calcined and blanched to a light buff colour, and the soft clay beneath was reddened to a depth of 6 inches by long exposure to heat. The tile floor in front was similarly reduced to a dirty grey by the hot ashes; and the soil from within the upright stone slabs enclosing the latter was impregnated with charcoal. (See plan and section, plate III, No. 1.)

The following are the interior dimensions of the furnace oval hearth, 2 feet 3 inches long by 1 foot 5 inches to I foot 8 inches wide; stoke-hole, 3 feet 3 inches long by 1 foot 4 inches wide; upright sides, 8 inches to 1 foot high. In the bottom of the furnace, on the left side, there was a blow-hole or twyer leading from the outside of the bed of clay.

In the floor of the adjoining division (2), lying closely alongside the rampart, there was a similar bed of clay, 10 feet 6 inches long by 4 feet 6 inches wide, enclosing a central oblong chamber, which may possibly have been the central pit of a composite hypocaust, used for warming the apartment, seeing that the whole interior lining was calcined by heat, and there was a narrow flue leading obliquely from one corner and traces of a stokehole at the opposite end. If this supposition as to its purpose be correct, there would originally be a hard burnt clay floor covering the chamber, of the same kind as was found in a more complete example discovered on the west side during the present year (1900), described subsequently.

The interior dimensions were: central chamber, length 5 feet, width 1 foot 6 inches to 2 feet; height of upright sides, 9 inches; horizontal flue, length 2 to 3 feet, width 10 inches, depth 5 inches.

Outside the walled enclosure, in nearly a direct line westward from those just described, there were two beds of clay of somewhat larger area-(1) 8 feet by 6 feet, (2) 11 feet by 6 feet-which enclosed in their reddened and calcined interior the bases of a

FIG. I

FIG. 3

FIG. 4

No. 3

A

BASES OF FURNACES, PIT AND SQUARE WELL (PLAN AND SECTION)

ROMANO-BRITISH CIVITAS AT WILDERSPOOL

No. 2

IRON SMELTING FURNACES FOUND AT WILDERSPOOL 1839

FIG. 2

GENERAL PLAN AND SECTIONS OF IRON SMELTING FURNACES
AND SUPPOSED GLASS FURNACES (NORTH SIDE)
WILDERSPOOL, NEAR WARRINGTON

H

heating furnace or central pit of a composite hypocaust, the walls of which were too much broken down for their intended purpose to be recognised.

The dimensions of the enclosed chambers were: (1) length, 4 feet 6 inches, width, 2 feet, (2) diameter, 3 feet.

A rare medallion of Domitian, much corroded, was found directly underneath the north end of the clay floor (2).

Outside the south-west angle of the enclosure, a square pit or well, 3 feet 6 inches across, and 7 feet 8 inches deep, below the present surface, steined with unhewn sandstone blocks about halfway up, when cleared was found to contain, besides. the usual potsherds of common soft red and black unglazed ware and a few pieces of Samian, fragments of a grey vase with raised frilled edges covering the bulge in a sort of honeycomb pattern, little bits of Castor ware with raised knobs in slip, two inch iron nails, bits of lead and bone, and a piece of Roman mirror about 1 inch square, containing so large a proportion of silver in its composition as to be still smooth and polished on its front surface.

During the past three seasons (1898-9-1900), no fewer than twenty similar artificial stages or floors, built up of massive boulder-clay, and enclosing the remains of furnaces, flues, hypocausts, ovens, &c. have been examined and recorded. They afford. traces of various industries, and differ from anything previously described. The possibility of explaining their destination is as much due to the light they throw upon one another as to the associated "finds," which are purely RomanoBritish in character.

In addition to those previously noted, only four others were uncovered during 1899, but these are of sufficient importance and complexity to occupy the remainder of this report.