Page:Roman Manchester (1900) by Charles Roeder.djvu/160

plot between the north side of the school and the south side of the library. The distance from the shafts which were made measures 154 feet to the brink of the Irk at Hunt's Bank Bridge. The total length of the excavated area measures from east to west 27½ feet, and terminates against the old boundary wall which divides the college from the Palatine Hotel. I have taken a careful section, and, beginning from the level, we have in succession and in undisturbed condition:

(1)	30	inches	recent building rubbish;
(2)	12	,,	yellowish soil;
(3)	11	,,	red sand;
(4)	8	,,	clayey sand, with streaks of stringy patches of clay, the latter apparently accumulated and formed while the ground was actually traversed, and at the western corner it shows a layer of blistered charcoal and burnt bones (2 to 3 inches long);
(5)	23	,,	clayey red sand, in which we have (at a depth of 63 inches) a large compact block of Roman mortar, 12 inches square by 6 inches thick, now in the possession of the Chetham Hospital, for permanent preservation, found against the eastern corner; another large piece was found in the middle; further, a fragment of Roman roof tile. Of botanical specimens I met in it: Ulex europeaus, the furze, a large stem; Rubus fruticosus, the common bramble, a seed; Sambucus nigra, the elder, many seeds;