The parish church of St. James, Nayland, Suffolk, on the Essex borders, dates mainly from the fourteenth and early fifteenth century. The rood-loft stairs are visible on the south side of the chancel arch, but the rood-screen itself has entirely gone. It was taken down apparently in the eighteenth century, or perhaps earlier, and portions of its framework, consisting of three arches, can be seen incorporated in the grained and varnished partition, fitted in front with three large ‘horse-box’ pews, below the gallery at the west end of the church.

The 1965 season's excavation at Cirencester was carried out on behalf of the Cirencester Excavation Committee from 12th July to 21st August, with a further extension until 18th September, in order to complete the work begun on the Saxon church. Grants towards the work were received from the Society of Antiquaries of London, Ministry of Public Building and Works, Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, Cirencester Archaeological and Historical Society, and the Haverfield Trust of the University of Oxford, to all of which bodies the committee extends its thanks. Approximately £4,000 was expended during the excavation. Some 200 people took part and, with such large numbers, much depended on the site supervisors without whose experience work on such a large scale would not have been possible. We were relieved of all administrative and financial problems by the unfailing support of Mr. W. A. Blythe, to whom the committee is much indebted for his services. Thanks must also go to the Cirencester Archaeological and Historical Society for much help, and for providing guides throughout the excavation. Donations by the public and purchases from the site stall totalled £250.

Since the Treasure Act (1996) came into force in England and Wales, museums have been able to acquire whole new categories of artefacts. One such category consists of sixteenth-century silver and silver-gilt dress-hooks, which have until now been poorly represented in public collections. In volume 82 of the Antiquaries Journal, Gaimster, Hayward, Mitchell and Parker presented a classification of these ornamental hooks and, through analysis of contemporary inventories and documents, suggested how they were used. In this note, the authors publish three further finds, two recently acquired by the British Museum for its type series, and a further hook, one of only two so far recorded to feature a maker's mark.

If you think the following curious Roman Antiquities worthy the notice of the Society, you will do me the honour of exhibiting them at one of their meetings. They were discovered June 28, 1800, by a labourer making a ditch at the bottom of Red Barnfield, belonging to Bradfield Farm, in the parish of Topesfield, in Essex, situate about two miles west-by-south of the ancient Roman road from Camulodunum to Camboritum.

I have the pleasure to exhibit to the Society a curious Gimmal or Gemmow Ring; which was dug up, a few months ago, by the workmen employed on some buildings belonging to George Shepley Esq. at Horsley-down, in Surrey. It was discovered about eight or nine seet below the surface of the earth, in what is called made-ground, but which appeared to have lain undisturbed for a considerable length of time. Other rings, and many ancient copper coins and medals, both Roman and English, were found near the same spot; as were the skeletons of several human bodies.

Halangy Down (fig. 1) is the lower precipitous slope of the decline from Telegraph Hill (Ordnance Survey B.M. 166. 3 ft.) to the sea at Halangy Porth and Point. Halangy Down and the earlier chambered tomb upon the crest are often referred to locally as ‘Bants Carn’. The true ‘Bants Carn’ is a considerable rock outcrop dominating Halangy Point. This escarpment faces Crow Sound, which separates the north-west part of St. Mary's from the neighbouring island of Tresco. The hill-side is sheltered by the mass of Telegraph Hill from inclement weather from the north-east and east, but is fully exposed to the south-west and west.

The existence of an ancient village site here has long been known in the islands. At the close of the last century, the late Alexander Gibson cleared away the underbrush from one of the more prominent huts and made a photographic record of its construction. Shortly after, the late G. Bonsor, of Mairena del Alcor, near Seville, in addition to excavating the chambered tomb, noted a considerable midden together with traces, of prehistoric occupation exposed in the cliffs of Halangy Porth just below the village site. Dr. H. O'Neill Hencken noted Bonsor's description of the midden, and, as nothing was known at the time of the material culture of the ‘village’, he associated the two.

