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walls had been destroyed down to the level of this floor, though the curtain walls above described were from 3 ft. to 4 ft. higher. The flanks of the tower were continued inwards-inside the curtain walls about 3 ft.-thus making it a perfect square. These walls were 3 ft. high, but only 3 ft. thick. The rear wall was discernible only by a boulder foundation, well preserved. Across the tower in the line of the curtain was a 3 ft. wall 3 ft. high, broken in the middle by a passage or doorway. This wall had all the appearance of age, but whether it was as old as the Castle is more than doubtful. In front of it, upon the tower as described above, that is to say upon the walls on the floor level and on the floor itself, stood a large block of masonry 23 ft. long by 17 ft. wide and 7 ft. high, occupying the greater part of the area of the tower; in it were two chambers, the larger of the two had a domed roof and was plastered with black mortar, the other had a bee-hive roof, was not plastered, and the sides showed signs of long firing. These chambers cannot have belonged to the old Castle; the only openings into them were from the outside, the west, and they were without window or chimney. One had certainly, both had probably, been used as bake-houses or ovens, and the conclusion arrived at was that they had been built for that purpose by some baker whose shop was in the street. At the same time the building, though of a date long after the demolition of the Castle, was undoubtedly very old.

Running down in the thick curtain wall, about 3 ft. from the southern flank of the tower, was a drain 2 ft. by 1 ft.; for the lower 6 ft., it passed at a steep angle from the rear to the face of the wall and terminated in an opening 2 ft. by 2 ft. with a circular arch. Originally, no doubt, it may have led into the ditch, which would here have been some 30 ft. or more away, but outside the aperture was a cesspit 5 ft. square and 6 ft. deep, which had been used as such by the modern house, perhaps within sixty or seventy years, and was probably an improvement on an older one more or less coeval

with the Castle.

Whether the drain was made as the exitus of a garde-robe or to carry off rain-water was uncertain.

The tower appears to have been the entrance into the Castle from the Bailey.

THE DITCH.

The ditch of the Castle was very apparent about 12 ft. in front and 4 ft. below the foundations of the wall, where it crossed Worcester Place, but the ground had been so much disturbed that its dimensions could not be taken. From there to the front of the tower it was observed in places which had not been disturbed by the cellars of the 18th century houses. It was quite plain that it did not follow the re-entering angle formed by the flanks of the tower and curtain wall, but swept round in one continuous curve. In front of the tower the ground had not been previously excavated, and the ditch was found very perfect though covered with accumulation of débris at least 20 ft. in depth. The distance from the foot of the wall to the crest of the scarp was about 15 ft., with a fall of from 3 ft. to 4 ft., and the ditch was about 7 ft. deep; its width could not be measured as it extended under the road

way. Apparently the level of this roadway was about 8 ft. higher than its predecessor of medieval times. The ditch was followed up for about two-thirds of the western face of the tower, but not further. For the width of one house the ground was not disturbed, after that it was found to have been completely excavated for cellars at some early period, consequently the ditch was not observed again for about 160 ft., when it was found cutting diagonally across the rear of two houses in a north-easterly direction; here it was about 20 ft. across and from 8 ft. to 10 ft. deep, but its exact dimensions could not be measured, as the ground had been much disturbed; at the same time there could be no mistake about its being the site of the ditch. If a line be drawn from the inner side of the ditch in front of the tower to the corresponding side of the ditch

where disclosed 160 ft. higher up, and a similar line as nearly as can be imagined along the outer edge of the ditch, an explanation is given of the bulge to the west in the old line of frontage of Castle Bailey Streetit followed the line of the ditch. No doubt, when Worcester Place is demolished for rebuilding, the wall and ditch will again appear, Assuming then that the wall of Castle Walls Lane is the old Castle wall, the site of the Castle can now be traced practically all round.

SWANSEA NEW CASTLE.

Considerable alterations have also been made this year to the new Castle of Swansea, by the erection of buildings for the Cambrian Daily Leader Offices. A large portion of the north curtain wall was pulled down, and some damage done to the old building.

The foundations of several buildings were exposed, but their age was so doubtful, that it is not necessary to describe them. They can, however, be referred to in the pages of the Swansea Scientific Society's Journal.

The most interesting discovery, however, was that of a large number of skeletons, of both sexes and all ages, buried about 4 ft. in the alluvial gravel, which was covered in places by 5 ft. or 6 ft. of débris of buildings. These interments were found over the whole of the interior of the Castle and also outside up to the counterscarp of the old Castle. They were all placed east and west, but no traces of coffins could be detected, which is hardly to be wondered at in the gravel soiland the interments were probably made some centuries before wooden coffins were used. They were doubtless the remains of the soldiers and civilians who perished in the numerous sieges which the old Castle underwent, one of which lasted ten weeks, when the only ground available for interments was the open glacis upon which in after years the new Castle was built, as related by Leland.

