THE SEVENTIETH GENERAL MEETING OF THE WILTSHIRE ARCHEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, HELD AT MARLBOROUGH,1 July 30th and 31st, and August 1st, 1923. W. HEWARD BELL, F.G.S., F.S.A. MONDAY, JULY 30th. For the third time the Society held its Annual Meeting at Marlborough, its previous visits having been in 1879 and 1905. The Business Meeting took place at 2.30, at the Town Hall, which the Mayor and Corporation had most kindly placed at the Society's disposal free of charge. Forty-two Members were present, with the President of the Society in the chair. After the reading of the minutes the President called on the Hon. Secretary to read the REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1922-23. Members.-The total number of members on the Society's list, including those to be elected at the present meeting, is 4222 (12 life members and 410 annual subscribers), against 397 at the time of the last annual meeting, an 1 A good account of the proceedings during the meeting, with illustrations of The West Door, St. Mary's, Marlborough; The High Street; St. Peter's Church; and The West End and Interior of the College Chapel, appeared in The Wilts, Berks, and Hants County Paper and Marlborough Times, Aug. 3rd, 1923. The Wiltshire Gazette printed the Report, and some account of the opening meeting, together with Mr. Stone's lecture on Stonehenge with illustrations, on August 2nd. A good account of "Four Fine Houses in East Wilts," Ramsbury, Littlecote, Upham, Tottenham, followed on August 9th. "Odds and Ends of Antiquarian Tours," Froxfield, Henry VIII. at Wolfhall, and Marlborough College, appeared on August 16th; and "Wansdyke, the newly-discovered fragment," a fuller report of Mr. Albany Major's address, on August 30th. 66 2 It is to be noted that from 1860 to 1907 the numbers given in the annual reports include the 20-22 Societies with which we exchange publications. These are in no sense members," and since 1907 have not been counted in. Allowing for this the Society from 1860 to 1907 appears never to have numbered more than 371 (1860), 372 (1880), 378 (1892), 376 (1893), and 375 (1906). It seems to have reached its lowest point in 1868, when its actual members numbered only 291. increase of 25, in spite of the fact that the Society lost 7 members by death and 22 by resignation during the year. Thus, for the first time in its history, the Society's numbers are well above 400-a satisfactory condition, which yet allows of much further improvement. [Only once before, in 1908, has it ever reached 400, and in 1917 it fell to 313.] Finance.-The General Fund began the year 1922 with a balance of £78 13s., and ended with one of £35 15s. 5d. The Museum Maintenance Fund began with a balance of £19 19s. 2d., and ended with one of £46 14s. 6d. ; of the income £29 11s. 9d. was from subscriptions, and £15 5s. 4d. from admission fees and donations in the box. On the Museum Purchase Fund the balance of £78 10s. on January 1st increased to £100 8s. on December 31st owing to the sale of ethnological objects, and that of the Museum Enlargement Fund from £67 Os. 4d. to £80 Os. 4d. The total balances on the Society's funds, excluding the Bradford Barn Fund, amounted at the end of the year to £337 17s. 6d.—an increase of £13 13s. 3d. The Magazine.-Two numbers of the Magazine were issued during 1922 at a total cost of £221 17s. 8d., and contained 305 pages. This cost includes postage and illustrations, and works out at 14s 6d. per page, a reduction on the rate of the previous year. The total cost was largely increased by the fact that the index for Vol. XLI. was included in the number for December, 1922. The committee this year sent out invitations for tenders for the printing of the Magazine to Wiltshire firms, from three of whom tenders were received. They accepted Mr. Woodward's tender at a considerable reduction, and the printing will remain in his hands accordingly. The Museum. The past year has seen the most important addition to the archæological collections since the acquisition of the Brooke collection. Mr. and Mrs. Cunnington have given the whole of the objects found in their excavation of the All Cannings Cross village site, and as was foreshadowed at the last annual meeting, a special appeal was issued for £100 in order to provide sufficient cases for the exhibition of the collection. The appeal brought in almost exactly the amount asked for, with the result that the five original cases down the centre of the Stourhead room have been altered so as to contain double the number of objects they contained before, and to exhibit them to greater advantage, and space has been found for an additional case to match, which has been provided partly from the Appeal Fund and partly from the Museum Maintenance Fund. In addition a good second-hand wall case bas been purchased, which will provide further space for exhibition in the entrance lobby. In these new cases the pottery of the Stourhead collection and the other Bronze Age pottery in the Society's possession has been re-arranged, whilst two of the cases are entirely taken up with the All Cannings Cross objects, of the Hallstatt age, admirably arranged by Mrs. Cunnington, whose skill and patience in the reconstruction of the remarkable