On 21st April 1940 Willcocks McKenzie, lorry-driver of Thame, while walking along the left bank of the river Thame, about one mile north of the town and a short distance upstream from a pool known as Jemmett's Hole, had his eye attracted by the gleam of metal. This, on investigation, proved to come from the parcel of rings and coins which are the subject of this account.

I beg to submit to the Society of Antiquaries a sketch of the interior of the west end of the Nave and South Aisle of Saint Mary Overy's Church, Southwark (Plate XXIX.), in compliance with the request which you made in the early part of last year. I will trouble you with only a few remarks upon this ancient and elegant specimen of architecture. It was disclosed to view upon the removal of the masonry by which it had been concealed in the latter part of the fifteenth century, at which period the west doorway and window were inserted. The arches alluded to in a double tier at the west end of the nave, the clustered pillars attached to the same wall, the arches under the windows in the side aisles, the windows themselves in the westernmost compartment of both aisles, and the south porch, are all of the same age. The architectural features in these portions of the church are distinguished from the rest by the general design of the capitals, and the detail of the sculptured ornaments, both of which present a near resemblance to the forms characteristic of late Norman architecture, and may fairly be assigned to the reign of King John. It was owing to an unaccountable deviation from parallel lines in the position of the newer pillars in the nave, that the groined vault in the western portion of the aisles was constructed in the irregular manner shewn in the drawing. The bases of all the columns were nearly concealed by the pavement. It was observed, upon their being opened, that they had been carefully restored in cement; but the period of this restoration, and of that when the floor was raised, are unknown.

Few of the structural works of former years require more patient and careful investigation than those generally attributed to the Celtic People.

It is very remarkable that, while some classical writers have alluded to their religious rites and ceremonies, they scarcely notice the stone structures, and are silent on their sepulchres and modes of burying the dead.

Excavations at Grime's Graves, Norfolk, during September 1920, revealed a new chipping site (Floor 85), and resulted in the discovery thereon of two pieces of engraved flint crust, associated with a series of flint implements of Le Moustier type, bone tools, and pottery, upon a living level immediately overlying glacial sand.

The internal vaulted roof of the presbytery of Winchester Cathedral is ornamented with a series of ninety-seven carved wooden bosses (pl. xxvi). They are not only interesting in themselves, but they are thought to throw some light on the date of the roof itself. In any case they are worthy of careful study.

Excavations in the New Palace Yard at the Palace of Westminster, between 1972–4, have illuminated the development of this historic site on the northern periphery of the medieval palace. The Yard was first laid out in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century over previously marshy land at the edge of Thorney Island. In the central area of the Yard, part of the foundation of a magnificent fountain, known historically as the Great Conduit was found. Built in the mid-fifteenth century, the conduit formed a major landmark until its demolition some two hundred years later. Preserved within its foundation were the fragmentary redeposited remains of a high quality fountain of polished Purbeck marble, dated to the late twelfth century. Due to the enormous scale of the building works significant environmental evidence was recovered allowing elucidation of the topographical development of this important site, from the prehistoric period to the creation of the Yard in the late thirteenth century.

This paper is published with the aid of a grant from the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England.

The map on the next page will show (1) the position of the gulf of Smyrna, and how the mountains on either side of it close in with mount Sipylus on the north and mount Tactalu on the south; (2) how the two ranges of mountains meet at the east of the gulf, where there is a pass leading from the plain of Smyrna to the plain beyond, which in its turn leads to the plain of the Hermos at Cassaba. There is a bridle-path over this pass which leads to Cassaba, Sardis, and Philadelphia. About fifteen miles or thereabouts from Smyrna, a little to the right of the high road on the northern slope of Tactalu, is a village called by the Greeks Nymphio; this was at all times a favourite picnic-ing place for the Smyrniotes during the periods that the neighbouring country was free from brigands; afterwards it became a place often visited by strangers wishing to see the rock-cut figure, supposed to be the work of Sesostris, which is carved on a rock by the side of a stream a few hours distant from Nymphio.

The village of Wenhaston is situated in the north-eastern part of the county of Suffolk, between the towns of Halesworth and Southwold. The church, dedicated in honour of St. Peter, stands on high ground, commanding the valley of the Blyth, and about two miles from the grand old priory church of Blythburgh, to which it formerly belonged. Though not to be compared with many of the fine churches in the neighbourhood, yet Wenhaston church possesses various points of interest which may be briefly enumerated, as they may assist us in assigning a date to the panel painting of the Doom, which, by the kindness of the vicar, the Rev. J. B. Clare, is this evening exhibited.

