of former times. Mr. Stanley stated that he had seen several nearly similar to that exhibited, and he had obtained one, still in his possession, found in ancient workings at Amlwch Parys Mine, in Anglesea. It is of hard basalt, measuring about a foot in length, and evidently chipped at the extremity in the operation of breaking other stony or mineral substances. The miners at Llandudno observed, however, that their predecessors of former times had been unable to work the hardest parts of the rock, in which the richest ore is found, for they have recently obtained many tons of ore of the best quality from these ancient workings. The original entrance to these caverns is not now to be traced. There was some appearance of the effects of fire or smoke upon the sides and roof of the cavern, when first discovered. Mr. Stanley sent, with the relics above mentioned, another rudely-shaped implement of stone, found near Holyhead. Some of these mauls were described as "two-handed;" and Mr. Worthington supposed, from the appearances, that their use had been to drive wedges, which might serve to split the rock.
Pennant, in his notices of ancient mining in North Wales, in Roman times, states that miners have on former occasions found the marks of fire in ancient mines, which he seems to attribute to the practice of heating the rock intensely by great fires, and then splitting it by sudden application of water. He was in possession of a small iron wedge, 514 inches long, found in working the deep fissures of the Dalar Goch strata, in the parish of Disert, Flintshire. Its remote age was shown by its being much incrusted with lead ore. He states that clumsy pick-axes, of uncommon bulk, have been found in the mines, as also buckets, of singular construction, and other objects of unknown use.[1]
Mr. Buckman offered some interesting remarks on the discoveries recently made at Cirencester, of which a full account is in preparation for the publication announced by himself and Mr. Newmarch, as noticed in the last volume of the Journal. He exhibited a full-sized coloured tracing of the fine female head, an impersonation of Summer, and called attention to the chaplet of ruby-coloured flowers around her head, which, when the pavement was first found, were of a bright verdigrease-green colour, as shown in a drawing submitted to the Institute at a former meeting. On subsequent examination, it was found that these parts had become incrusted, by decomposition, with a green ærugo, the colouring matter of the ruby glass being protoxide of copper. This incrustation had been removed, and the vivid original colouring brought to light, converting the chaplet of leaves into a garland of summer flowers. Mr. Buckman has kindly promised a detailed account, with some valuable particulars regarding ancient colouring materials, the result of careful analysis, to be given in a future Journal.[2]
Mr. W. A. Nicholson, of Lincoln, communicated notices of certain rudely-shaped cylinders of baked clay, found near Ingoldmells, on the coast of Lincolnshire. These singular objects, locally called "hand bricks," having been apparently formed by squeezing a portion of clay in the clenched hand, are found in no small quantity washed up after gales of wind, by which they are dislodged from the beds of black mud off that coast, in which the hand-bricks are imbedded. The sea, as it is supposed, has encroached largely on the shores in that part of the eastern coasts, and local tradition affirms that foundations of two parish churches,
- ↑ Tour in Wales in 1773, vol. i., p. 52.
- ↑ The work illustrative of ancient Corinium, projected in a very spirited manner by Messrs. Newmarch and Buckman, as stated in our last volume, p. 437, is in a forward state, and will shortly be published. Subscribers may send their names to Messrs. Bailey, Cirencester, or Mr. Bell, Fleet Street.