series of pottery vessels now so well exhibited, has given us a collection which is unique in English museums. The sale of the ethnological objects having no connection with the county, sanctioned three years ago, has been completed by the transfer of the Egyptian mummy and the plaster bust of a Tasmanian native to the new museum at Swindon. The gold ornaments from the Barrows of Wiltshire in the Stourhead collection, together with the gold bracelet given by Mrs. Cunnington, which it was felt it was unsafe to exhibit at Devizes, have now, in accordance with the resolution passed at last year's general meeting, been deposited on loan indefinitely at the British Museum, where they are exhibited and labelled as the property of our Society. Electrotype facsimiles are exhibited in their place at Devizes. The British Museum authorities have very kindly allowed our Society to have facsimiles made of the gold bracelets of the Bronze Age found at Tisbury, and a bronze mould for celts, now in the National collection, and we have also to thank Lord Ilchester and Dr. Blackmore for similar facilities in regard to the gold torque found at Allington and the little piece of ring money from Bishopstone, in their possession respectively. The Library.-The many hundreds of portraits (largely from newspapers) of Wiltshire men and women which have been collected by the librarian since 1913 have been mounted in a large folio scrap book and catalogued. This is the fourth volume of Wiltshire portraits. The photographs and picture postcards of Wiltshire buildings, scenes, and objects accumulated for many years past, have also been mounted in three additional scrap books and fully catalogued. The librarian would be grateful if members, instead of destroying old photographs and picture postcards of Wiltshire subjects, of any kind whatever, would kindly send them to him instead. Many such photographs, which may appear to be of no general interest, may nevertheless fill a gap in the Society's collection and preserve a record of buildings. which since the photographs were taken have been altered or have disappeared. A considerable number of old deeds connected with the estate of Little Park, Wootton Bassett, bave been given to the Library by Major G. J. Buxton, and Mr. W. Gough, of Wootton Bassett, has very kindly undertaken to catalogue them. The Misses Grant-Meek have given Justice Kent's ledger book, an important MS. volume of 1628, connected with Devizes. For gifts of recently published books, pamphlets, and articles, we have as usual to thank a large number of Wiltshire authors. The annual meeting of 1922, held at Swindon, was a great success, and resulted in the welcome balance of £15 14s. 6d. being added to the general account. Excavations. The work on the Iron Age village at All Cannings Cross Farm was completed in the autumn by Mr. and Mrs. B. H. Cunnington. Mr. R. S. Newall has carried on diggings not yet complete at Hanging Langford Camp, and a section of the ditch round Windmill Hill at Avebury has been excavated by the Rev. H. G. O. Kendall with interesting results, which make it very desirable that this work should be carried further. Dr. R. C. Clay, of Fovant Manor, is engaged in the excavation of 100 pits perhaps of the Late Celtic period, in that neighbourhood, which promise interesting results. Colonel Hawley has steadily continued his unwearied labour at Stonehenge, in which he happily again has the help of Mr. Newall, with the result that a new circle of stone holes has been found, together with many other unexpected and puzzling discoveries. South-Western Naturalists' Union.-The Wiltshire Archæological and Natural History Society has become associated with this newly-formed body, and in consequence any member of our Society is allowed to join the Union for a subscription of 5s. a year (instead of 15s. a year, and enjoy the privileges of membership, including the receipt of all free publications. Further information may be obtained of the hon. secretary, H. Womersley, Esq., 17, Devonshire Road, Westbury Park, Bristol. Advisory Committees. It will be good news to all who care for the preservation of the ancient architecture and furniture of our Parish Churches to learn that an "Advisory Committee" has been set up, and has now been working satisfactorily for more than six months, in the Diocese of Bristol, which comprises some eighty parishes in the North of Wiltshire. The necessity of obtaining faculties for any schemes involving alterations or additions to the fabric or the furniture of Churches will be strongly insisted on in future, but before the matter comes before the Chancellor of the Diocese for his decision, the clergy and churchwardens and others concerned will be asked to submit full particulars to the Advisory Committee, who will be prepared to advise upon and criticise the proposed scheme. Within the last week the Bishop of Salisbury has appointed a committee which it is hoped may work on similar lines for that part of the county which lies within the Diocese of Sarum. On the motion of the President, seconded by the Rev. E. H. Goddard, a vote of condolence on the death of Sir Henry Howarth, President of the Royal Archæological Institute, and well known to many of the members of