at distances of one day's march from each other throughout the country, and were thus in some way connected with one another. Mrs. Cunnington thought nothing useful could be said as to the age of camps until they had been properly explored with the spade. As to the curious circular flattopped mound below the White Horse, she said that it was obviously artificially scarped round the sides, and levelled on the top, and she suggested that the name sometimes given to it, of "Uffington Castle," as distinguished from "Uffington Camp," really preserves the true tradition of its purpose, that of a Norman Motte." Mr. O. G. S. Crawford, F.S.A., then drew attention to two or three small sarsens showing in the side of the rampart of the camp, inside the ditch, placed there, as he believed, to prevent the slipping of the chalk bank.

From the camp the members walked along the Ridgeway to Wayland's Smithy, where, again, Mr. D'Almaine gave an address that was much appreciated, on chambered tumuli in general, and Wayland's Smithy in particular, explaining the plan of the monument, and giving an account of what was done in the recent excavations, for which he was chiefly responsible, in the way of making the structure so much more intelligible than it was before. He announced that the Smithy had just been handed over by the owner to the nation. He hoped that it would not be necessary to enclose it, but if people persisted in lighting fires against the stones and chipping pieces off, it would have to be done.

The weather had cleared, and the sun came out for the very pleasant walk along the Ridgeway to the Smithy, with the down flowers in full bloom, and back to the nearest roadway, where the motors were waiting to take the members down the hill to the Ichnield Way, and so along that very picturesque road to Little Hinton Church, which was described by the Rev. E. H. Goddard. The next item on the programme was tea on the adjoining Rectory lawn, most hospitably provided by the Rector, the Rev. C. E. Perkins, and his sister. To some of the members the charming little dell at the back of the Rectory garden, wherein a large collection of ferns flourish as one could hardly think it possible they should flourish in Wiltshire, was not the least interesting thing seen during the day. As there was plenty of time in hand at this point, it was decided to stop and inspect the interesting Church of Wanborough, on the way home. Here Mr. Goddard described the building and the Rev. C. F. Burgess added further information. This done, members returned to the cars and reached Swindon at 6.15.

The evening meeting at the Town Hall began with an address on "The Geology of Swindon," by Mr. W. R. Bird, illustrated with a number of slides of the Saurians whose remains have been so abundantly found in the Kimmeridge Clay of the brickworks at Swindon, and other extinct monsters. Mr. A. D. Passmore followed with an address on "Recent work at the Devil's Den, and Archæological Discoveries in the Avebury District," illustrated with a large series of excellent slides showing the progress of the work at the Devil's Den, and views of a number of standing stones, remains of circles, and lines of sarsens on the downs recently noted by Mr. Passmore, but hitherto undescribed, as well as the sarsen known as the "Templar's Bath" at Temple, and the stone in the

Cove at Avebury, which he contends has a worked surface. Some discussion arose as to Mr. Passmore's contention that the ditch at Avebury was intended to be filled, and was as a matter of fact, filled with water. The ordinary water level of the wells at Avebury, he said, was only 25ft. from the surface, and that would mean that a ditch 30ft. deep would have 5ft. of water in it. Against this Mr. Goddard urged the fact that no sign of silt or mud on the bottom of the ditch had been found in the recent excavations, but that on the contrary there was chalk rubble of some size right down on the original bottom of the ditch. Moreover, the inevitable result of a wet ditch would have been that it could not have been kept cleared out, and masses of debris from the precipitous sides would have fallen into the water and choked up the ditch, whereas a dry ditch could be kept clear of this. The President, too, could not accept the wet ditch theory, no water stood in the ditch during any of the recent excavations. Mr. Crawford, on the other hand, thought that if Mr. Passmore's levels were right, as he believed they were, theoretically water ought to have stood in the ditch, but so far as the evidence went it did not, he could not say why. As regards the Devil's Den Mr. P. Williams asked whether the Dolmen stood on the original surface or on a raised artificial mound. Mr. Passmore replied that it stood some 3ft. above the original chalk on soil of a different colour and nature from that outside the limits of the barrow, and that he was persuaded this was made ground. On the other hand Mrs. Cunnington suggested that perhaps this was really a portion of the original surface of the valley above the chalk which had been scarped and retained as the nucleus of the barrow, all the similar soil (such as is often found in the bottom of a valley) having been peeled off (as on a larger scale happened at Silbury) and piled up to form the barrow. As to many of the lines of sarsens on the Downs, Mr. Passmore thought that they probably dated from Romano British times and were formed by the stones being cleared off the cultivated fields and dragged to the side to be out of the way of the plough. Mr. Goddard remarked that precisely the same thing was being done continually to-day on arable land on the chalk. Tea and coffee were again provided by the Mayor and Corporation.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2ND.

