IN 1901 the excavations on the Romano-British site at Wilderspool were continued in the rear of a block of buildings partially explored in 1898 and marked Insula I. on the General Plan, Plan I. (See Transactions, vol. iv., N.S., 1898, p. 17.) These foundations have a frontage of 40 feet along the inside edge of the west Via shortly after it enters the fortification at the south-west angle.

Here were uncovered (1) a hard floor of mixed sand and clay-" raddle and daub "-extending 30 feet from east to west and at least 20 feet in the opposite direction, further excavation on its north side being prevented by a large tree; (2) a square pit 3 feet 9 inches wide and 9 feet 6 inches deep (below the present surface), steined to a depth of 5 feet from the bottom with undressed sandstone blocks, situated at 25 feet south from the well cleared in 1898; and subsequently, in 1904 (3) a courtyard paved with a double layer of small boulders and cobbles, 10 feet from east to west by 9 feet, in rear of the clay oven uncovered in 1898, with (4) refuse pits underneath and at its south-east angle 7 feet 6 inches and 5 feet deep respectively.

In clearing the square pit (2) a second bronze coin of Domitian was obtained at 6 feet from the surface, in addition to abundance of the usual fragments of coarse black, grey, and red pottery, a few pieces of so-called Samian embossed and plain, cusps of teeth of horse, ox, and pig, bits of charcoal and mineral coal, iron slag and nails, &c.

Base of Furnace discovered in 1898. The socalled oven adjoining the well, which was uncovered but not dissected or destroyed in 1898, was carefully examined to ascertain its intended purpose and precise sectional measurements. It may be described as an oblong platform of dense boulder-clay (dimensions, 7 feet 6 inches by 5 feet and 2 feet 6 inches high), enclosing an oval furnace cavity (5 feet long by 2 feet 6 inches wide), with stoke-hole (2 feet 2 inches by 8 inches to i foot) at the one end and an oval hearth of calcined clay bedded on a layer of cobble-stones in front. At its opposite north-west angle there was also an opening 10 inches wide for a flue or for charging and discharging its contents without withdrawing the fire. The sides of the stoke-hole were supported with stone jambs deeply set and coated with clay, and the whole cavity was filled up with reddened clay and calcined fragments of its over-arched covering. The base of the furnace was covered with no fewer than eight layers, half an inch to three inches thick, of calcined clay in a brittle and fragmentary condition, and the sand beneath was blanched to the farther depth of a foot by longcontinued and intense heat-effects manifestly not produced by ordinary culinary operations. It was evident that a manufacturing process had been carried on in the furnace involving the employment of a great amount of heat, and in addition to the finds recorded in 1898 many interesting glass specimens, including masse, and a large piece of flint

(weighing 13 ozs.) whitened and splintered by burning, and many quartz pebbles were collected in its vicinity this year, leading to the conclusion that the calcining of flints and white quartz pebbles for making crystalline or flint glass was one of the uses of the furnace. It may also have been used for calcining limestone, of which several lumps were also met with.

Rubble Pavement, Clay Floor, and Foundations. -The General Plan I. shows an oblong pavement of rubble (12 feet from north to south by 9 feet); another similarly placed earthen floor ("raddle and daub") of very irregular shape (the complete exploration of which on the north side was also prevented by a tree); also a rude foundation of rubble running almost uninterruptedly along the edge of the Via, with occasional squared blocks in position, having mortice holes for tenons of wooden pillars, extending a distance of 120 feet northwards from the preceding. The latter was doubtless the foundation of the front walls of dwellings or shops, and the absence of return walls at right angles and presence of numerous fragments of stone roofing flags and the iron nails for fastening them render it almost certain that their superstructures were of wood.

Refuse Pit. On the outer edge of the ditch, opposite to the north end of this supposed row of shops, a rectangular rubbish pit, constructed in two adjoining sections (11 feet by 6 feet and 8 feet square respectively and uniformly 4 feet deep originally), was cleared and found to be lined with well-puddled clay and covered with a pavement of small freestone slabs and cobbles set in hard clay, with a small drain issuing from the north-west angle, and entering a main drain running north. and south. It contained a quantity of bones lying directly underneath the impervious clay covering,

including those of horse, ox, sheep or goat, and pig, all of domestic varieties, which were identified by Professor Boyd Dawkins, F.S.A., &c., and among numerous other objects those specially interesting were an oval enamel brooch; bits of crucibles with bronze adhering to the inside, fragments of flat window glass, dull on one side; three coins, a first bronze of Hadrian and two second bronze, corroded and undecipherable; many fragments of Castor ware with slip ornamentation and Samian embossed and plain; one lump of pink mortar (opus signinum); and several greyish lumps of glass waste (sandiver or scum). One of the latter analysed by Mr. F. G. Ruddock, public analyst of Warrington, was found to contain

His certificate states, "This appears to be glass, copper having been added perhaps to colour the glass."

A second bronze coin of Vespasian and another undecipherable were also found on the surface of a clay floor uncovered in the north-west corner of the field, to the north of the preceding.

Moulders' Floors.-During the present season (1904) four hard burnt floors of boulder-clay pierced with numerous small holes 2 to 4 inches in diameter (no fewer than seventy being counted in one of them) were uncovered outside the western rampart, between the latter and the iron and glass furnaces already described. For these no definite purpose could be assigned, though they were evidently moulders' floors, the holes serving probably as mould-boxes for casting a large number of small