the Wiltshire Society, was passed. Canon Knubley then spoke on the question of forming a special Natural History Branch of the Society, which might cooperate with the work of the newly established South-Western Naturalists' Union, with which the Wiltshire Society was affiliated. Canon Knubley himself had been appointed chairman of the Zoological section. Canon Knubley did not move any resolution but put forward the matter as a tentative suggestion, and expressed the opinion that the establishment of such a branch would result in a considerable increase in the number of the Society's members, as it had done already in the case of the Somerset Society. The matter would have to be discussed and threshed out by the Committee. Canon Knubley mentioned that Miss Selman, of Kington Langley, Chippenham, was investigating the food of birds, and would be glad to receive the contents of birds' crops provided they reached her in a fresh condition. The officers of the Society were then re-elected en bloc with the addition of Mr. C. W. Pugh to the Committee. After eighteen new members of the Society had been elected, the Rev. H. E. Ketchley, as Local Secretary, called attention to the question of the repair of the base of the wayside cross at Upper Wraxall, which had been before the Committee of the Society. He had obtained an estimate for the work of replacing the stones and securing them in their proper positions for £24, towards which he had about £5 in hand. The remainder would have to be raised somehow, and he appealed to members present at the meeting to give a small donation each to this object. The Rev. E. H. Goddard said that the matter arose from the action of the local authorities in threatening to remove the cross base altogether if it was not put in better repair. The Society itself had no funds to devote to such objects as this, but he suggested that a contribution of half-a-crown each from members would help on the work greatly. At a later stage of the meeting, after tea in Mr. Farmer's garden, the Rev. E. H. Goddard referred to the matter again, and announced that his cap would be placed near the exit to receive any contributions, with the result that altogether a sum of £4 2s. was handed over to Mr. Ketchley, who had undertaken to ask for further contributions from people in the Wraxall neighbourhood. Capt. B. H. Cunnington then drew attention to the fact that under the present rules the Committee had no power to remove a member's name from the list of the Society should such a course become desirable, and moved the following resolution, which was seconded by Dr. Clay, and after some discussion carried nem. con. :-"That a rule is hereby made empowering the committee to request a member to resign his or her membership, and in the event of such member refusing to resign, the Committee be empowered to remove his or her name from the roll of members. The request for resignation or the removal from the roll of members shall take effect only by the unanimous vote of the members of the Committee present and voting at the meeting. This rule shall come into force at the end of the present year, 1923, and members in renewing their subscriptions shall be deemed to accept the rule as a condition of membership. Such member shall be advised of the action of the Committee and shall have the right of appeal to the next General Meeting, the appeal to be decided by a majority of two-thirds of those present and voting." It was suggested that in future it would be useful to have a list of the members attending posted up at the headquarters of the meeting. Another business matter which was omitted in the afternoon was attended to at the evening meeting, when the Rev. E. H. Goddard, whose term of office as the Society's representative on the Town Trust of Wootton Bassett had run out, was duly re-elected. At the conclusion of the meeting St. Mary's Church was first visited, the Rev. E. H. Goddard acting as guide. From here the party returned to the Town Hall, where they were most kindly entertained at tea by the Mayoress (Mrs. Vincent Head). After tea the College was visited, the Museum being the first point of interest, where Mr. L. G. Pierson conducted the members round. Much good work of re-arrangement has been done in the Museum since the war. Next to the Museum came the Chapel, where again Mr. Pierson said a few words, and from here the party passed down the fine new flight of steps to the site of the War Memorial Hall, just beginning to rise from its foundations, and so round to the base of the Castle Mound, where Mr. H. C. Brentnall gave an address, claiming that the mound was of the same date and nature as Silbury, though he assigned no date to Silbury. The Grotto, at the entrance of which he stood, was the work of Lady Hertford in 1744. In front of this some excavations had recently been undertaken by the College Archæological Society, but though some indications of walls had been found nothing definite had been discovered. From this point the party passed on to St. Peter's Church, which was shortly described by the Rev. E. H. Goddard, after which a certain number of members, by kind permission of Mr. Pope, viewed the existing remains of the Chantry, where extensive alterations were in progress. |