Leaving Swindon again at 9.30 the procession of cars made for Inglesham, the first point on the programme. The Church here came as a surprise to almost everyone present, for it is one of the very few Churches in England which remains in an entirely unrestored condition, and contains, small as it is, admirable examples of work of the 13th century, with fine woodwork in the screens, the Jacobean pulpit, and reading desk, and old square pews. Its present condition is by no means the result of neglect, but rather of the loving care which of late years, at least, has carefully preserved and avoided anything in the shape of "restoration" or replacement of old or damaged work by new. The result is that at this moment it remains an untouched and almost unique example of what the parish Churches of England were like at the beginning of the nineteenth century. For this the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and the late

Mr. Micklethwaite, who advised on the necessary work of repair and preservation many years ago, deserve the thanks of all who are interested in the history and architecture of our country Churches. Lying a little distance off the main road, and practically invisible from it, it has escaped the notice of travellers between Highworth and Lechlade. It lies, however, close to the bank of the Thames, and of late years boating parties up the river from Lechlade have become popular. Whether this has any connection with the deplorable fact that the Church has suffered of late years from the depredations of marauding visitors, is not known, but the sad fact remains that pieces of the carved work of the screens have been broken off and carried away on several occasions, to the irreparable damage of the woodwork. In such a case as this the only cure seems to be to lock up the Church, objectionable as in principle the locked-up Church is. The Rev. E. H. Goddard described the building to the members. The Vicar, the Rev. F. J. W. Girling, was unable to be present owing to illness, but his son very kindly pointed out several very interesting matters which had quite lately come to light, including what appears to be a portion of a painted reredos.

Leaving Inglesham and crossing the Thames into Gloucestershire by Lechlade Bridge, the party stopped next at Lechlade Church, where the Vicar, the Rev. R. G. P. Brownrigg, gave an interesting account of the history and architecture of the Church. A further drive brought the members to Fairford Church, the principal object of the day's excursion. Arriving here at 11.50, the party was met by the Vicar, Canon Jones, who most kindly put himself at their disposal both before and after lunch, giving first an admirable sketch of the history of the Church and the glass and then explaining each window in turn in careful detail, as the members passed round the Church. It is seldom that the society has the good fortune to listen to so clear and excellent an exposition, even in the case of a building of such unique interest as this Church, which retains its original glass as it was in Pre-Reformation days, certainly in a more perfect condition than any other Parish Church in England, and probably more perfectly than any other in Europe. At one o'clock the members drove down to "The Retreat," on the outskirts of the town, where, in a tent erected on the lawn, they were entertained, to the number of 76, by Dr. and Mrs. King Turner, with quite astonishing generosity and kindness, the special menu printed for the occasion reminding the company that this year is the centenary of the foundation of the asylum over which Dr. King Turner presides. The society has probably never enjoyed more sumptuous hospitality in the whole course of its history. After the President had expressed the Society's gratitude, members drove back to the Church, and spent the time until 3 o'clock in examining the windows and other features of the Church in greater detail. They then left for Cricklade St. Mary's Church, walking up the street afterwards to S. Sampson's, both buildings being shortly described by the Rev. E. H. Goddard. Leaving Cricklade at 4.30, about 20 minutes' drive brought the party to Purton, where they were entertained most kindly at tea by Mrs. Walsh, at the beautiful old Manor House, which, with its great barn, groups so strikingly with the closelyadjoining Church. After tea the Church was visited, the Rev. E. H.

