Mr. A. Wright, in a letter to our Secretary of 8th November 1923, called attention to a number of medieval tiles found in the church of Llangattock-nigh-Usk, a few miles from Abergavenny. With one exception they belong to the well-known Great Malvern series, made there and at Droitwich about the middle of the fifteenth century, as we know from the discovery of kilns at those places in 1833 and 1837 respectively, still containing some of the tiles. The Malvern tiles have been described in the past by two Fellows of this Society: Mr. Albert Way in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1844, pt. ii pp. 25–31 (reprinted in Nott's Malvern Priory Church), and Canon A. S. Porter in the Antiquary, vol. xxi (1890), pp. 71, in, 155. But a good deal remains to be said about them, and it may be worth while to take this opportunity of adding some notes about the types which occur at Llangattock.

The recent exhibition by Mr. Hunter Blair of the seal matrix of John de Levermonde or Learmouth, belonging to Mr. R. C. Bosanquet, affords an opportunity of putting together a few notes on a peculiar class of matrix of which that of John de Levermonde is an example. Their interest lies in the fact that the centre portion, on which is engraved the device, is made to screw out about an eighth or a quarter of an inch, thus enabling the device to be used, without the legend, as a secret. So far I have record of eight examples, all except one of silver, which are, or at least till quite recently were, extant. Although it is unlikely that this class of matrix was ever at all common, being probably but a passing fashion, yet these few surviving examples cannot represent a tithe of those that were made, and it is possible that a considerable number of small seals without legends, of which impressions only exist, belongs to this class. But unless examples should be found in both states, with and without the legend, it is impossible to be certain.

At the time when I presented my last report the excavation of the ditch had nearly reached a point where the avenue approaches it. In anticipation of our arrival at this position the top of the counterscarp had been laid bare for —a width of 2 ft. in order that a good view of the avenue end, both in plan and section, might be obtained. The details shown were, however, disappointing, for when the south-east trench of the avenue appeared it presented an insignificant-looking, angular section in the bank about 18 in. deep and 3 ft. wide in top measurement, the apex of the angle cutting a groove in the solid chalk below. Where the extremity of the groove approached the ditch it ended at 8 in. from the side, leaving a ridge of undisturbed chalk, and indicating that the ditch was of earlier construction. The contents of the ditch showed that there had been no attempt to carry the avenue across it, nor was there any sign of it on the opposite side. The avenue bank was barely discernible and it is rather doubtful if it came quite to the edge of the ditch. It gave the impression that when making it the builders allowed their work to fade out as they approached the edge. The ditch continued an unaltered course independently of the proximity of the avenue.

In the course of a conversation with the writer, the late Émile Cartailhac, of Toulouse, once expressed the opinion that, in localities where copper ore was plentiful and easily smelted, true Neolithic culture without the knowledge of the use of metal for purposes of tool-making was of brief duration as far as Europe and the Mediterranean basin were concerned. This applies to many parts of Spain, and we therefore should expect and do find a rich Aeneolithic culture flourishing over large areas of the country, while in neighbouring parts of Europe still only stone was employed for purposes of tool-making. It is important to study this culture, since it had its influence on the development of the early metal cultures elsewhere. Certainly a close connexion existed between parts of north-west Spain and Ireland from very early times, for certain engravings on rocks in Galicia recall some of those occurring in Ireland (e.g. those on the stone of Clonfin-lough). Further, a number of dolmens, resembling those found in many places in Ireland (e.g. those near Sligo), occur in very large numbers in many districts—notably in south-east Portugal, on the Spanish frontier.

The site adjoining the septic tanks and filters of the Byfleet and Pyrford sewage works was, on the occasion of some discoveries in 1922-3, described in the press as a Pottery-village, but has now been shown to have been occupied in the late Neolithic and Early Iron Ages by pit-dwellers who left behind plentiful traces of their culture in the shape of potsherds, and manufactured pottery on the spot, as four large kilns were uncovered and one small one, made expressly for firing the largest urn (fig. 7 A). The recovery of these relics is due to Mr. A. Choate, Engineer-in-charge of the pumping station about half a mile distant, aided by his family and others, their careful excavation and assembling of the pottery (mostly in small fragments) deserving special commendation. A representative selection of the two periods concerned has been ceded to the British Museum, and this is the first description of a discovery that adds its quota to our knowledge of local conditions in prehistoric times.

The Antiquaries Journal for January, 1924, contained an article by Mr. A. D. Passmore on ‘the Age and Origin of the Wansdyke’. So little excavation has been done on Wansdyke up to the present, and its course is so imperfectly known, that I think the time has hardly come for these questions to be profitably discussed. But it is all the more important that the known facts about the dyke should be accurately presented, and it is this that leads me to offer some comments on Mr. Passmore's paper. In 1913 and the early part of 1914, and again during the last three years, I have devoted much time to tracing the actual course of Wansdyke. A detailed itinerary of its course through E. and SE. Wilts appeared in the Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine for December 1921, and a summary of results obtained in Somerset in the Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological Society for the year 1922. Any claim I have to speak upon the subject rests upon this work.

In February 1921 I read a paper to the Society of Antiquaries of London on a document dated 24th May 1652 which I showed to be the original draft of the terms of surrender of Dunnottar Castle by Sir George Ogilvie of Barras to the Parliamentary forces. That document had its chief importance in the reference which it contained to the so-called ‘Honours’ or Regalia of Scotland, which had been removed from the castle before the surrender. I had the honour of presenting that document to the nation, to be exhibited permanently in the Crown room at Edinburgh Castle, where it now is.

The task of card-indexing the enormous number of seals scattered over the various groups and classes of documents in the Public Record Office, originally undertaken by Sir William St. John Hope, but interrupted by his death and by the war, was resumed in 1922 by Mr. R. C. Fowler. It was then decided to create a small special section within the Repairing Department, to deal with questions of packing, repairing, moulding and casting. When this work came to be started, it was discovered that the various processes had been hitherto regarded in this country rather as trade secrets; and although some works on the subject have been published abroad, though also various archivists have been most generous in placing their experience at my disposal, I found that some matters which interested us were still unexplained and that in practice we had to make almost every step the subject of more or less elaborate experiment. As we are now passing out of this experimental stage, and as many Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries and other persons in this country are possessors of seals and may be presumed to have some interest in the technical and mechanical processes involved in their preservation, it has seemed worth while to record the result of our modest inquiries in this place.

In 1923 the British Museum purchased the series of barbaric ornaments and jewels in the collection of the late General Bertier Delagarde, a well-known Russian archaeologist. The acquisition was made in order to secure a more worthy representation of the culture from which the industrial art of the early Teutonic tribes, including that of the Anglo-Saxons, derived its most characteristic features. We are now able to see in proximity examples illustrating the first and last stages in a long process of development, and observe the marked identity of style in the work of peoples separated from each other in time by three or four centuries, in space by the whole length of Europe. The two plates demonstrate this identity by an instant appeal to the eye. All that is required in addition is a brief indication of the source from which this far-travelling style was derived.