with two or, generally speaking, three layers of ashes. It appeared that at different times the enemy had come down in great force, and dislodging for a time the mural garrison, they burned everything that was combustible; then, on the enemy being driven out again, the Romans did not clear out the debris, but built on the top of the old ashes and refuse. Thus, in these excavations, they read the history of the Roman wall for centuries. Certainly, as soon as the Romans vacated the country, the Caledonians came down, and, if they could not take vengeance on the Romans, they took vengeance on everything that remained; they smashed all the vessels and altars, and it was a fact that very seldom had a perfect altar or image been found. In this manner the marks of burning might be accounted for, without going to the theory of burning dead bodies. The Romans, indeed, did burn dead bodies; but they also buried them unburned, as was shown by the discovery of unburnt human bones at some of the stations. Many of the coins found here were remarkably fine; each coin was a little picture, and very often the picture had an important history. By ascertaining what coins most prevailed, and taking into account the length of the Emperor's reign, they could form a tolerably accurate notion when the garrison here was strongest and in full force. The most common coins were those of Trajan, Vespasian, and Nerva.

Mr. SHIPMAN-There are most of Trajan.

Dr. BRUCE-Trajan died in 117, and his successor, Hadrian, was here-perhaps on this very hill-in the year 120; and at the beginning of Hadrian's reign the coins of Trajan would be in general use; so that, by referring to these coins, we seem to get a notion that in Hadrian's time, when the quarries over there Coombe Craig and Lannerton were being wrought, the garrison here was in full force. Holding up some rich Samian ware, the Doctor said it was not manufactured on the Island, but was imported from Gaul, Spain, and Germany; and to show its value, he mentioned that they often found it, when broken, to be welded together with lead, and the name of the owner was often scratched upon it, as in some of the specimens here. Another article which excited some curiosity, was a filtering vessel, which Mr. LONGSTAFF jocularly suggested was a Roman teapot.

Mr. CLAYTON-At any rate, they are remains of civilization proving the presence of the Roman officers and their ladies. Dr. BRUCE We often find nursing bottles, such as they feed babies with. (Laughter.) He also showed the remains

of

of something very like a corkscrew; and an ancient lamp stand. Conceive (he said) the miserable life the Romans must have had here in the dark nights of winter, in our cold and chilly atmosphere, with no newspapers or books, and relieved only by the little twinkle of a lamp like this. Taking up the top of a massive green glass bottle, he remarked that wherever they had a Roman Station, glass was found. We had a notion that it was brought into England about the time of Bede: but here was glass that had been buried at least 1600 years, and which from its form was incontestibly Roman. It was satisfactory to find, from this, that the Romans had some comforts and somehow or other managed to get their Falerian. (Laughter).

Mr. CLAYTON-(who himself owns the sites of three Roman stations) said it was quite clear this had been a place of considerable civilization, having been chosen from its sheltered situation as the residence of the superior officers. That the Romans had their ladies with them was evident from the exquisitely cut earrings which were commonly found.

The company then went round the grounds, Mr. SHIPMAN and Dr. BRUCE acting as ciceroni, and pointing out the outlines of the old fortifications. In the garden they were shown a huge conical-shaped stone. Dr. BRUCE said they were aware the Romans had no gunpowder, but they had a contrivance for projecting stones by an engine called balista, and he supposed this was one of those stones, but why it had this conical shape, he was not sufficiently learned in the law of projectiles to explain.

Mr. TASKER-It's just the Minie bullet on a large scale. Mr. CHARLES J. FERGUSON-How the machine itself was worked is shown in a marvellous way in Poynter's painting in the Academy this year.

Dr. BRUCE was not aware that the Romans knew the principle upon which the Minie bullet worked; but they knew more than we gave them credit for.

ART.

ART. XII.-Anglo-Saxon Inscription at Drawdykes Castle. By the Rev. John Maughan, Rector of Bewcastle.

Read at Nether Denton, June 23rd, 1868.

R. CARR, of Hedgely, Alnwick, in a letter to Mr. that characters

are Anglo-Saxon Romanesque, such as were used in the later Saxon period; and he conjectured the meaning of it to be "Be all men nigh the ministrations of Christ's Church,"-no inappropriate inscription on the wall of a Saxon Church. But after examining the inscription and reading Mr. Carr's paper, Mr. Maughan had come to the conclusion that the inscription was of later date than that assigned to it by Mr. Carr, and had a memorial reference to Alan de Peniton who was a burgess of Carlisle and mayor in the year 1287. In 1282, wrote Mr. Maughan, we have a record of his having assisted Edward I. with a loan for his wars in Wales. The Penningtons (or de Penningtons) were an ancient and celebrated family in the west of Cumberland, and Alan was a common family name. Many of them were engaged in border warfare. They formerly wrote their name de Penitone, or de Penitona. The monogram B may stand for BID-pray thou for the soul ALINAI DE PENITONA-of Alan de Peniton. В may also perhaps have been intended for BECN-becon, or gravestone which may have been a well-known formula for memorial stones. The monogram C. K. might represent conjux karissima, "his most affectionate wife (dedicates this). The expression conjux karissima occurs in the large Roman inscription which is built into the south wall of the castle; and as both stones possibly came from Carlisle, the expression might readily suggest itself to the writer of the later legend. The letters C. K. might also stand for conjugis karissima, "pray for the souls of Alan de Peniton and his very dear wife." The oblong figures in which B. and C. K. are inserted might be intended to represent the graves in which the bodies were deposited. C. K. might also stand for conservet kristus -"Christ preserve him." It is possible that Alan de Peniton, the Mayor of Carlisle, may have been buried in the cemetery attached to the Blackfriars convent near Carlisle. The building and site, including of course the burial ground, are supposed to have been granted to the Aglionby family, and it was

