obtained whole beside the iron spade-cover at about 2 feet below the grass just outside the south wall. Among the few fragments of terra sigillata was half of the base of a patera, form 31 (Dragendorff), with a portion of the potter's stamp (PAT) NAFE, a potter of Gaul, whose name has been met with previously at Wilderspool and at two other localities in Britain, viz. London and Cirencester. Miscellaneous.-Bits of raddle or hæmatite ore; a large lump of iron slag on the surface of the floor and several smaller ones from an ash-blackened layer of soil which separated the upper floor from the scattered remains of what was apparently an earlier floor of less area underneath; fragments of cannel-coal and ordinary mineral coal from the same layer between the two floors, thus affording evidence of iron-working having been carried on in the two furnaces situated within the same enclosure, viz. the long reverberatory furnace and the smithyhearth found in 1899 close at hand. Several of the many pieces of charcoal found at the level of the upper floor retained the shape of the original wood, in the form of small rods about inch in diameter, which may have been "wattles" from the burnt walls. Segment of a quern or hand-mill of millstone grit. Stone "sleeker" of triangular shape, 4 inches on each side by inch thick, with edges and angles rounded by wear. Refuse Pits (3-5).—The particular purpose for which the furnace was used was further evidenced by the contents of three refuse pits closely adjoining and partly underneath the floor, (3) and (4) along the north side, measuring 6 feet and 4 feet deep, and 3 feet 6 inches and 4 feet 6 inches wide respectively; and (5), near to its north-east angle, 5 feet deep and wide, viz. fifty-two iron nails, a few lumps of heavy iron slag, one of red raddle or hæmatite ore, many bits of charcoal, and two of ordinary mineral coal at depths of from 3 to 5 feet from the surface; a small lump or splash of lead; several large fragments of 21 inch thick, dense, heavy brick, and many fragments of common unglazed red and black earthenware. Of more artistic character were a portion of a terra sigillata bowl, form 37 (Dragendorff), with figures representing the Infant Hercules strangling the serpents, and Apollo seated holding a lyre (variants of types 464 and 52 in Dechelette's list), and a cruciform pattern in the style peculiar to the end of the first or beginning of the second century; eight portions of dishes or cups of the form 31 or 33 (Dragendorff), and part of the rim of a mortarium of coarse paste with the potter's stamp C ATTIV(S) MARIN (VS) in two lines reversed, a name recorded in my preceding report (Transactions, 1900, vol. xvi. p. 51). A beautifully pure glittering crystalline glass bead, inch in diameter, splintered slightly upon the surface, but otherwise undecayed, and a few fragments of similar material are also worthy of particular mention, and were found at the bottom of pit (5).. A small flint implement (7 by by inch) beautifully worked with two edges and mid-rib; splinters of calcined bone and decayed teeth of ox and horse, and part of a quern of millstone grit found in the same pits should likewise be recorded. Paved Courtyard (8).-Commencing at 4 feet north from the preceding, there was an oblong pavement, measuring 14 feet 6 inches from north to south by 8 feet, not in line with the wall of the next adjoining building from which its distance varied from 13 feet 6 inches on south to 15 feet 6 inches on north. The surface was pitched with large cobbles (small water-worn or ice-worn boulders of very hard stone), along with a patch of gravel and a few broken pieces of dense brick, and had a slight batter towards the east side. Fragments of Samian and coarse pottery, claydaubing with the impress of wattles, iron slag, and charcoal lying upon it, displayed its Romano-British origin. Smithy Furnace or Nailor's Forge (11).—At 14 feet still farther northwards, 22 feet from the northeast angle of the walled enclosure (9), and III feet from the north fence along Greenall's Avenue, this peculiar furnace was uncovered, which may be regarded as of unique construction. There are no regular curves or straight lines for its admeasurement or for the laying down of its plan, and equidistant ordinates had to be employed. In general terms it may be described as a panier-shaped fireplace (smithy-hearth or crucible) of clay, 2 feet deep, set up against the side of a hole in the ground, the hole being 8 feet in diameter, and 5 feet deep originally, excavated in the soft bed of sand. Halfway round one side the hole was lined with sandstone blocks to a height of from 2 to 3 feet, one of the largest stones being square and solidly bedded for supporting an anvil on the workman's left rear when facing the furnace. The other side was covered with a sloping wall of massive, wellpuddled boulder-clay, 6 inches to a foot thick, the clay cover being continued across the bottom, where a flat stone was provided for the workmen to stand upon, and round the sloping margin of the pit in the form of a crescent, where its surface was calcined, to furnish a convenient platform for the hot ashes and heaps of charcoal or other fuel employed in the furnace. On the right-hand side of the platform there was a funnel-shaped depression with a gutter leading down to the interior of the fire-place, so that fuel could be easily raked into it, and an L-shaped strip of iron (width 1 inch, thick C |