her husband. In the discussion which followed, Mr. Clift was inclined to put the date of the building as late as about 1120, but Mr. Tooker argued in favour of an earlier date. Mr. Forster referred to the connection between Waltham and Durham, especially through Prior Turgot, who was a friend of St. Margaret, Matilda's mother, and probably of Matilda herself. In 1107 he became Bishop of St. Andrews, and the resemblance of Dunfermline to Durham and Waltham may be due to his influence. Archaeological notes. EXCAVATIONS AT HOLM CULTRAM ABBEY, CUMBERLAND. ON p. 139 of the present Volume there appears a note by the Rev. W. Baxter, M.A., Rector of Holm Cultram, on discoveries recently made. in connection with the Abbey. Mr. Baxter has been kind enough to send us the following further information. It will be remembered that excavations at Holm Cultram Abbey in February last, eastward of the existing church, revealed a doorway of Early English design, a portion of the old northern wall, and adjoining it immediately west of the doorway a large foundation stone, on which evidently a base of the tower rested. It was conjectured that the doorway led into the Chapter-house, though local tradition was against the theory, and that the base represented the extreme north-eastern end of the tower. On these suppositions nave, crossing, and transepts were thrown back west of a line drawn transversely from this base. Further excavations in October have, however, disposed of this theory, and have clearly established the position of the tower absolutely as an integral part of the building; while its position relatively to nave and transept on the one side, and the eastern limb of the church on the other, has been determined with a certain degree of exactitude. Immediately east of the doorway the true north-eastern base of the tower has been unearthed at a point 11 ft. 3 in. from the previous base, and in exact line with it. Fortunately, enough masonry remains to convey a fairly accurate impression of the strength of the original bases, which would presumably be built after one design, with close correspondence as regards size, thickness, and supporting pillars, though rigid uniformity might not be preserved in details of moulding and ornamentation. The length of the discovered base is 13 ft. 6 in., and the breadth, including thickness of wall, would be approximately 9 ft. The foundation course is a large stone slab, and its projecting edges form a step, of which more anon. The blocks above it, sloping gently upwards, are carefully moulded at the edges, and are firmly bound with mortar and chippings of oyster-shell. Some shells were found imbedded in their entirety in the mortar. This curious circumstance, carrying us back to thirteenth-century times, gives rise to interesting conjectures as to the possibility of the existence of oysterbeds at some easily-accessible point on the western coast; and it draws our attention to an article of diet which had its place, possibly on high occasions, in the monastic bill of fare. In conjunction with the pier resting on this base, there have been three-if not more-engaged shafts. Two broken contiguous shafts are still standing on the pier-base; and at a distance from them, in singular isolation at a point higher up in the base, is the base of another. So much for the structure. As regards measurements, the distance between the north-eastern and north-western bases is 11 ft. 3 in., as already indicated, and so the extreme length of the space covered by the tower, reckoning each base at 13 ft. 9 in., will be approximately 38 ft. We know from ancient sources that the tower was 38 ft. in width, so that it appears to have been square at its foundation. Midway between the bases is the doorway previously discovered, set in a wall built across what must be regarded as the southern opening of the north transept. On the analogy of other Cistercian buildings, we may expect the ritual choir to have been to the west of a line drawn transversely from this doorway; but where the monastic portion of the church terminated westward, and how many bays of the western limb would have to be included, can only be conjectured from the size of the whole building and on architectural grounds. It has been thought that the fifth column from the west end of the nave marks the point, as it differs in plan from the others.1 At Furness Abbey, which, like Holm Cultram, had a nave of nine bays, the division was at the sixth pier from the west. We have documentary evidence in support of the contention that the ritual choir occupied part of the crossing, and extended west of it. In the old Parish Register (1580 to 1597) Edward Mandeville, the Vicar, states that in 1590, " In the xiiij day of May there fell out of the foit of the steeple vaulte, over above the poulepoit, thre great stons wch braste the stalle where I use to sitt, and some part of Chambers stall and a ledge of the communion table." There is also the evidence of a document, circa 1600, quoted in a previous note, that "the steeple, being nineteen fathoms, stood upon the chancel." Five feet east of the centre line of the crossing, and 186 ft. from the western doorway, is the step above referred to. Can this step be the entrance to the presbytery or sacrarium? Such an arrangement was usual in unaltered Cistercian churches, and is found at Kirkstall and 1 "Some Records of a Cistercian Abbey," by the Rev. G. E. Gillbanks, M.A. |