MONDAY, AUGUST 23RD, 1896.

The members and visitors assembled at Conway Station in time for the 9.20 train for Bangor and Beaumaris.

On arrival at the cathedral, they found the Dean ready to welcome them and explain the history of the building. Taking his stand in the choir, the Dean related the early history of the church from its foundation, about 550, by the instrumentality of the Prince of Wales, Maelgwyn Gwynedd. The church was destroyed about 1071, but was rebuilt, and a buttress and window of the early Norman church may still be seen in the south wall of the choir. In the thirteenth century the cathedral was enlarged, but, in common with St. Asaph's and other churches, it suffered greatly in the wars of the time, and in 1402 was destroyed by fire in the war with Owen Glyndwr, when it remained in ruins for nearly a century. The choir was ultimately rebuilt in the reign of Henry VII, and the western tower and nave by Bishop Skeffington in 1532. There are several interesting monuments, one to an early Tudor, date 1365. From the cathedral the visitors passed to the library and muniment room, where the Dean exhibited sundry of the treasures, and in particular a beautifully written book known as the Pontifical of Anian, date 1266, bound up with other service books of the "Bangor use", and a book of "offices that only a Bishop can do". These books belong to the fourteenth century, and have some beautifully illuminated initial letters, etc. Proceeding to the ferry, the party crossed the straits to Beaumaris, where Sir Llewelyn Turner met them and conducted them over the castle. This castle is an example of a purely concentric fortress. It consists of a long square within an octagonal curtain wall strengthened by thirteen bastions and towers. The moat was fed by the sea, but it has long been filled up, which detracts from the height of the walls. There is very little known in history of this castle. It was built after Conway and Carnarvon, about 1296, by Edward I. Its low-lying situation on the shore is compensated by its accessibility from the sea. It was garrisoned for the King under Lord Bulkeley in 1642, but was obliged to surrender owing to a severe defeat of the Royal forces in the immediate neighbourhood by the Parliamentary General, Mytton. The old church at Beaumaris possesses a rood-screen of late Perpendicular type, similar to several others the party had seen in this district of North Wales; and in a chapel on the north side of the chancel, now used as a vestry, is a fine altar-tomb, with recumbent effigies of a knight and lady of fifteenth-century date, of whom nothing is known. It is

traditionally said to have been saved from a ship wrecked on the coast when on a voyage from Portugal, and to have first been taken to a monastery of Grey Friars founded by the great Llewelyn in the neighbourhood, and after the Dissolution to have been brought to its present position. The church dates from the beginning of the

fourteenth century.

At the evening meeting at the Guildhall, an interesting Paper by Lady Paget, upon some "Caves and a Passage under the British Fortress of Pen-y-Gaer, Conway Valley", was read in her absence by Mr. Patrick, hon. sec., and has been printed in vol. iii, pp. 291-294.

These caves, and the long underground passage situated under an ancient fortress, are somewhat similar to those recently discovered in co. Antrim, Ireland.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 24тн, 1897.

This morning, in delightful weather, the members and visitors departed by coach for Caer Hûn, the ancient Roman station of Conovium-a station which is mentioned in the eleventh iter of Antoninus' Itinerary, and in the first of that of Richard of Cirencester. The form of the camp is clearly defined, and below it are remains of the foundations of Roman villas. At the dwelling-house, Caer Hûn, the visitors were shown, by the kindness of Mrs. Gough (who also read the following account of Conovium, which we reprint from the Chester Archæological Journal, vol. v, pt. 1, 1893), the ancient shield, said to be Roman, but which is more probably British from its form, discovered on the site in 1799, and exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries in that year; also a cinerary urn dug up in 1879, containing the bones of a female, and a Roman coin. Many other interesting relics discovered close by, including a sword found in the foundations of old Caer Hûn House, last year, were also set out for inspection.

"NOTES ON A ROMANO-BRITISH SHIELD.

"The ancient shield which is exhibited to-day was found at Caerhûn, about five miles from Conway, on the estate of Mr. Davies Griffith.

"Caerhûn (which has in it, you will notice, the distinctive word Caer the Welsh form of Castra-and which is even now the ordinary Welsh name for Chester), is identified with Conovium, one of the Roman stations on the great road from Deva, or Chester, to Segontium (near Carnarvon). The stations, according to the 11th Antonine Itinerary (drawn up according to some in second century, according to others in fourth century), are Segontium, Conovium, Varis (Bodvari or Caerwys), Deva, passing into the last-named place from Eaton Park, Eccleston, and Handbridge. In the list given by the Ravenna Chorographer it is spelt Canubium, and on a milestone of the Emperor Hadrian's reign, found in the neighbourhood, the name is given as

Kanovium.

"This station was evidently designed to defend, amongst other places, the pearl fisheries in the River Conway. You will remember that Julius Cæsar was stated to have been attracted to Britain by the size and beauty of the British pearls.1

"Mr. Lysons (in Archæologia, vol. xx.) describes the site of the camp as 'nearly a square of 260 ft., surrounded by a slight vallum of earth, 500 ft. from the River Conway, on the side next to which the ground is very steep from the edge of the station. Within this ancient site stands the church of Caerhûn, but no dwelling-house.

"The shield was found early in 1799, on the east side of this station (on opening an old drain), about 2 ft. below the surface of the earth. It is in the form of a perfect circle, 13 ins. in diameter. The front face is of leather, on which are laid seven concentric bands of iron, embossed with round-headed studs or carbuncles of bronze. The outer band has 229 of these studs, placed quite close together; part of the second band and the whole of the third have disappeared; on the fourth band are 80 studs, placed further apart; on the fifth, 78 closer together; on the sixth the same number; on the seventh, which is fittted on to the central boss, and requires (like the outside circle) to be extra strong, there are 93 quite close together. This central boss of iron, or 'umbo,' is a characteristic feature-about 4 ins. high, of elegant shape, terminating in a spike. The reverse of the shield had a lining of flannel, such as was used for the outer skin of British coracles, and as is still used for the same purpose on the Towy in Carmarthenshire. Outside runs a rim of iron, clamped on to the rim in front, and doubled on itself at two places opposite one another, to form a socket for the wooden handle stretched across. Portions of the second band of iron remain about 2 ins. from the outer. The wooden handle was secured by short bands of iron, 11⁄2 ins. to 2 ins. in length, rivetted crosswise, six of these on either side. In the centre, at the back of the "umbo" or central boss,