In the early summer of 1902 a large and important discovery of Byzantine silver plate and gold jewellery was made at Karavás, a village close to the ancient Lapithos, about six miles west of Kyrenia on the north coast of Cyprus. The spot was not far from the monastery of Acheiropoietos, close to which another find of silver of a similar period had been made a few years previously, the objects being acquired by the British Museum and described in Archaeologia.

On January 4th of this year (1906) when visiting some works that had been started for the relief of the unemployed at Hadleigh Road, Ipswich, I was fortunate enough to discover that the high land which was being levelled was the site of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery. The slope overlooks the river Gipping, and is on the west side of the town, near the railway. (See plan, Fig. 1.) Already over 150 men had been at work for two months, little dreaming that treasures of antiquity were being thrown away at nearly every stroke of the pick. Five skeletons had been found, but these had been pronounced quite recent, and were re-interred without further notice being taken of them.

Some of those present may perhaps remember that nearly three years ago I read to the Society some specimens of Chancery Bills in the fifteenth century, in order to show the kind of information which they afford about the methods of business and the social habits of the period.

On a casual visit to the Fitzwilliam Museum on 24th October, 1904, a small brass, part of a larger one, was immediately recognised by the writer, from its resemblance to its noble confrères, as one of the long missing latten figures in the niched series forming the supports of the canopy of the great brass of Sir Hugh Hastings, in Elsing church, Norfolk, namely that of Roger, Lord Grey of Ruthin.

Roman London held a special position in the Roman province of Britain. Planted on an excellent harbour and waterway, at the meeting point of the most important roads, it quickly grew into a flourishing town. Within fifteen years of the Claudian invasion it was renowned for its trade and thronged with merchants and merchandise. Before long it became the centre of the fiscal administration, and though it was not the capital of the province, and seems never to have even attained the rank of a municipality, it received in later times the title Augusta, and a mint was set up in it. Its surviving remains fully confirm its reputation. London is the one place in our island which has yielded Roman objects of artistic merit in real abundance. In general, the province of Britain, however thoroughly Romanised, appears to have contained little of wealth and luxury, and the finest products of Roman or Romano-provincial art, whether sculpture or glass or jewelry, were seldom seen in it. So far as they do occur, they are commonest in London.

Three chief subjects are dealt with in the sculptures of medieval portals: Christ in Judgment, the Virgin Enthroned with the Infant Christ, and the Coronation of the Virgin. Of these the first is the most important.

It is proposed in this paper to give some account of a burial ground of the early Anglo-Saxon period at Mitcham, at present partially excavated.

The finds of Anglo-Saxon remains in Surrey have so far been few, and the accounts of them meagre. Of those recorded the cemetery opened at Oroydon during some road excavations in 1895 is the most important. It may be noted that Croydon is at the head of a branch of the Wandle, which river flows close to the Mitcham ground. There are some points of resemblance between the finds on these two sites, although the burnt remains discovered at Croydon have no counterpart at Mitcham.

The treasury or portion of Grod is a convenient term, based on the language of the seventeenth canon of the Council of Chelsea in 787 and other authorities, to express that portion of a Christian man's income and property which is or ought to be devoted to religious and charitable purposes, the maintenance of the bishop and clergy, the support of the sick and the poor, and the upkeep of the fabric and the necessaries of public worship. The birthright (patrimonium) of the poor, another convenient phrase which comes to us from the thirteenth century, consists of one portion only of the treasury of Grod, the part devoted to the support of the sick and the poor.

Before entering upon the consideration of the subject matter of this paper, I would mention that I found some difficulty in selecting an appropriate title for it. It appeared to me that although a generally descriptive title, perforce composed of several long names strung together, or of compound adjectives made up of such words as Greek, Phœnician, and Iberian, would be more correct, it might, at the same time, and without some previous knowledge of the subjects dealt in during the course of the paper, prove to be confusing. I hesitated between “Iberian” and “Pre-Roman.” I think that “Iberian” would, in some respects, have been a more appropriate title, because Iberian influences, both in a geographical and an ethnical sense, undoubtedly predominate, not only in the votive objects themselves, but also in other expressions of that phrase in art with which I am about to deal. “Iberian” is, however, so often and so loosely employed to denote anything and everything that comes from Hispania, that I finally decided upon “Pre-Roman.” It should, however, not be taken in this instance as the chronological definition of a period which ends with the Roman occupation of Spain in 200 B.C., because it may, and undoubtedly does, extend into several subsequent centuries; but rather as indicating that the influences which predominated in the inception of the offerings in no way derive from the Romans, and that they are traceable to pre-Roman times in the Peninsula.

One of the greatest disasters that has befallen an important historical monument in this country for over half a century was the burning of the Abbey Church of Selby in the early hours of the 20th of October last.

