Romano-British origin, which already occupied the site, and displayed to them the characteristics suggested and implied in this Saxon name." A very interesting feature is the connection of the great Mercian Bishop Ceadda, or St. Chad, with Barton, where it is considered very probable he established a Christian church, with its connected buildings on a site previously regarded as sacred to some heathen god, which was, indeed, no uncommon practice. The general characteristics of AngloSaxon defences and fortifications, as appertaining to Barton, are described with fulness, from which it appears that Anglo-Saxon Barton was surrounded by a rampart and a dyke; but the town was never at any period of its history defended, as a whole, by stone walls and towers. The Danes have left a deep impress both on the place-names and on the ordinary language of the town, neighbourhood, and shire, and some interesting reminiscences are given.

Of the celebrated example of Anglo-Saxon architecture, the tower and western adjunct of St. Peter's Church, the author has much to tell, and his description is good and up to date. He places the date of the tower in the reign of Cnut-probably about A.D. 1020. The later pages of the volume before us treat of the history of Barton in the Norman period, and we are promised a second volume dealing with the parish in both Plantagenet and Edwardian days. The work is well illustrated with maps, plans, and views; and as it is divided into sections instead of chapters, with detailed subsections, the absence of an Index is not of so much importance.

Discoveries at the Castle of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. We are indebted to Mr. R. Oliver Heslop, M.A., F.S.A., Honorary Correspondent of the Association, for the following communication:

The Newcastle Society of Antiquaries recently conducted excavations on the site known as "The Heron Pit," just within the great gateway, or Black Gate, leading into the Castle Garth. The name of this site was acquired from William Heron, Sheriff of Northumberland from 1247 to 1257, who built a prison adjoining the south curtain wall during his period of office. Until quite recently the area had been covered by a row of half-timber houses, probably of seventeenth-century date. Their demolition uncovered the curtain along its entire length from the outer and earlier-wall of the Castle enclosure to the Black Gate. Excavations under the direction of Mr. W. H. Knowles, F.S.A., revealed Heron's pit in a perfect state of preservation. It is entirely subterranean, and removal of the earth with which it had been filled showed it to consist of four walls of excellent ashlar work, forming a square pit measuring 103 ft. by 81 ft. in area. This was excavated to a depth of 12 ft. Beam-holes show the level of its heavily-supported ceiling, a trap-door in which had given access to the prison below. In 1358 the sheriff of the period accounted for the cost of repairs, and, from his detailed statement, this trap-door was shown to have been renewed with the heavy iron bar and lock with which it was fastened. When this was closed, light and air must have been excluded, the four walls of the cell having neither slit nor air-hole in their faces. In this fourteenth-century account, particulars of a building, 44 ft. long, erected over the Heron Pit, are given. One step above the floor-level of this structure the curtain wall is pierced by a zigzag passage, giving access to a latrine over the Castle moat. Further excavation adjoining the Pit revealed the site of the inner drawbridge, and the recess in which the apparatus for lifting or withdrawing it had worked. The bridge had crossed a

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gap in the roadway, extending apparently the entire width between the curtain walls, and forming a chasm about 9 ft. wide by 12 ft. deep. Its sides were faced with carefully-dressed and well-built ashlar, and at its southern end a doorway and passage led through the outer wall. On the inner side the door had a shouldered head, whilst its exterior door closed against a pointed arch, and was secured within by a heavy spar. From the position of this door way and its low level, its exit must have been close to the margin of the moat, where it appears to have served the purpose of a sally-port.

The excavations and the adjoining site have been roofed over, and the large apartment thus enclosed has been utilised as a wing to the Museum for the reception of a portion of the Society's collection of Roman inscribed and sculptured stones.

Winchester Cathedral.-Every now and again the archæological world and the admirers of our ancient ecclesiastical buildings are startled by alarming reports of serious danger to one or another of our grand old cathedrals, caused by the fall of some portions of the fabric. Subsequent examination generally shows that this damage is due to failure of the foundations to support the superimposed weight of the structure, or to the nature of the soil on which they are laid, or to both combined.

