FRAGMENTS OF PEDIGREE OF CLAY OF THE HILL, NORTH WINGFIELD, Co. DERBY.

Son ?

Thomas Clay, of Higham,
was uncle of Richard.

Francis Clay, the elder, of Hill-houses, yeoman, was in possession in "the 28th year of Chas. II."

son, described as of

1688, and of
Ankerbold
in 1705,

yeoman.
Alive 1705.

Francis Clay, in Cont. Mab. "28th of Chas. II.," described as "younger of Hill-houses.' At burial on April 4th, 1709, as "of Hill-houses yeoman.' Katharine, his wife, d.ed ante 11th April, 1728.

Did a daughter

marry Carver.

Alive in 1709.

Alive in 1722.

NOTICE OF THE OPENING OF A GRAVE-MOUND ON SKY HILL, NEAR RAMSEY, IN THE ISLE OF MAN.

BY PHILIP M. C. KERMODE.

A SOMEWHAT remarkable cinerary urn, of which I have the fragments, was taken by me from a tumulus on the highest point of Sky Hill, near Ramsey, in the Isle of Man, on the 15th September, 1883.

The tumulus was about four feet high, and fifteen feet or so in diameter, raised on the rock which here cropped out, and about 750 feet above sea-level. It was scarcely noticeable as a tumulus, and might have remained untouched, but that some workmen building a fence close by had quarried stone from the spot and disclosed the urn, nearly half of which was broken off and lost when I went with a couple of friends to examine the spot.

The urn rested, mouth upwards, in the rock, in which a hollow had been cut or broken about four inches deep to receive it; broken pieces of rock and soil had been then packed around and over it. We found a flat stone over the mouth, but not large enough to cover it; probably there had been another with it. Before removing, we made careful measurements, and also took a rough sketch of it. The height was eleven inches, and outside diameter across the mouth ten and a half inches; the sides were fully an inch thick, and the bottom two inches. It was composed of clay, mixed with a large proportion of crushed stones (the schist of the neighbourhood), formed by hand, coarse, heavy, and roughly baked. The few pieces I have preserved show that in the way of ornament the mouth was surrounded by a projecting lip, under which was a row of oblong holes at irregular intervals, punctured evidently by some sharp pointed instrument, while the clay was yet soft. These holes were about a quarter of an inch long, by three-sixteenths of an inch wide, and a quarter of an inch deep, the distance between them varying from an eighth to a quarter of an inch. In the hollow of the moulding immediately beneath this row, a stroke had been roughly drawn round the urn, apparently by the same instrument. About three-quarters of an inch from the top, a band, slightly raised, encircled the urn; this was two inches broad, and punctured by two rows of holes similar in size and shape to the row above. This appeared to be all the pattern. The shape of the urn was remarkable, inasmuch as the bottom was carefully rounded, so that it could not have stood by itself, hence the necessity of hollowing a place in the rock to receive it. We noticed that the inside, especially at the bottom, was very dark, owing to the former contents, which, however, were scattered when we examined it.

In the vicinity are other tumuli, while several have been destroyed; and I am informed a great number of urns which were dug out were left to decay and disappear.

It is certain that a battle was fought at the foot of this hill in 1077, when Goddard Crovan, son of Harold the Black of Iceland, after having been twice repulsed, defeated Fingall, King of Man, with great slaughter. Possibly it had been the scene of other battles in those earlier days of which we have no written record.

Ramsey, Isle of Man.

THE head of a bronze statue, here engraved, was found 15 feet below the surface, while forming a sewer in Stall Street, Bath, in the year 1727, and is now preserved in the Museum of that city. It is justly considered to be one of the finest examples ever found in this country, and has been engraved in the Vetusta Monumenta, and other works. It appears to have been broken off from a statue, the neck bearing evidence of violence in the uneven and ragged outline, and there are perforations at the top, which indicate that originally a helmet or other ornament surmounted the head. The statue itself, from which at some long-past time this head was so ruthlessly broken, has never been found; probably it lies hidden in some yet unpenetrated spot beneath the streets or buildings of Bath, and may at some future time be happily unearthed.

A

The head has been said by some to be that of Minerva, by others Apollo; Hunter, Whitaker, and Scarth inclining to the former, while Horsley and Warner to the latter. There can be little doubt, however, that it is Minerva, and has been surmounted by a helmet. number of coins of M. Aurelius, Maximinus, Maximian, Dioclesian, Constantine, and others were found along with the bronze head. It is conjectured by Whitaker that this valuable relic dates back to between A D. 161 and 181.

LL. JEWITT.