Volume 1

The gentleman's magazine library : being a classified collection of the chief contents of The gentleman's magazine from 1731 to 1868. Romano-British remains / edited by George Laurence Gomme.

Date:
1887
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The gentleman's magazine library : being a classified collection of the chief contents of The gentleman's magazine from 1731 to 1868. Romano-British remains / edited by George Laurence Gomme. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Fescote. [1841, Part I.,pp. 81.] The Duke of Buckingham and Chandos still continues the excava- tions of the Roman villa at Fescote, Bucks, on the farm of Mr. Roper. Many interesting discoveries have been made, amongst which is a wooden spout or tube, which, when uncovered at the top, threw up water the height of several feet. Oak piles have also been taken out, the wood of which is perfectly sound. [1843, Part I., tp. 303.] At the meeting of the Oxford Ashmolean Society, held on Monday, February 13th, the Marquis of Chandos exhibited a plan of the ex- cavations of a Roman villa at Foxcote, near Buckingham, together with several coins and some fragments of fossil coal found at the same place. The excavations are situated about a mile and a half from Buckingham, on the north of the road leading to Stony Stratford, at the foot of the hill, and about one hundred yards from the highroad. Until the year 1837, the farmers in the neighbourhood had been in the habit of digging up the old foundations whenever they were in want of stone, at which period the layer of the two baths was dis- covered. The last excavation took place in 1842-3. The tank marked A in the plan contains a spring which ran through wooden trunks of trees to a larger tank. When first discovered the walls were covered with a red stucco, which, however, fell off during the second year of its exposure to the air. The greatest height of any of the remaining walls did not exceed three feet above the floor, and were generally not more than one foot. A leaden pipe communicated from the larger bath to a small circular place, which seemed to have contained some vessel for heating water. In another room was found a small stone column, and near it a large salver, nearly 16 inches in diameter. It appears to be composed of tin, with a slight proportion of silver, and in the same room was found a small vase, apparently of the same metal, but much more corroded. A large square tesselated pavement was found in an adjacent room, and other fragments in a less perfect condition. The general thickness of the walls was 2 feet 3 inches for the main walls, and 1 foot 8 inches for the remainder. The courses were not regular in thickness, varying from 3 to 10 inches. The coins consisted of coppe-r coins of Constantine, Commodus, etc. Lee. 14795, Part /., /. 12.] There was lately found upon Lee Common, about three miles from Wendover, by a labourer who was digging the ground, a Roman image. Upon hearing of this, I went on purpose to see it, and pur-