General Notes and Correspondence

( 153 ) (Stntv&l Notes anO ©omsjiotttott)*. EOCHESTEE BEIDGE. Pairseat House, Wrotham, Kent. March 3rd, 1922. DEAR SIB, May I point Out an error in the interesting paper on Eochester Bridge by Mr. John J. Eobson in Vol. XXXV. of Archceologia Cantiana ? On page 140 he says the Eoman occupation of Britain extended over about 458 years, prior to 406 A.D. Mr. Eobson evidently has reckoned from the date of the invasion of Julius Caesar to the departure of the Eomans. The first invasion took place in August 55 B.C. and the Eomans left England in the following month. Julius Caesar made his second invasion in July 54 B.C. and remained about two months. Occupation by the Eomans dates from the invasion of Claudius in 43 A.D., when they came to stay, and the final evacuation took place between 406 and 410 A.D. Consequently the period of occupation was at most only about 367 years. As regards the question whether the Eoman bridge at Eochester was a timber structure, or of stone arches, or with stone piers and a wooden super-structure, I think it most probable that it was a stone arched bridge. The Eoman engineers were perfectly cornpetent to build such a structure, and did so in many places on the Continent. This particular crossing must have been one of the most important in England. Yours faithfully, WM. PITT. 1 5 4 GENERAL NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE. MONUMENTAL INSCEIPTION IN MEMOEY OP EICHAED AUSTEN AND HIS DAUGHTEE ELIZABETH. " Ailsa," Birchington. September 3rd, 1921. DEAB SIB, In Vol. XIV. of Archceologia Cantiana, at the foot of page 120, is given a rendering of the inscription on the flat stone to the memory of Eichard Austen and his daughter Elizabeth. The transcript was necessarily incomplete, the original being then partly hidden by a pew. The latter oeing now (it is hoped permanently)' removed, I was enabled about twelve months ago to obtain a full copy of the text of the inscription:— " Here lieth the body of | RICHABD AUSTEN of the | Baye at Ickhain in the | County of Kent, Yeoman | who had to wife MABT I the second daughter of | Vincent Nethersole | of Wyming-