The Joint Expedition of the British Museum and the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania has now completed its second season's work in Mesopotamia. This time I had with me Mr. C. J. Gadd, of the British Museum, for work upon the inscriptions; Mr. F. G. Newton (who came from Egypt to join us in January) for the architectural side; and Mr. G. M. FitzGerald for general archaeological work: to all three I am indebted for a companionship as pleasant as their help was invaluable. From Carchemish I brought two of my old native foremen, Hamoudi and Abd es Salaam, and the son of the former; owing to their presence we were able to undertake two sites at once, and while the bulk of the men were employed on clearing the Ziggurat at Ur, under the supervision of Messrs. Gadd and FitzGerald, I could devote most of my time to the excavation of Tell el Obeid, where Hamoudi was in charge of sixty local Arabs camped in tents on the ruins. The two excavations, being quite distinct in character and geographically, will be dealt with in two reports: the present account treats of Tell el Obeid, the more ancient site.

The representation of Dacian strong-points on Trajan's Column is compared with the structural evidence obtained by Rumanian archaeologists from recent excavations. There seems to be clear evidence for a specific ‘twin-fort’ plan, no doubt the result of enlargement to contain a larger garrison and bigger supplies caused by Trajan's advance into Dacia.

The Shrine of St. Swithun was, next to that of St. Thomas of Canterbury, perhaps the most famous and important in the south of England. Indeed, many of the pilgrims going to Canterbury broke their journey at Winchester in order to pay their vows at this shrine, and to rest their weary limbs for a day or two in the Guest House of St. Swithun's monastery.

The sixth season at Verulamium lasted a period of five weeks from 20th July to 24th August 1960. As the last full season of the current programme, it was designed to test one or two specific questions and to complete work already begun. Trenches were cut in insulae XIX and XXVIII in an attempt to define the south-east and south-west sides respectively of the suspected Claudian fort, but met with no success. In insula XIV a small area still outstanding was excavated down to the level of the Antonine fire: in insula XXI further work was done on building 2, to complete the plan and to salvage some painted wall plaster still remaining. In insula XXVII the stoke-hole, added perhaps as late as the early fifth century to building 2, room 15, was examined and trenches were cut to trace the further course of the fifth-century pipe-line. The main task for 1960, however, was to test the results of the proton-magnetometer survey carried out in 1959, by cutting sections across the line thus suggested for the ‘1955 Ditch’. This was done at two points, the first in insula VIII and the second just south-west of insula V, and the existence of the earthwork on the course predicted was confirmed. Later in the autumn the north-west side of the enclosure was defined by a further magnetic survey by Dr. M. J. Aitken.

The sand-pit at Glaston, Rutland, from which came the example of a rare type of Celto-Saxon fibula recorded in the Antiquaries Journal, xxviii, 169 ff., has since yielded evidence of a small cemetery. By way of preface it may be noted that the settlement which the cemetery represents is situated at a point close to the junction of the Oolitic Northampton Sands with the Lias, an observation stressed by Reginald A. Smith in his article on Anglo-Saxon remains in volume i of the Victoria History of Northamptonshire in regard to Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in the country. It is also applicable to the other known cemeteries in Rutland itself, the selection being determined by accessibility to an adequate water-supply. Reference to the geological map in the V.C.H., Rutland, i, shows that the choice at Glaston follows the general rule on an outlier that thrusts into the Lias as far as Uppingham from the north-south Oolitic band that covers the eastern half of the county.

This seal of brass very finely cut, belongs to Henrietta Maria, daughter of the Great Henry IV. of France, and wife to our Charles I. The arms are England, France, and Navarre, borne separately in a lozenge, with the words Henretta Maria, dei gratiae Angliae, Scotiae, Fravnciae, et Hiberniae, Reginae round it. The supporters of the arms are, the Lion of England and the St. Michael powdered with fleurs de lis. On the reverse, the queen at full length, under a canopy, crowned and in royal robes, with the scepter in her right hand, and the globe in her left; the arms of England on her right side and of France without Navarre, on her left; both crowned with Imperial crowns, and the same inscription round the whole.