Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 2.djvu/279

stone hollowed out. The latter was found 3 feet under the surface, and contained two glass vases, one with handles; between them lay a pair of leather shoes, ornamented with a cut hexagonal pattern, and gold wire, apparently of Byzantine workmanship. Round it were found traces of red Roman ware, and portions of a wooden box^[1]. These discoveries were made close to the Watling-street Road, at the station, conjectured to be Vagniacæ.

In October, 1794, a square cist was found at Ashby Puerorum, Lincolnshire, of which an account was communicated to the Society of Antiquaries by Sir Joseph Banks^[2]. The lid lay three feet below the surface; it fitted the sides neatly, and projected slightly over their edges. This cist was formed of the freestone which is found in abundance on Lincoln heath: it was squared and dressed with much care and precision; and measured externally 16 in. square, and 81/2 in. high; the cavity within measured 12 in. every way. It contained an elegant vase of strong greenish-coloured glass, well manufactured: its dimensions were, height, 7 in.; diameter of the widest part, 7 in.; diameter of the mouth, 4 in. This vessel was nearly filled with fragments of burned bones, and amongst them were portions of a small unguent vase of very thin glass. No highway is known to have passed near the spot; the nearest Roman station is Horncastle, (Banovallum, according to Stukeley,) about five miles distant.

A coffin of rectangular shape, with a skeleton, and three glass vessels, of different shapes, standing in it, was also found near St. Alban's^[3]; and another with red Roman ware, and a skeleton, was found in a crypt at York^[4]. In 1765 a glass vase, similar to the one found at Harpenden, but without any handle, was discovered at King's Mead, about half a mile from Cirencester, wrapped in lead, and deposited in a stone hollowed out to receive it^[5].

The Harpenden cist contained five vases; in the centre was placed a præfericulum, formed of pale green-coloured glass, and of a shape not peculiarly adapted to the purpose of inter-

1. Archæol., vol. xiv. Pl. xxxviii. figs. 1, 2, and Pl. xxxix. p. 222, Pl. vii. p. 37. viii. fig. 1.
2. Archæologia, vol. xii. p. 96. Pl. x.
3. Archæol., vol. xvii. p. 336.
4. Ibid., xvi. p. 340.
5. Lysons in Arch., vol. x. p. 131, Pl. ix. fig. 1.