In the case of Winchester, to which public attention was directed, in February last, by the fall of some portions of the stone-vaulting of the choir, the trouble has been caused by the sinking of the earth under pressure from above. The eastward portions of the Cathedral have been threatened with a serious disaster, happily now in considerable measure averted by the judicious steps taken by the Dean and Chapter, upon the advice and under the direction of Mr. T. G. Jackson, R.A., in consultation with Sir Douglas Fox and partners, the well-known civil engineers.

The Cathedral is situated on a hillside, gently sloping from west to east, the subsoil of which is hard gravel, overlaid with deposits of peat and marl, of about 7 ft. and 6 ft. in thickness respectively, with some 9 ft. of vegetable earth in addition as surface soil. The hard gravel, therefore, at the eastern end lies at a depth of over 22 ft. from the ground level. This depth appears to have been too great for the builders of the eastern addition in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries to cope with, and they resorted to the expedient of a grillage, or timber foundation, laid upon the marly soil. According to Mr. Jackson's report, referred to in The Builder of April 21st, the whole eastern end of the building was originally supported by a grillage

formed of two layers of tree-trunks laid cross ways to each other in the soft soil. The Builder further says: "" Many of the trunks remain sound; but others, as we have seen for ourselves, are so decayed that portions may be crumbled to powder between the fingers. Even if the timber had remained sound, there would still have been settlement, for the trunks have been pressed down into the soft earth by the weight of the masonry above. The last mentioned difficulty seems to have been recognised by the builders, who extended the Lady-Chapel in the fifteenth century, for the grillage then employed was made of proportionately greater area, so as to distribute the weight more effectually."

In order to arrest any further settlement, and permanently secure the foundations, it became necessary to underpin the affected parts and carry down the foundations to the hard gravel. This was not an easy task, as, after the removal of the peat the water flowed into the excavations, and the assistance of divers had to be obtained, who deposited sacks of Portland cement upon the gravel-bed, and grouted them in with cement. Upon this a solid base of cement concrete was laid, to receive the new footings of hard brick in cement under the old walls. The dangerously-defective condition of the vaulting and the cracks in the walls are receiving the most careful attention; and we hope and believe that, under the capable guidance of Mr. Jackson and his colleagues, the future safety of the Cathedral is assured. The measures undertaken are solely those of preservation of the structure for future ages; but they are necessarily of a costly nature, and the Dean will be grateful for any contribution from those who love, value, and appreciate the noble architectural achievements of our forefathers.

Excavations at Holm Cultram Abbey, Cumberland. We are indebted to the Rev. W. Baxter, M.A., Rector of Holm Cultram, for the following note:

In February last, while certain improvements were being carried out in the Churchyard of St. Mary's, Holm Cultram, important dis coveries were made beneath an uneven mound, covered with coarse grass and fortunately free from graves, about twenty-five yards from the eastern end of the remaining portion of the old Church. Apart from the mound formation, the situation was suggestive: on the very spot or thereabouts the tower had fallen on New Year's Day, 1600, bringing down the greater portion of the chancel; it was there that the new chancel, hastily rebuilt out of the old material, and gutted by fire in 1604, fell into a ruinous heap.

A few days' diligent work revealed more than was anticipated,

Amongst the blocks of red sandstone, fragments of pillars, and loose pieces of tiling that were unearthed, there were at least four objects of interest. First in order came two capitals, representing different periods of architecture-one a typical piece of Early English work, closely resembling the capitals of the pillars in the existing nave; the other an arched capital of the Decorated period, with a floral design above the arch on either side, and near the outer edge a stringing with double tie-band at intervals of an inch and a-half a head also appears to be missing. Then came a small image of the Virgin or some saintly woman, surmounted by a cross, and the lower portion

of an image of the Madonna and Child, with a fringe of angels at either side, very beautifully sculptured.

These discoveries were, however, thrown into comparative insignificance by the greater discovery which followed-the existence of the lower portion of a doorway, 4 ft. in width, and 75 ft. 6 in. from the eastern end of the present Church. It is set in a solid wall exactly in line with the pillars of the nave. On either side of the doorway are the bases of two pillars, with some very vigorous moulding, and dogtooth ornament in a good state of preservation. On the south side of this entrance, in what must have been the chancel, is a flooring of