The subject of this paper has been suggested by a well-known story, to be found in one form or another in many a popular History of England, that the young King Henry the Third was crowned at Gloucester in 1216 with a golden circlet, because the crown of King John his father had been lost with all his other treasures in the waves of the Wash.

In the year 1855 the British Museum acquired a set of four knives with enamelled handles in a leather case decorated with incised designs. The handles are richly ornamented with shields of arms, mottoes, and floral motives in translucent enamel upon silver, the grip having in addition strips of the speckled maple-wood used in the manufacture of mazers. These knives deserve description and careful illustration both for their artistic merit and also for their historical interest, it being possible to identify the two different persons for whom the instruments and the sheath were severally made. These persons were John the Intrepid, Duke of Burgundy, father of Philip the Good, and his daughter Isabel, Countess of Penthièvre.

The South Gate could not be excavated in 1904 at the time when Houses Nos. X-XIII were laid bare, owing to the existence of a fine walnut tree which it was then impossible to remove. Permission to cut down the tree was, however, kindly given by the trustees of the late Mr. John Lysaght, in 1905, and the uncovering of the South Gate was therefore the first piece of work undertaken in that year.

The report which I have the honour of submitting to the Society, on behalf of my colleagues, of the work carried out by the Executive Committee of the Silchester Excavation Fund in 1906, is the seventeenth successive account of our investigations.

The excavations of 1906 occupied a comparatively short period, from the middle of July until the end of September, and were carried on entirely upon land belonging to Viscount Tredegar, F.S.A., President of the Oaerwent Excavation Fund Committee. The first portion of the time was spent in the exploration of a building to the nortli of the amphitheatre (Block Kn) and of the mound within and parallel to the north city wall. In Block Kn no discoveries of any special interest were made, and its plan may best be published when the examination of this portion of the mound is completed, which will probably be during the present summer.

We do not know when the English kings took up their residence at Westminster. Some slight indications suggest that Canute may have first established himself here. It is clear from the name Westminster that the Abbey was first in place, and this is confirmed by the position of the Palace, built along a narrow marshy strip between the better ground of the Abbey precinct and the river. Holyrood seems to be a parallel case of a famous religious house drawing the king's palace to its side. There is no certain evidence for the existence of the Abbey itself until the opening of the last third of the tenth century. The points in favour of Canute's residence at Westminster are as follows. His son Harold was buried in the Abbey, and according to the traditions of the house he was a great benefactor to it, presenting it with many relics, and being much attached to the Abbot Wulnoth. Gaimar, a twelfth-century writer, says that the dispute as to the tide happened at Westminster. “He was in London on the Thames, the tide was flowing near the church called Westminster, and the king stood at the strand on the sand.” The first positive evidence as to the Saxon palace is contained in William of Malmesbury's Chronicle, which tells how King Edward the Confessor was wearing his crown at Westminster, and while sitting at table one Easter Day, surrounded by nobles, he saw a vision.

I Have the honour of laying before you to-night, on behalf of my colleagues, the sixteenth detailed report of the Executive Committee of the Silchester Excavation Fund, that for the year 1905.

The excavations last year extended over the six months from 19th May to 18th November, and were carried out under the direction and supervision of our colleague Mr. Mill Stephenson, to whom we have again to express our grateful thanks for his ungrudging and freely given help.

In July of last year, on the kind invitation of Mr. J. B. Carrington, I was able, through the courtesy of the authorities of New College, Oxford, to examine at leisure the splendid crosier of their Founder, Bishop William of Wykeham, which Mr. Carrington had offered to cleanse from an accumulation of dust and dirt. One of the things at once apparent on examining the staff was its somewhat rickety condition, and in view of the fact that any mishap might be productive of deplorable injury, at the request of the College I drew up a report on the crosier and the steps that should be taken to make its several parts secure. As a consequence of this report the staff has been entrusted, on my recommendation, to Mr. C. Krall, who has carried out with his usual skill only such repairs as were absolutely necessary; it being the special instruction of the College that nothing further should be attempted. The wisdom of this course can not be too highly commended.

Early in January, 1905, the street called London Wall was opened by the Post Office authorities for the purpose of laying telephone mains. Operations were begun at Moorgate Street and were carried in an easterly direction, a deep trench being dug in the middle of the roadway. The excavations had extended past Salisbury House as far as Circus Place, when it was noticed that among the débris thrown at the side of the road were quantities of ragstone and Roman tile, showing clearly that the city wall was being cut into.

The site of the abbey of Stanley is a wide valley two and a half miles east of Chippenham, in Wiltshire. It is upon the south bank of a little river called the Marden, which rises on Calston Down some five miles to the east, and joins the Avon just above Oliippenham. Stanley owes its origin to one Drogo, a chamberlain of the Empress Maud, at whose instigation her son Henry, then Earl of Anjou, gave a place called Locwell (now Lockswell) in the manor of Chippenham in perpetual alms to Grod and St. Mary of Quarr, in the Isle of Wight, for the purpose of there founding a monastery.