Reviews and Notices of Books

AN INVENTORY OF THE ANCIENT MONUMENTS IN WALES AND MONMOUTHSHIRE. - I. COUNTY OF MONTGOMERY. His Majesty's

Stationery Office, London.

10s. 1911.

IN September, 1911, the Royal Commission, appointed in 1908 to inspect and report upon the Ancient Monuments in Wales, published its first County Inventory, that for Montgomeryshire.

The similar Commissions for England and Scotland have published Inventories of the Antiquities of Hertfordshire and Sutherland respectively.

The Commission decided to commence their investigations with Montgomeryshire because of the work of the Powysland Club. This club has its head-quarters at Welshpool. Since its foundation in 1867 it has published a series of articles known as the Montgomeryshire Collections, a series already consisting of thirty-five volumes, including papers of great variety and, in some cases, of great merit. The honour of being dealt with first is accompanied by certain disadvantages. The first County Inventory must, to some extent, be an experiment. The Commission has to get its hand in before it can show the world its best work.

To the Inventory is prefixed a list of Monuments specified by the Commission as especially worthy of preservation, which number sixty-one, and an Introduction signed by the Commissioners. The Introduction is of great value to Welsh archaeologists, being full of the ripe scholarship from experience and study which is to be expected of the Commissioners. Now and then they are a trifle hard upon the local antiquaries of the County, forgetting apparently that the Commission was, by its Royal Warrant (granted by King Edward and renewed by King George), empowered "to call in the aid and co-operation of owners of ancient monuments, inviting them to assist you in furthering the objects of the Commission; and to invite the possessors of such papers as you may deem it desirable to inspect to produce them before you : call before you such persons as you shall judge likely to afford you any information upon the subject of this Our Commission; and also to call for, have access to, and examine all such books, documents, registers, and records as may afford you the fullest information on this subject, and to inquire of and concerning the premises of all other lawful ways and means whatsoever : . . . . to visit and personally inspect such places as you may deem it expedient so to inspect for the more effectual carrying out of the purposes aforesaid."

to

Such powers and credentials are greatly in excess of any that the Powysland Club or any other local society can grant or any private searcher command. Armed with this Royal Warrant, the Commission should be careful not to cast too scathing remarks upon fellow-labourers in the same field of work and research.

The Introduction treats of the County's antiquities according to their period; the Inventory itself, according to the parish to which they belong.

The classification of the inventoried Monuments and Constructions appears to be as follows:

I. a. Tumuli, Carneddau.-c. Meini Hirion.-d. Inscribed
Stones, Stone Circles.

II. Earthworks:- B. Hill Forts.-C. Roman.-D. Castle-
mounts, without enclosure. E. Castle-mounts, with
enclosure.-F. Homestead Moats.-H. Ancient Village
Sites.-X. Unclassified.

III. Domestic Structures, Stone Castles.
IV. Ecclesiastical Structures.

V. Miscellaneous: Wells, etc.

VI. Sites of Historical or Antiquarian Interest.

VII. Finds.

A mistake is made in that no outline of the classification (such as is set forth above) is given in the Introduction or elsewhere in the Inventory. The Introduction should have included a statement to the effect that, whenever an object has been adequately described already, it has not been considered necessary to do more than give the reference to the fuller account. Such a statement would have explained the short space devoted to such important Monuments as Kerry Church, Strata Marcella, and the two Owain Glyndwr Parliament Houses now in the County.

The Introduction is especially valuable on the knotty points connected with the ethnology and early history of the County.

Nine hundred and fifty-five entries are made in the Inventory, the Civil Parishes, which number seventy-two, being taken in alphabetical order.

There are fifty-seven illustrations, and four maps at the end of the volume; three maps of the County, with all the parishes marked, showing respectively (1) the prehistoric remains, (2) the earthworks, (3) the finds, and (4) the Breiddin and the related camps of Cefn Castell and Bausley. These maps are very good, and may prove very useful, especially to students of Montgomeryshire not familiar with the County. For a thorough study of the Inventory a six-inch ordnance survey map is indispensable, as nearly every item has its longitude and latitude recorded.

The illustrations include reproductions of some of Mr. Worthington G. Smith's drawings (for Arch. Camb.) kept in Shrewsbury Museum, and are in nearly every case remarkably good. A special

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