On Roman Remains found at Frindsbury

ROMAN REMAINS POUND AT ERINDSBURY. 191 spot which had yielded these discoveries, and Messrs. Tingey kindly allowed every facility for watching the operations. On the 29th of April, after several previous visits, I went to the spot, accompanied by the Rev. Gr. M. Livett and Mr. George Payne, P.S.A. In the course of their excavations the workmen disclosed what had evidently been the floor of a room; it was bedded with a two-inch layer of beaten chalk, covered with innumerable pieces of flue and other tiles, and also with pieces of plaster, some bearing traces of fresco, as well as with mortar and rubbish. Along the outer edge of the floor we found the remains of a wall, with its inner face quite perfect for a length of about five feet. The angle rested apparently upon a large block of chalk; and close to this block, built up with the rubble and rough stone of which the wall was composed, we found a section or fragment of a stone capital (Plate IL, fig. 2a, 26). We hoped to find more of the remains of the house, but the wall ended at this point, and it was pretty evident that we had reached, or rather passed, the extreme corner of the building. We found no trace of anything like a tesselated pavement, not a single tessera. The only suggestion of anything like luxury or refinement were some small remains of coloured fresco. The tints on some of the pieces remained perfectly bright and fresh. The pattern on one fragment represented, upon a red background, detached white blossoms, of an acacia-tree probably (Plate IL, fig. 3); other fragments were painted with broad bands of various colours. The nature of the earth seems to shew that there was a shallow ditch, outside the Roman building, through which the refuse and sewage of the house passed. Numbers of pieces of pottery have been found; a considerable quantity of bone and ivory pins, one of which contrary' to the general rule has no head, but is pointed at both ends; a bronze needle in excellent preservation; a bronze pin with squared head; the fragments of a pin, or ornament, of jet; pieces of Samian ware; fragments of bronze fibulae; and other pieces of metal; a bronze ring (Plate II., fig. 6) and a metal disc