Goddard again acting as guide, and pointing out its many points of interest including the Golden Book, or Roll of Honour, recently placed in the Church, a perfect example of modern illumination. From this point the motors returned to Swindon and the meeting came to an end. Again the society had been fortunate in the weather, for the day was dry though cloudy until a slight shower fell as Swindon was reached in the evening. Our society has somewhat of a reputation amongst kindred societies for the punctuality and exactness with which its programmes are carried out, a reputation which is owing entirely to Capt. Cunnington's minute and careful organisation beforehand. This reputation was sustained throughout the meeting and proceedings were carried out strictly according to scheduled time. Everyone was pleased with the meeting, the weather was quite kind on the whole, and the very satisfactory balance of £13 13s. remained after all expenses had been paid.

NOTES ON FIELD-WORK IN N. WILTS, 1921-1922.

By A. D. PASSMORE.

Unrecorded Long Barrow on Horton Down, Bishop's Cannings,' O.M. Sheet XXXV. N.W. Parish of Bishop's Cannings. Horton Down. Height 700. On the west side of this sheet towards the top is the wellknown square earthwork (Smith E. VII. A.), alongside which is a pond. Standing by the latter and facing 5° W. of S., at 250 yards distance, is a long barrow hitherto unrecorded. Immediately east of Brown's Barn is a modern corrugated iron erection, from here the barrow is conspicuous on the sky line looking slightly N. of E. (all bearings magnetic). The barrow is 132 feet long by 36 feet broad, and roughly 3 feet high, and is now on the open grass down. There are several slight hollows along the highest part and in the S. end is a square pit, apparently dug down to the old surface level, with two small sarsens in it. The true bearing of the long axis of the barrow is 4° west of north, practically N. and S. The northern end is if anything slightly higher than the other. There are only the slightest traces of side trenches, but the absence of these appendages is no proof that a mound is not a long barrow.

New Long Barrow at Liddington. O.M. XXIII. N.E. Parish of Liddington. In the left-hand top corner of this sheet the 700 foot contour is tongue-shaped and almost equally divided by the Liddington-Wanborough parish boundary. On the highest point of this ridge is an unrecorded long barrow, now measuring 165 feet long by 42 feet wide, and 5 feet high at the S. end, the longer axis being rudely S.E.-N. W. (Exactly 40 degrees E. of S. magnetic). The mound has been much narrowed at its extremities by repeated ploughing and the centre portion has several hollows indicative of former excavation. Towards the S. end is a large sarsen stone showing above the turf, while at intervals towards the N. are others of smaller size. On the east side of the tumulus is a fence, in digging the post-holes for which (about 1890) three skeletons were found. A few years later a shepherd found another, several bones of which came into the writer's collection and have lately been examined by Professor Parsons, of the University of London, who reports as follows:-"The bones submitted to me by Mr. Passmore were those of an adult male. The only complete bones were a right humerus and a right tibia, which latter measured 360 mm. without the spine. This should give a total height of 164 c.m., or about 5ft. 4 in. There is a facet on the front of the lower end of the tibia, known as a squatting facet, showing that the individual was in the habit of squatting on the ground. The bones are those of a not particularly muscular individual and do not suggest the clean lines and perfect symmetry which I have learned to associate with Anglo-Saxons. I see nothing to make me think that these bones may not have been those of a Neolithic long barrow man, but the absence of the skull and teeth makes the question a difficult one to decide."

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The references throughout these notes are to the six inch Ordnance Maps. 2 These bones have been presented to St. Thomas's Hospital. VOL. XLII.-NO. CXXXVII,

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