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Show 194 BURIAL OF THE REMAINS CIIAP. IV. a castle; and it is certain that they have been re1noved. The position of the nave-transept was ascertained not long ago by the foundations having been found ; and the place is now marked . by stones let i11to the ground. Where the abbey formerly stood, there now extends a smooth gra - covered surface, which resembles in all respects the rest of the field. The guardian, a very old man, said the surface had never been levelled in his ti1ne. In the year 1853, the Duke of Buccleuch had three holes dug in the turf within a few yards of one another, at the western end of the nave; and the olu tesselated pavement of the abbey was tlm ~ discovered. These holes were afterwards surrounded by brickwork, and protected by trap-doors, so that the pavement might be readily inspected and preserved. When n1y son William examined the place on January 5, 1872, he found that the pavement in the three lwles lay at depths of 6i, 10 and 11 ~ inches Leneath the surrou11ding turfcovered surface. The old guardian asserted that he was often forced to remove worm-castin,(n::l from the pavement; and that he had done CrrAP. IV. OF ANCIE~T BU[LDINGS. 19.- so about six months before. M:y son collected all from one of the holes, the area of wl1ich was 5· 32 square feet, and they wei()'hed 7·D7 ounces. Assuming that this amount hal accumulated in six months, the accumulation during a year on a square 'yard would be 1·68 pounds, which, though a large am unt, is very small compared with what, as we have seen, is often ejected on fields alHl commons. When I visited the abbey on June 22, 1877, the old 1nan said that he had cleared out the holes about a month before but a good many castings had since been' ejected. I suspect that he imagined that he swept the pavements oftener than he really did, for the conditions were in several respects very unfavourable for the accumulation of even a moderate a1nount of castiugs. The tiles are rather large, viz., about 5~ inche:;, square, and the mortar between them was in 1nost places sound, so that tho worms were able to bring up earth fr01n below only at. certain points. 'rhe tiles rested on a bed of concrete, and the castings in consequence consisted in large part (viz., in the proportion of 19 to 33) of particles of mortar, grains of 0 2 |