attached to the pin for greater safety. The purpose to which this object was applied must have been to adorn the hair, or fasten the dress. Its length is 20 inches. The collection is very deficient in Celtic pottery, the most important object being the urn supposed to have contained the ashes of Bronwen the Fair, aunt to Caractacus, found on the banks of the Alaw, Anglesea.[1] The gold ornaments of this period include the Mold breastplate[2] and a considerable number of antiquities from Ireland.
The relics of the Roman occupation of Britain form the most considerable portion of the whole collection. Most of the varieties of pottery used by the Romans are to be found there. Among these should be noticed a considerable number of vessels, various in form and colour, discovered in excavations at the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, and deposited in the Museum by the Board of Ordnance. Several urns were presented by the Right Hon, the Speaker, found in 1839, near the Reading-road bridge in the parish of Basingstoke. To Mr. Diamond we are indebted for the interesting collection of fragments found in the pits at Ewell,[3] and to Canon Rogers for the remarkable specimen of red ware, bearing an inscription in unknown characters, found in the Cathedral Close at Exeter.[4] Among the bronze objects are an Egyptian figure of Osiris Pethempamentes discovered in the Roman camp at Swanscombe, in Kent. The magnificent inlaid figure of a Roman general, discovered at Barking Hall, in Suffolk.[5] The tabulæ honestæ missionis found at Sydenham and Malpas,[6] The helmet from Tring,[7] and the mirror-case from Coddenham in Suffolk.[8] Mr. Lysons and Lord Selsey deposited in the Museum the greater part of the objects engraved by the former in his Reliquæ Britannico-Romanæ;[9] while with Mr. Towneley's collection came the antiquities from Ribchester.[10] The Roman silver plate includes the splendid objects found on the estate of Sir John Swinburne in Northumberland,[11] and the dish found at Mileham in Norfolk.[12] Several glass vessels require to be
- ↑ Archaeological Jour., vol. vi., p. 238.
- ↑ Monumenta Vetusta, vol. v.
- ↑ Archæologia.
- ↑ Journal of Brit. Arch. Ass., vol. iv., p. 20.
- ↑ Monumenta Vetusta, vol. iv., Pl. 11—15.
- ↑ Lysons' Reliquiæ Britannico-Romanæ.
- ↑ Monumenta Vetusta, vol. v.
- ↑ Archæologia, xxvii., p. 359.
- ↑ Vol. ii., pl. 34—42.
- ↑ Monumenta Vetusta, vol. iv., pl. 1—4.
- ↑ Archæologia, xv., p. 393.
- ↑ Archæologia, xxix., p. 389.
