the Mercians, and husband of Lady Godiva. In Domesday it is called Leof Mynster, and is said to have belonged to the Queen of Edward the Confessor. Between 1123 and 1130, the "ruined monastery of Leominster" was annexed by Henry I. as a cell to Reading Abbey. As regards the still earlier history of this site, it was originally founded in the 7th century, possibly as a nunnery, and was plundered and destroyed, probably by the Danes, who overran the country in 874. In the 11th century it was re-founded by Leofric, and, as Mr. Roberts adds, certainly for nuns on this occasion; and, as a nunnery, it disappears from history with the carrying off of the Abbess Eadgifu in 1046, by Swegen, the eldest son of the Earl of Godwin.

TREASURE TROVE.

Mr. C. E. Moore, County Coroner, next exhibited the seven silver vessels lately found in a rabbit hole in the parish of Stoke Prior, as reported in the Hereford Times of December 19th, and more fully in the issue of December 26th, 1891. The oldest vessel is a chalice with the hall mark of 1578–1579, height 5in., diameter 5 in., weight 12oz. A tall, elegant vessel with a perforated cover, tapered like a pepper box, containing two compartments for the holy oil, chrysom, with the letter F. above, and E. A. underneath, on a shield, and a wolf on another shield, has the hall mark 1594-1595, weight 134oz.; and a somewhat similar but smaller vessel has the hall mark 1596-1597, weight 2oz. Three cups with a wolf's head on two of them, are of the date 1637-1638. Of the three silver cups one is 6in., one 6 in., and the third 5 inches high, and a small paten three-quarters of an inch high, with a diameter of two inches and a half, has the hall mark 1639-1640, weight 14oz. These vessels are awaiting a coroner's inquest as to their legitimate owner, and ultimate destination.*

The members, after inspecting the walls of the Union building, three feet thick, on the northern and eastern sides, exhibiting in the east wall an Early English lancet window on the ground floor, and a Perpendicular window on the upper floor, with both Perpendicular and Decorated windows on the south, observed the diversion of the brook Pinsley, probably for the purpose of a mill, running in a well-built Early arched culvert underneath the ancient monastic building, and under the entire length of the modern building. The site of the fishponds, filled up within the memory of some still living, occupied the ground on the north side. The foundations of the Saxon Church, exposed some years ago at the east end of the present Norman nave, with its high altar, procession path, semi-circular apse, semi-circular side chapels, and four very ancient stone coffins still in situ were visited; after which followed an inspection of the interior of the Church, under the guidance of the Vicar. A paper by

*After numerous inquests the Court of Chancery determined that this Treasure Trove was the property of the Crown. Application for it to the Hon. H. Cuffe, Solicitor to the Treasury, was made by our County Museum Authorities. The application was not granted, and the vessels were all sent, by order of the Treasury, to South Kensington Museum, where they now may be seen.

Mr. F. R. Kempson on the recent restoration of the tower was read, and a specimen exhibited of the cement, (of which no less than nearly forty tons, in a liquid condition, was poured into cracks in the tower) proved of remarkable hardness.

Before twelve o'clock, in accordance with the programme, seats were taken in the carriages. One carriage of entomologists was filled for Grantsfield, where they were treated to an undisturbed and deliberate examination of the private collection of Lepidoptera in the family of the Rev. T. Hutchinson, vicar of Kimbolton with Middleton-on-the-Hill, of which we have records occasionally in our Transactions, dating so far back as 1866, p. 307. The county record, as recently published by Mr. Thomas Hutchinson, much assisted by Dr. J. H. Wood and Dr. T. A. Chapman, now stands corrected up to date as follows:

The above is a summary of the Macros and Micros compiled since Mr. Thos. Hutchinson read his paper at Mitcheldean, published on page 104 of the Transactions, 1887. This corrected summary appeared amongst the Errata and Addenda of the volume of Transactions, 1886-1889, but is here repeated because it is well known how frequently readers omit to refer to Errata and Addenda.

The remainder of the party proceeded in carriages until their first halt at Kimbolton Church, conspicuously built upon a commanding situation. This Church, dedicated to St. James, consists of nave, chancel, a Lady Chapel on the south side of the nave, south porch, and massive Early tower at the west end of the nave, terminating in a lofty shingle spire. There is a small Norman window in the east end of the chancel, and several Early English windows in the Church. There is a walled up doorway in the western side of the Lady Chapel. The President discovered a mural slab on the south wall of the chancel connected with his family, as follows:-"Heare lyeth the body of Joyce Hibbyns, late wief of John Hibbyns, gentleman, eldest daughter of Richard Barneby, Esquier. Shee

deceased the 29 of April, 1614." The chancel arch, and also the arch between the nave and Lady Chapel, are both modern, the Church having undergone restoration in 1875. The Parish Registers commence in 1565.

The next halting place (with the kind permission of the owner, Mr. Edmunds), was Moor Abbey, now a farmhouse, containing some Elizabethan features in a picturesque brick chimney, and traces of greater antiquity in the lower masonry building, with remains of a moat in close contiguity to the house, two old fishponds in a field to the north-east, and the site of a chapel still a little further in the same direction. In the farm buildings is a picturesque gabled dovecot or pigeon house, forming portion of the farm granaries, with its floor formed of tile stones, over a store-room below, whose walls bore traces of having been cemented. The employment of tile stones for roofing and flooring in this locality ceased to surprise the visitors when they had proceeded a mile further towards Laysters, where the occurrence of Red Sandstone tile stones was conspicuous in almost every building. Some of them, of extensive superficial area, are used for roofing, walling, porch jambs, and lintels. The occurrence of Red Sandstone tiles for this purpose must at least be considered rare, although we hear of similar tile stones being found in a quarry in the parish of Vowchurch.

The party arrived at Laysters Church just in time to take refuge during a thunderstorm. This place is also spelled Leysters, and in Domesday it appears as Last. The Church is dedicated to St. Andrew. It consists of a nave, chancel of the same width, without any chancel arch, a new vestry and organ chamber on the north, a tower at west end of nave, and a south porch. The roof over the nave and chancel are late 14th century. The Norman font, rescued from a farm building at Puddleston, is a large and plain bowl, like an inverted cone, mounted on a modern base. The porch doorway is Norman, having a square-headed lintel under a plain semi-circular tympanum. In the tower are some Early lancet windows and three bells, two of them being pre-Reformation bells, the third bearing the inscription "T. Rudhall fecit, 1804."

In a field adjoining the churchyard on the southern side there is a low circular tumulus, with a diameter of about ninety feet at its base. The field slopes from west to east, the height from the enclosing entrenchment, which is ten feet wide, being about six feet on the west side and twelve feet on the east. The Rev. E. S. Hewitt, son of the former vicar of Laysters, who had told us all that could be learnt respecting the Church, informed us that about thirty or forty years ago explorations had been conducted into this tumulus with the result of finding ashes, charcoal, and an accumulation of rough stones, but nothing in the shape of pottery or coin was found, nor could any definite form of stone structure be determined. The irregular shape of the tumulus upon its eastern side is thus accounted for. Mr. Hewitt showed a flint arrow head, which had been picked up in a field on Laysters Farm, about a quarter of a mile east of the vicarage, and the Honorary Secretary exhibited two or three others which had been found in a field a little south of Little Laysters farmhouse, some fragments of ancient pottery, and a neolithic implement of flint, the property of Miss Callow, of Little Laysters. All these are probably the same which were shown to the Club at