probably

probably here that Camden saw the Roman inscription which is now in the south wall of Drawdykes Castle, having been placed there by John Aglionby, who may have transferred this gravestone and some other stones at the same time, considering them all as objects of curiosity and worthy to be preserved. John Aglionby was a clever man and a good scholar. In and near the Nunnery we find many inscribed stones which he placed there. He also built one of the monuments on Burgh Marsh to mark the spot where Edward I died We may therefore pardonably assume that he may have attached a special value to this stone, conceiving it to be a record of the Mayor of Carlisle, or at least one of the Penningtons, with whom he may have been connected.

ART. XIII.-Lanercost Priory. By Richard S. Ferguson and Charles J. Ferguson.

Read at Lanercost.

THE

HE generally received local histories tell us that William the Conqueror, when he parcelled out England among his followers, bestowed the whole county of Cumberland upon Ranulph de Meschines, or Di Micenis, the husband of his niece, and appointed him Earl of Carlisle or Cumberland. They then go on to say that the Earl, thus enriched and appointed, in accordance with the system of feudal tenures then customary, divided out his Earldom into eleven baronies, one of which-namely the Barony of Gilsland-he gave unto a relotive of his, Hubert de Valibus, or Vaux. The local histories further say that the previous possessor of the Barony of Gilsland, or at all events of large estates in the territory thus made into the Barony of Gilsland, was one Beuth, either an Anglo-Saxon, or as his name may seem to indicate, one of the many Norwegians who had settled in the northern counties of England. The stronghold of this Beuth was at a place called Castle Steads, which had formerly been, under the name of Petriana, a fortified station on the Roman Wall, overlooking the then wild valley of the Irthing, and within a short distance of the place where the great Roman Road, known as "The Maiden Way," crossed the wall. This Beuth had also estates

in

in Bewcastle, a place that took its name (as it is said) from him, and the castle built by him there. Beuth was by no means inclined to give up his lands to the Norman invader, but he was by force dispossessed and banished from Cumberland. He fled into Scotland with his infant son, Giles Beuth, called in the register of Lanercost, Gil-fil-Beuth.

6.

Gilles Beuth (as the story goes) grew up a disinherited man and a malcontent, and revenged himself upon his oppressors by laying waste the county of Cumberland to the utmost of his power. At last, in King Stephen's time, when the Scots were in the language of the chroniclers of the day, let into Cumberland, Gilles Beuth contrived, aided by the Scots and by the Gilsland tenantry, who considered him as the rightful owner of the property, to dispossess Hubert de Vallibus, the whole county of Cumberland being in fact overrun by the Scots. When Cumberland was retaken from the Scots by Henry II., that monarch, by deed, regranted and confirmed the Barony of Gilsland to Hubert de Vallibus, then an extremely old man. Hubert de Vallibus was shortly afterwards succeeded in the barony by his eldest son, Robert de Vallibus, as Denton says, a valorous gentleman, and well learned in the law of this land." Gilles Beuth continued to disturb Robert de Vallibus, in his barony, as he had formerly disturbed Hubert de Vallibus. Negotiations were at last entered into between them, and a meeting was arranged at Castle Stead's, then the stronghold of de Vallibus. At this meeting De Vallibus "treacherously "slew the said Gilles Beuth which shameful offence made "him leave arms and betake to his studies at the Inns of "Court, where he became so great a proficient that he was "made Justice Itinerant into Cumberland, and came there in "1176." His colleague on the circuit was Ranulph de Glanville, Chief Justiciary of England. Before this date Robert de Vallibus had been Custos of Carlisle, and in 1174 he had defended that city against the long seige of William the Lion of Scotland, the story of which is told by Jordan Fantosme. In fact, as Denton says, "He became of so much "account with king Henry II., that he did little in Cumberland "without Robert's advice and council; yet could not his con"science be at quiet, until he made atonement for the murder "of Gilles Bueth, by endowing Holy Church with part of that "patrimony which occasioned the murder, and therefore he "founded the priory of Lanercost, in Gilsland." Castle Steads, the scene of the murder, was included in the lands bestowed on the new foundation, and the legend is that the tower in which