importance; it is 12 miles from the camp at Backbury Hill, in the direction of Ariconium (at Weston-under-Penyard, near Ross); 13 miles from the camp at Fownhope; 15 from Caplar; and 15 miles from Wall Hills, near Ledbury. Moreover, the protection of a fortified post would be required here for the town of Blackwardine, which seems to have been unfortified, or more probably was simply stockaded.

Lastly, 12. It may be stated that the absence of any tumuli, or other signs of warfare in the immediate neighbourhood, leads to the inference that it was too strong to be attacked, and eventually was quietly deserted.

For all these reasons there seems but little doubt that the camp at Risbury is of Roman origin and construction. The loss of its Roman name it shares with the town close by at Blackwardine, with Wall Hills, and many other places. The fact that Roman remains have never been found within the camp seems at first sight to militate strongly against the supposition of its being Roman; but this, however, is remarkably the case at Credenhill Camp, and also at Brandon, an undoubted camp of Roman construction and occupation. It would almost seem as if the soldiers' rations were prepared in the adjoining towns, and that the men received and spent their pay there also. It is, however, more probable that they were only occupied as a temporary refuge when circumstances rendered it necessary or politic to do so.

The Woolhope Club visited the camp at Risbury in 1868. The entrenchments at that time were covered with a dense growth of trees and underwood; and the inner camp was a hop-yard, planted also with young orchard trees. The camp then seemed to be what it is represented on the old Ordnance map-a simple elongated oval-and was considered to be British in structure. Now that the embankments have been happily cleared, it is evident that its form is a parallelogram somewhat irregular in outline, as you will see clearly represented in the tracing now shown of the new Ordnance Survey. The great strength and scientific construction of the earthworks is now well shown, and it has become one of the most interesting camps in the county to visit and study. Belonging to the Silurian series are many British camps unaltered by the occupation of others, as the Bache Camp, Croft Ambery, Thornbury, Herefordshire Beacon, Coxwall Knoll, Gaer Camp, Caplar Camp. British camps afterwards occupied and altered by the Roman troops are not rare, as at Ivington Camp, Sutton Walls, Wall Hills, Wapley Camp, Credenhill Camp, and probably others also. But of camps originally constructed by Romans in Herefordshire, Brandon Camp, opposite Coxwall Knoll, and Risbury Camp, are the best examples, with Dinedor, Backbury, Haffield, Fownhope, and some other smaller posts for temporary occupation.

Some little discussion then took place on the papers, for this camp has always been considered before to be British, and admitting it to be Roman, it was thought it could not have been used as a garrison station, but only as a temporary refuge, since if it had been permanently occupied, some traces of a residence there must have appeared during its cultivation.

The noticeable plants found on the great vallum were a rare variety of the Hawkweed Picris called arvalis, and on its Western side a patch of that curious plant the Stinking Iris, Iris fœtidissima. The way was now taken for Humber Church, which was reached just in time to afford shelter from a heavy storm. The Church consists of a nave, chancel, and ancient oak porch on the south side, with a tower at the west end covered with a shingle spire. The chancel is unusually long compared with the nave. There is a modern transept on the north side with an ancient door now walled up, and a priest's doorway south of the chancel. At the east end are two Early lights with a circular one above. Between the two lights is a very large projecting stone corbel, probably used for a statue in early days. There is also a piscina, or aumbry, in the south chancel wall. The upper part of the font is Norman, which it was stated had been found by the present incumbent, the Rev. H. V. Bacon, in a neighbouring garden, and had been remounted and replaced for the service of the church. It is worthy of remark also that several blocks of Travertine stone were observed in the walls of the Norman and Early English portion of the church, a proof of the existence of springs depositing lime-petrifying springs as they are called-existing in the immediate district. The church has been thoroughly restored inside and out, the last addition being the shingle spire, in memory of the late Rev. Philip H. Scudamore Stanhope, Rector of the parish.

The rain still came down heavily, so the time was utilized by reading the paper on the discoveries at Blackwardine, which Mr. T. Davies Burlton had been kind enough to prepare for the Club, which was illustrated by his own photographs, and a collection of Roman pottery, red and black, which had been kindly brought by Mr. Wadeley, of Stoke Prior. Some of the pottery was thick and coarse, portions of large jars, with a mouth 11 and 13 inches wide; but other portions were much finer, Samian ware, and turned. There were also several Roman coins, which are specially noticed in Mr. Burlton's paper.

Blackwardine lies close to Humber, on the other side of the brook, and the footpath was taken under Mr. Wadeley's guidance just over the bridge. He pointed out the fields in which most of the remains had been found-indeed broken pieces of pottery were thickly scattered about-and in one part of the railway cutting, near the surface, some 40 or 50 yards of charred material 18 inches thick were observed. A sharp look-out was kept for any traces of defence to the old town. There is a steep escarpment towards the brook for some distance, and the border of the two fields containing the remains is some three or four feet higher than the adjoining ground, which, whether natural or artificial, could easily have been stockaded. The rain however was relentless, and although an enthusiastic botanist went through some ten or twelve yards of some high clover to gather the Clover Dodder, Cuscuta trifolii, there was a limit, the archæologists thought, to investigation under such circumstances, so the way was taken across a turnip field-how fresh and happy the turnips looked, holding up the great drops of water they had been so long drooping for !—and it was decided to walk on at once by the line to Stoke Prior on the return to Leominster.

The church at Stoke Prior is quite modern. It was built in 1862-3 on the

site of the old church, which is said to have been Norman in style. The old roof is replaced, said to have been originally erected during the protectorate of Cromwell (1658), but the Church has lost such early architectural features as it may have had. Some interesting old Priory buildings exist at Stoke Prior, now used as farm buildings. They belonged probably to the Priory Church of Leominster, to which this church was a chapel of ease, and the living is still in the gift of the Vicar.

The members had a good hour to spare at Leominster. The majority went to see the ancient and beautiful Priory Church, under the guidance of Mr. Robert Clarke. One had the pleasure of visiting the most interesting collection of plants in the county, in the gardens of Mr. Henry Newman; but the palm for perseverance in the Club's work of the day must be awarded to the Rev. Augustin Ley, who employed the time happily in botanizing the ditches in the Lugg Meadows and the banks of the river. He brought back some treasures. Many forms of roses and brambles had been met with during the day, but in the Lugg Meadows at Leominster, Mr. Ley gathered the bramble Rubus cœsius pseudo-idæus, the first time it has been found in Herefordshire. The Polygonum maculatum was very fine on the Lugg here; and in one ditch he found the very local species Schrophularia Ehrharti, Ehrhart's Figwort, growing plentifully. It is a plant that has been long known in the Leominster district. It grows, too, at Croft, and near Hereford. The most interesting plant Mr. Ley found, however, was a species of Burr-reed, to which attention was first called by Mr. Beeby, as new to science, in the "Journal of Botany" for July, 1885. He has named it Sparganium neglectum; and well he might, for it is curious how so large a plant could have been so long overlooked. It differs very distinctly in the form of its fruit, as well as in the structure of its epicarp, from the ordinary Branched Burr-reed, Sparganium ramosum. It has been found in several counties, Salop and Worcester amongst the number. It was gathered at Moccas Pool ten days since by the Rev. J. H. Thompson, and it is believed that it will be found to be one of the commonest forms of the Branched Burr-reed in Herefordshire.

The damp of the day was dispersed at the Royal Oak Hotel, and after dinner two very interesting papers were read; one on "The Botany of the Honddu and Grwynne Valleys," and the other on "The Pheasant," in continuation of "The Birds of Herefordshire."