matter, and it is therefore not improbable that the building above it was burned down, and in its fall was the occasion of the damage to the floor. One large block of stone in particular was found upon a spot where the pavement had been destroyed. This is well shown in the illustration. The broken places have been filled in with cement since the pavement was disclosed.

The colouring of the pavement is extremely rich and of very handsome design. It was originally, apparently, 18 ft. square, the portion that remains measuring 15 ft. each way. It consists of nine octagons (seven of them enclosing circles), surrounded severally and collectively with a rope ornament, the spandrels being filled in with rectangular figures. The border is a design in shell ornament.

The central design consists of a peacock, enclosed in a very beautiful circular guilloche-like border. The bird itself is admirably formed. It is greatly to be deplored that the body is injured; the head, neck, legs and tail remain, and these are of blue tesserae, with the exception of the tail, which is red, dark-brown and yellow, with blue eyes. To east and west of this central octagon (which faces towards the east), that is, above and below it, are a pair of octagonal box ornaments, and to the two sides, north and south, two circular designs which are also similar to one another. The four corner designs, circular within the octagon, are alike in form, but differ in the arrangement of colour, the two to the east being alike, and similarly the two to the west.

The smaller pavement lies to the west of the larger one, and is continued more towards the south. It is separated from the other by an interval of 4 ft., but a large part of this must have been taken up with the lost border of the larger piece. As the margin of the smaller piece is also defective, it is possible that the two originally joined, or they may have been separated by a wall. The smaller pavement is, however, higher than the larger, the difference being 11 ins. at the highest point, while the southern end falls away to about 6 ins. It is not so uneven as the larger piece, and is much plainer. It is of two parts; the northern two-thirds has a simple diagonal pattern, alternately of gnomons and squares, in white upon a grey ground. This is enclosed in a white rectangular border, having a broader strip of grey outside it, with indications of red still further outside this.

The other southern third of the oblong is of plain grey stones, with red ends, the grey ground being dotted over with clusters of five white tesserae, arranged in the form of a cross. The dimensions of the whole oblong pavement are 19 ft. 6 ins. in length, by 7 ft. at the north end, and 5 ft. 6 ins. at the south. The north part must have been 3 ft.

wider originally, it is now 14 ft. by 7; while the southern third, where the pavement narrows, is 5 ft 6 ins. by 5 ft. 6 ins.

The position of the two pieces is shown in the plan below.

The condition of the smaller pavement is as good as when it was laid down.

We are glad to know that it is proposed to keep the pavements intact, and to allow public inspection on payment of a small sum.

We are indebted to the Rev. W. G. Whittingham, Rector of South Wigston, Leicester, and to Mr. H. J. C. Valpy, of the same town, for the foregoing account of the two beautiful Roman pavements recently discovered there. Leicester, we may remind our readers, is the Roman

Rate, which was an important station on the Fosse Way, in the direct line from Aquae Sulis to Lindum. The photograph from which the illustration is derived was taken by Mr. H. Pickering, of Leicester, and gives a very clear idea of the beauty of the larger pavement, and also shows the damage which it unfortunately suffered when the city was burnt.

Ancient Entrenchments at Uphall, near Ilford, Essex.-Within seven miles of the Bank of England may yet be seen the remnant of an old encampment, whose origin, be it early British, or Roman, or Danish, is "lost in the twilight of fable". It existed probably in the prehistoric days of our Island, and can be dated back for at least eighteen centuries.

The earthworks are situated on the east bank of the river Roding, on land which is naturally higher than that on the other side, and about mid-distant between the ancient town of Barking, and Ilford, in which new parish the land is now comprised.

PLAN OF EARTHWORK REMAINS AT UPHALL.

NEAR-ILFORD ESSEX. AUGUST 1898 Walter: Grouch

The whole area of this " camp" occupies over forty-eight acres; but many centuries of farming operations have, in the end, so levelled the works that only a portion has been visible for some years past. The best-preserved remnant is at the north-west corner, close by the river, consisting of a mound some 28 ft. in height, which is much