Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/91

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THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.
73

ring, described as having been found in one of the piers of old London Bridge, during its demolition. It is inscribed thus:—In God I trust.

Matrices, and Impressions from Seals.—By Mr. Brackstone.—Impressions from the seal of Joseph, Dean of Armagh, a brass matrix in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. It is of pointed-oval form, the device is an eagle, with the legend, ✠ S' : IOSEB : DECANI : ARDMACHANI. According to a notice by Mr. John O'Corry which accompanied the impression, the matrix was found on the site of "Teampul Breed," or the Church of St. Bridget, in Armagh, about 1820. He considered the date to be about t. Henry II., and the name does not occur in the list in the Registries of the Primates, from the time of Archbishop Colton, in 1308. A representation of this seal is given in the Dublin Penny Journal, vol. ii. p. 112.

By Mr. Hailstone.—Impression from a matrix stated to have been found recently at Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire. The form is pointed-oval; the device is the Virgin and infant Saviour, within tabernacle work; underneath is a seven-leaved plant growing on the top of a hillock (?). Inscription,—✠ s' : BERENGARI : CANO'I : S' : SATVRNI : As no Saint named Saturnus occurs in the calendar, the name may be an error for Saturnini, and the owner of the seal was possibly a canon of the church of St. Saturnin, at Toulouse.

By Mr. Rohde Hawkins.—A seal of polished jet, in form of a blackamoor's head, the impress being an eagle displayed, with the Spanish words around it, ESO ES DE AGUILA REALE.—(This is of the Royal Eagle.) The date appears to be about 1550. On various parts of the little bust, which is carefully finished, are certain initial letters, the import of which has not been explained.

By Mr. Way.—Impression from a seal of pointed-oval form found at Canterbury on the site of St. Laurence's Hospital, and now in the possession of Mr. Austin, of that city. It represents the martyrdom of St. Stephen, who appears kneeling in the midst between two men who are throwing stones upon his head; above is the hand of Providence in the gesture of benediction, and beneath, the head and shoulders of a tonsured ecclesiastic with his hands upraised, SIGILL' : MATHEI : CAPELLANI* Date XIVth century.

February 3, 1845.

The Hon. Richard C. Neville, F.S.A., Vice-President, in the Chair.

The Rev. William Turner, Vicar of Boxgrove, communicated an account of the discovery of a cemetery and cinerary urns of remarkable workmanship on Ballon Hill, co. Carlow, by Mr. J. Richardson Smith, in June last. Twelve of these urns were exhibited in the Archæological Court, at the Dublin Industrial Exhibition. The hill is remarkable from its insulated position in a rich plain, commanding an extensive view; nine counties may be discerned from the summit. The granite of which it is composed had been quarried at the top of the hill where the soil is of little depth. The first account of any discovery of urns or relics of antiquity was given by an old man living near the place, who said that forty-six years since when digging in a Rath, or mound of earth, he saw a granite slab under which was found an urn of beautiful fashion; he destroyed it from a superstitious notion which still exists in Ireland that such urns were made by witches. Since that time it is stated that large numbers of such