tesselated tiles, small in size but of good design, similar to those which formed the flooring of the aisles, many specimens of which are still to be found in this district. Within the doorway on the north side many square encaustic tiles of larger dimensions were discovered, and these formed a circular pattern with a floral ornamentation and a black cross, the cognisance of the Abbey.

Ten feet westward from the doorway, in the wall which joins it, is a base, 5 ft. square on which must have rested one of the pillars of the tower. To the east of the doorway on the chancel side, at the last stage of the work of excavation, a large stone step was discovered, possibly a chancel step.

The excavations are of importance, as affording material for the correction of previous ideas with regard to the position of the north transept and the tower. According to a MS. bearing date circa 1600, Holm Cultram church was "93 yards long, 45 yards broad. The length of the chancel was 32 yards, the breadth 21 yards; from the steeple (which was in the middle) to the lower church door, 54 yards . . . and the steeple being 19 fathoms stood upon the chancel." It is now concluded that the north-eastern pillar of the tower, and not the north-western, as was supposed, rested on the aforementioned base; that the crossing, in all probability, was on the site of the tower, and that the transepts were not so far eastward as had generally been conjectured. The doorway in question must have been east of the transept, and outside it, and may possibly have led into the Chapterhouse. Such a reconstruction of the plan agrees with the measurements in the old document. The only difficulty is Bishop Nicholson's statement that the nave had nine arches. On the present hypothesis, it would only have eight, but possibly the transept arch was counted as a bay.

The discoveries are also interesting, as revealing work of such artistic merit as to suggest the richness and finish which must have characterised the perfect structure. The existing church, unfortunately, consists of no more than the six western bays of the nave, the clerestory and aisles having been removed, and the arches walled up in the eighteenth century.

The Wall and Vallum between Tyne and Solway.-Our attention has been drawn to a Paper by Mr. T. V. Holmes, F.G.S., read at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, on March 28th, 1906. The Paper, which is entitled "Notes on the Comparative Ages of the Roman Wall between Solway and Tyne, and the structures associated with it," is an interesting contribution to the study of

an ever-fascinating series of problems. Mr. Holmes is of opinion that the vallum is of pre-Roman origin, and marks the result of a desire on the part of the settled agricultural inhabitants of the valleys of the Tyne, Irthing, and Eden to make a boundary between their settlements and the ground over which a more or less migratory people might drive their flocks and herds. He also contends that such camps as Vindobala, Hunnum, Procolitia, and Borcovicus-commanding neither road nor river, but likely to be useful as camps of refugewere of later date than the rest. It is most improbable, he says, that these would be built before the time of Commodus, and the latest of them he ascribes to the second half of the fourth century. The wall between Solway and Tyne, uniting camp to camp, was built, Mr. Holmes concludes, only when the barrier of Antoninus tended to become untenable-probably in the first fifteen or twenty years of the fifth century.

We have been supplied with the following note on the subject:

The tribal boundary theory of the vallum has received weighty support recently, but there are difficulties in the way of its acceptance. The design is too complicated, and too expensively carried out; and several large tracts of land on the southern side must in early times have been quite unsuited for agriculture. There is, however, still room for much careful observation, especially in the interesting section between Sewingshields and Carvoran. Here the engineer, whether Roman or pre-Roman, had many difficulties to encounter. There were marshes, and even shallow lakes, to be avoided, and an adequate supply of earth to be found within a reasonable distance, the southern slopes of the basalt hills being only thinly covered. It has been suggested that in dealing with these difficulties he has kept the vallum, as far as possible, within sight of the nearest point of the wall, but the matter requires further investigation. The same suggestion would explain the fact that at several points the vallum is overlooked from the south.

In dealing with the dates of the stations, Mr. Holmes seems to place too much reliance on a strategical theory, and to under-estimate the evidence of the actual remains, and especially of inscriptions. There are, unfortunately, few remains at Vindobala, Hunnum, and Procolitia; but the gateways and other buildings at Borcovicus certainly belong to an early period, and Procolitia has yielded an inscription mentioning Platorius Nepos. Moreover, Borcovicus was a wall station or nothing; if a "camp of refuge" had been needed in that neighbourhood, it would certainly have been placed elsewhere.

As to the date of the wall, it is impossible to accept Mr. Holmes's

theory in view of what we know of the degenerate character of the masonry during the latter part of the Roman occupation; and if we are to believe Vegetius' account of the state of the Roman legions at the end of the fourth century, we cannot credit them with so fine a work. Further, why did they not-at least for a great part of the line-use the already existing ditch of the vallum ?

It is probable that too much stress has been laid upon the achievements of Agricola. There is nothing to show that his Clyde to Forth frontier was maintained continuously after his recall, or that the Antonine barrier was held after Caracalla abandoned his father's conquests. On the whole, the evidence goes to show that the Tyne to Solway line was the frontier under Hadrian; that Lollius Urbicus extended it to the Forth and Clyde; and that early in the third century it was again contracted, Blatum Bulgium and Bremenium becoming the northernmost outposts. Later, about A.D. 300, the linea valli became once more the frontier.

The Roman Antiquities Committee for Yorkshire.-On June 25th last, the Committee visited the Blackstone Edge moors, on the borders of Lancashire and Yorkshire, for the purpose of inspecting the Roman road, the pavement of which is the finest remaining in Britain. Its width varies from 18 ft. on the western to 14 ft. on the eastern slope, and the centre of the pavement is composed of massive stones, which on the slopes of the hill are trough-shaped. The cause or purpose of this troughing has given rise to much speculation, but it was probably due to the use of skids by vehicles descending the hill. About half way up the Lancashire slope, where the rise is 1 in 41, a branch road deviating from the Roman road was made in post-Roman times, and where the branch road first deviated, coming down hill, the trough stones have apparently been removed, the suggestion being that it was not possible otherwise to get the wheel out of the trough. At the top of the hill, 1,400 ft. above sea-level, is the supposed site of a Roman camp. Near this spot, Mr. W. H. Sutcliffe, F.G.S., has recently carried out some excavations, close to where three large flat stones lay, and disclosed a peculiar rectangular stone structure on the side of the road, apparently about a foot high, though perhaps more, which the three stones might have exactly covered. It is thought that this may be a British cist or tomb, and Mr. Sutcliffe has agreed to examine the interior. From the top of the hill a mediæval track and a British track-the latter 5 ft. deep in places-may be seen. The road on the Yorkshire slope in many places shows no very distinct trough marks in the central stones, though lower down the ruts are very deep and

clear. Parts of this road are thought to have been re-laid in postRoman times, with Roman material.

We are informed that Dr. Bodington, the Chairman of the Committee, has commenced the excavation of a villa at Middleham, and the Committee hopes to make some trial excavations at Cawthorn Camps, near Pickering, this autumn, with a view to excavating the whole site in subsequent years, if the indications are favourable.

The Committee, though primarily composed of a number of Yorkshire Societies, has power to co-opt other persons who are interested in the work, at a subscription of 2s. 6d. per annum, or a composition life fee of £1 1s. The Honorary Secretary and Treasurer is Mr. S. D. Kitson, Greek Street Chambers, Leeds.