The Cistercian Abbey of Rievaulx owes its foundation to a mission from Clairvaux, sent to England under the direction of St. Bernard in 1131. Waverley Abbey in Surrey, and Tintern in Monmouthshire, daughter houses of L'Aumône, were already in existence, having been founded in 1128 and 1131, the first Cistercian houses in England. A beginning having thus been made in the South, it was no doubt a matter of policy that the order should be planted in the North also, and Rievaulx came into existence, the first of that splendid company of Yorkshire Cistercian houses which numbers Byland, Fountains, Jervaulx, Kirkstall, and Roche among its members. A benefactor was found in Walter le Spech or l'Espec, who gave in his charter of foundation nine carucates of land in Griff and Tilstone, and with this endowment the monastery was started, receiving no considerable increase of revenue till 1145, when the founder added Bilsdale to their lands. In spite of this Rievaulx must have grown quickly, for colonies went from it to inaugurate new monasteries at Melrose in 1136, Warden in the same year, Dundrennan in 1142, and Revesby in 1143. But a grant of a site at Rushen, given by Olaf, King of Man, could not be accepted for lack of any one to send to take possession.

Harlyn Bay is situated about the middle of the north coast of Cornwall, near Trevose Head, on the west of the estuary of the Camel, about four miles from Padstow. A number of discoveries of great archaeological importance have been made there and in the neighbouring bay of Constantine on the west; but so far no critical summary of the whole evidence in the light of recent knowledge has been attempted. The fullest account is that by the late Rev. R. Ashington Bullen (3rd edition, published at Harlyn Bay by Colonel Bellers in 1912). The site is one of considerable interest to the geologist as well as the archaeologist; and the scenery is very beautiful.

The discoveries will be described in the following order:

1. The cemetery and midden at Harlyn Bay.

2. The midden on Constantine Island and on the adjacent mainland.

3. The midden and medieval remains near Constantine Church.

4. The barrows on the cliffs between Harlyn Bay and Mother Ivey's Bay.

A panel (pl. x), which is of oak, 3 ft. 7½ in. high, and 18 in. wide, with a painting of the Annunciation in gold and colours was purchased recently from a small dealer in Bury St. Edmunds by Mr. A. H. Fass. It presumably came originally from that neighbourhood; but nothing further is known of its history.

In a previous paper which I had the honour to submit to the Society on Silchester and its affinities to the pre-Roman civilization of Gaul, I described the definite resemblances in form of town-plan and other features of the settlement type to be found at Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) and other similar early sites in this country, to known settlements of the Gauls in France and Northern Italy. From this I concluded that a considerable immigration of Gauls took place from France to this country somewhat prior to the first century of our era and subsequent to the expeditions of Julius Caesar; that a permanent settlement of these Gauls in South Britain resulted, and that they retained their national customs and institutions throughout the Roman and well into the Saxon period of our history. I further suggested that the general direction of this immigration was from the mouth of the Seine to the Sussex coast and inland towards the Berkshire Downs and the head-waters of the Thames. In the present paper an attempt is made to indicate with some measure of precision the main route followed by the immigrants towards the interior, and the area of their settlement.

By permission of Lord Boston I am able to exhibit the following objects found in and near the Thames at Hedsor:—

A neolithic bowl.

Three chipped flint celts.

A flint Thames pick.

Two bronze spear-heads.

Four iron spear-heads.

A bone dagger.

A Saxon bowl, and other objects.

The first item deserves full description and comment.

In the year 1919 it became necessary to excavate to a depth of 2 ft. over a given area on Worthy Down, near Winchester. At the north-east corner of the excavation a number of iron currency-bars were uncovered. None of the excavators knew what they were at the time and they were thrown aside, but one of the party, Mr. C. H. Blenkinsop, eighteen months after, on visiting the British Museum, noticed similar objects labelled ‘Iron Currency-bars’. He returned to the site, collected several bars, and brought them to me. A few days afterwards I examined the ground in his company. The excavation was oblong, with its long axis east and west, and the section exposed showed 6 in. of soil and 1 ft. 6 in. of chalk. At the north-east angle was seen what appeared to be the section of one of the sides of a shallow trench filled with earth, chalk-rubble, and burnt flints. On digging to remove the turf on the surface contiguous to this section, the spade was checked by several iron currency-bars, which lay hidden by the grass that had grown over them since they were cast out. At 1 ft. 6 in. below the surface I found the end of a bar 8⅗ in. long, which fitted on to one of the bars already in my possession. The exact position and level of the original discovery were thus known. At a depth of 2 ft. the chalk was reached. The digging was then directed eastwards, and it was found that the soil deepened. A seam of flint ‘pot-boilers’ and charcoal was met with at 2 ft. 6 in. A fragment of a human cranium, bones and teeth of (?) horse, ox, pig, and sheep, with pieces of pottery were also found. These discoveries occurred on the 13th August 1920. Further excavations were made on various dates.

The bronze object shown in fig. 1 was, according to the man from whom I got it in 1915, at Granada, found in or close to the ruins supposed to be those of Medina Elvira, near the village of Atarfe. He stated at that time that the person from whom he had bought it claimed to have found it there, a few weeks before my visit; and in 1919 he made a similar statement. This history, in spite of the seeming lack of motive for its falsification, appears at least in certain details to be incorrect, for the author of Iglesias Mozárabes speaks (p. 390) of the piece having appeared for sale at Granada in 1910 and 1914, and suggests the possibility that it had been brought there, to be sold, from some distant point, although he adds that the form of its horseshoe-shaped little arches and the heart-shaped terminals favour the idea of an Andalusian origin. Granada, as a centre of tourist traffic, tends indeed to attract to itself antiquities (real or false) not only from other parts of Spain but even from abroad (e. g. Morocco and Italy); but that an object so rare, comparatively, as the present one should, if coming from abroad, find its way there in preference to some more important centre, seems to me unlikely although not impossible.