of what has been called the Caledonian or Wild Ox. It was found six feet below the surface, and near to what appeared to have been an old road. It was enveloped in the decayed boughs of trees, amongst which the hazel was readily to be found. This magnificent specimen measures .. FT. IN. From the top of the head to the lower part of the jaw 25 3 0 12 1 4 11" Girt of the horn (as now remaining, the external coating The following sketches of the humerus of this monstrous animal and also of that of a modern ox, eighty-five stone in weight, (both drawn to the same scale), show how vastly superior in bulk the ancient ox must have been. Various articles belonging to the modern era have also been found in the peat marshes, but the greater part of them, it is much to be regretted, have been dispersed and lost. Had they been preserved in the local museum, they would form an extremely varied and interesting collection, and would illustrate all the periods of human progress into which archæologists are wont to divide the earliest ages of our race. We should have, e.g., implements of the stone age, such as rude knives and arrow points wrought out of the chalk flints by our remotest ancestors, before they knew the use of metals. A muller of this character was found last year in the peat at Speen, and is now in my possession; and some are mentioned by Dr. Buckland in his paper "On the Formation of the Valley of Kingsclere," etc. "A human skull of high antiquity," he says "has been found in it (the peat near Newbury), at a depth of many feet, at the contact of the peat with a substratum of shell marl. It was accompanied with rude instruments of stone, which lead us to conclude that it was the skull of one of the aboriginal inhabitants of the island, who had not the art of working metals." Of the bronze age the peat has furnished several good examples. Perhaps the most noteworthy are two Celtic weapons discovered in the turbary at Speen in the year 1825, and now in the possession of Captain Bunny. One is a looped spear head, seven inches long, of the ordinary type. The other is thus described in the Journal of the British Archæological Association, December, 1860, p. 322, "It is of great interest and rarity, being only the second example of its kind that has been brought to light. In form it may be likened to a huge lancet-shaped barbed arrow-head, measuring 102 inches in length by 212 inches in its greatest breadth. The socket extends up the centre of the blade, and will admit a staff ten twelfths of an inch in diameter. The only other known example of this curious weapon was in 1844, dredged from the bed of the Severn, about a mile and a half below Worcester." A 1 Dr. Palmer of Newbury, who has for many years taken scientific interest in the antiquities of the neighbourhood, exhibited, it will be remembered, at the Society's Annual Meeting last year at Hungerford, several curious articles found in the peat. description of the numerous relics of the historic era, which have been found from time to time in the alluvium of the valley, would occupy too much space, and would moreover be somewhat out of harmony with the subject of this paper. My aim has been to show that the district, through which the Kennet flows, abounds with geological phenomena, well deserving our contemplation and study. No one can make those phenomena matters of thought and research without deriving from them mental profit as well as pleasure; for they open up to us a new vista of God's doings upon earth, and enable us to trace, through ages immeasurably remote from our own, the constant operation of the same Almighty power, and the merciful care of the same unfailing Providence which now surround us on every side. Verily the ground beneath us as well as the heavens above us, proclaim the glory of God. Moreover, those geological records of the past prompt us to look forward with renewed hope and trust to the future. They show us that, although every creature has from the beginning been perfect in its kind, there has yet been a constant progress from the lower to higher forms of life. What the next advance will be revelation alone declares to us; but the analogies of the past typify the changes which lie before us in the mysterious future, echoing the teaching of revelation, and aiding us to see and believe that we who are nearest to the Great Creator in the scale of being, the most recent and the most perfect of all his works, and who stand midway as it were between the material and the spiritual world, shall soon pass on to the inheritance of a higher and better life, and "a new heaven and a new earth." Figures 1, 2, 4, 5, are casts of wood blocks engraved for the Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, [Geology of Berkshire and Hampshire, sheet No. 12], and courteously lent by the Council for the illustration of this paper. 287 Another Guess at the Name of Tan Hill. DEAR SIR, To the Editor of the Wiltshire Magazine. COME little time ago I was reading the accounts of the Clerk of the Fabric of Sarum Cathedral from 1558 to 1600, and amongst other entries there occurred the repairs of the various gates of the Close. The following are the names given to the gates. The Northe gate, the Close gate, Harneham, Harnam (1579), Bogmore, Seynt Anne's gate, St. Anne's gate, Sin tan gatte (1579), tangate, (1583) tanegate (1585). Now at present there are three gates to the Close which are under the control of the Dean and Chapter, and with a little investigation, the above names will be found to suit these three gates. Thus the first two are identified in one place thus, "The Northe gate callyd the close gate." This would be the one now commonly known as High Street gate, and was no doubt called The Close gate as being the most important. It is built across what once was the principal street of the city, called of old times "hyghe strete alias Mynster Street," which leads from Old Sarum. Through this gate all the processions entered the Close and passed on to the Great West Door. This is done to this day at the enthronization of a Bishop, and marks still the pre-eminence of this gate. Harnham gate still bears the name and does not seem to have had any other. Bogmore gate seems strange at first; but there is but one gate chargeable to the fabric fund of the Cathedral which abuts upon the part known by that name; and this gate is that now known as S. Ann's gate. The name Bogmore gate occurs only once, viz: in 1591, when perhaps the scribe may have had scruples about giving it the ancient name. There now remain for consideration the last five names; and though probably few would doubt their identity, yet it may perhaps be well to give grounds for supposing the latter names to be corruptions of the two former. The two first are entries by an earlier scribe who was careful about the spelling, and commonly spelled the same word in the same way. One exception occurs here. The chief glazier he calls Peter Rowce or Rowse and Peter Rufus. But in 1579 he gave way to a forerunner of Mr. Pitman who felt called upon to spell phonetically. This is interesting as affording a clue to Wiltshire pronunciation at that time. Thus he spells "home," "whom;" washing he spells as doubtless he pronounced it "weyeshinge;" and a Wiltshire man would at once recognize wood under the spelling "hood;" and a fallen ash he describes as “a volen ashe." At times he cannot please himself, and records money spent upon "grene durranes" for articles which he spells variously, as "queshons, quissiones, cossinges, coshines: " the second is his favourite variation. Then the Bishop's throne was lined with "yolow taffita sasenet," and his "curtenes" were of "yolow sylke." This will suffice as a sample. This same scribe too had a tendency, arising from his phonetic spelling, to put the final consonant of one word on the open vowel of the following: thus, It. paid for iij ellnes of loceram for to lyne the best pulpit iij. ix. cloth at xvd. a nellne .... } This then prepares us to learn that this scribe it is who spells "Harnam" phonetically and gives us the following forms: 1579. June. It. payd to Hancocke the smith for mending the bares of sin tan gatte... 1585. ..... ...... } iiije. viijd. vjd. It. for a nue keay, and mendinge the locke of tangate.. It. for mendinge the locke of the bare of tane gate The first entry seems to me mark a transitional state, which makes sure of the latter variation. There still remains the question why should this gate alone be called after a saint. It seems ever to have been called after S. Anne, and the Chapel over it was dedicated in honor of S. Anne. The street too leading to it is called S. Anne's Street. The reason seems to have been this: as the Blessed Virgin was regarded by |