The identity of the figure with a lamb carved on the upper stone of the Anglo-Saxon cross at Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, was interpreted by Paul Meyvaert (in 1982 and 1992), as an apocalyptic image of the Deity instead of John the Baptist. Close inspection of the panel, however, makes it difficult to accept such an explanation. Instead, an adaptation of the early Christian images of the Baptist is proposed, and it is argued that the details of the panel are best understood in the light of the introduction of the Agnus Dei chant into the Mass by Pope Sergius I (687–701), and of biblical commentary which saw the Baptist himself as an apocalyptic figure associated with the Lamb, the paschal sacrifice, commemorated each day in the Mass.

This recently discovered Roman villa stands at the foot of a hill, in a very beautiful situation, in one of the valleys of the Cotswold hills, about three miles from Winchcombe, in Spoonley Wood.

This elevated and yet sheltered district, with its rich soil and fine timber, appears to have been a favourite place of residence for wealthy Romans.

Remains of several other houses of Roman date have been found within a short distance of Spoonley, and no doubt many others still remain hidden below the soil.

Of the two boats described, the first, from Llandrindod Wells, was examined by the writer in 1929 for the National Museum of Wales. The second was found before 1866 at Llyn Llydaw, Snowdonia (Arch. Camb. 1874, 147). It has recently been presented to the National Museum of Wales by Mr. Mervyn Griffith, and re-examination having shown that the illustration in the published record gives a wrong impression of its form, this opportunity has been taken of refiguring the vessel.

Though Britain was the predominant European power in India from the middle of the eighteenth century, British scholars at first lagged behind their European contemporaries in the study of Indian antiquities. There were, quite simply, no British counterparts to such celebrated figures as Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron and Carsten Niebuhr. This paper investigates the efforts made by the Society of Antiquaries of London to remedy this situation, as demonstrated in particular by the publication of two early eighteenth-century accounts of the cave temples at Kanheri and Elephanta near Bombay in volume 7 (1785) of the Society's journal, Archaeologia. It argues that the impetus for the Society's efforts was provided by its Director, Richard Gough, who had family reasons for an interest in India and the East, but that the Society's role was largely superseded when Sir William Jones founded the Asiatick Society of Bengal.

I trust it will not be deemed foreign to the pursuits of the Society of Antiquaries, to receive some particulars respecting the Autograph of an individual, the magic of whose name must best plead as my apology for abstracting them from their graver subjects of inquiry. The individual I allude to is no less a personage than our immortal dramatic poet William Shakspere, to mention whom, and to excite curiosity and interest, I may, I believe, in any society of educated persons, assume to be inseparable. By the assistance of my friend Charles Frederick Barnwell, Esq. of the British Museum, I am enabled to lay before the Society an accurate fac-simile of the signature of this Great Man, written on the fly-leaf of a volume which, there is every reason to believe, once formed a part of his library, and which has hitherto, strange to say, been hidden from the knowledge and indefatigable researches of the whole host of Shaksperian commentators, collectors, and illustrators. Already, on the mere announcement of the fact, one might fancy, with nogreat effort of imagination, the shades of Warburton and Johnson, Tyrwhitt and Steevens, Ritson and Chalmers, Warton and Parr, again crowding round the volume, toview the characters traced by the hand of the Bard of Avon; again might we view the adoration of Boswel's bended knees, and on this occasion no sceptic sneer would distort the lip or depress the brow of the critical Malone.

The hoard which has given its name to the type was found in 1735 on Arreton Down in the centre of the eastern half of the island. Part was exhibited to the Society that year and a further ten pieces in 1736, drawings being made of the last exhibit. In 1855 Mr. A. W. Franks (later Sir Wollaston Franks) described in detail the hoard as then known, i.e. six pieces in the British Museum and the remainder recorded by the drawings made in 1736 (Archaeol. xxxvi, 326–31). In 1909 the well-known socketed spear-head and a tanged one were acquired by the British Museum from Canon Greenwell's collection. The hoard consisted of ten spear-heads, two daggers, and four flanged axes. They are referred to below as ‘Franks, no. —’; ‘B.M.’ if in the British Museum, ‘D’ if now known only by a drawing.

It is sixty-six feet in circumference, composed of forty-five large stones, measuring seven feet in height, six in breadth, four in thickness, containing four perfect lodges [or cells] and one destroyed. The supposed entrance in it may be called a subterraneous passage, faces the East and measures fifteen feet in length, four feet two inches and a half in breadth from the inside of the two outward pillars or stones, in height two feet, each pillar being one foot nine inches and a half thick.