Bibliography - Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity
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An Account of some ancient English Historical Paintings at Cowdry, in Sussex, by Sir Joseph Ayloffe, V.P.A.S., F.R.S., published 1775 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 3, article, pp.239-272)   View Online

In a Memoir which I formerly laid before the Society, touching the royal picture of the interview between King Henry VIII. and the French King Francis the First, I took notice of the advantages which might result to the historian and antiquary from a careful inspection of such remaining historic paintings and sculptures, as, being executed with accuracy and fidelity, are coaeval with the transactions they are intended to record.

Account of a Singular Stone among the Rocks at West Hoadley, by Thomas Pownall, published 1782 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 6, article, pp.54-60)   View Online

The curious particulars which you had heard of, and had communicated to me, respecting the great pensile-Rock at West Hoadley, in Sussex, (called by the people Great upon Little), raised my curiosity, and determined me at a leisure day to make an excursion to view and examine it.

An historical and descriptive account of the ancient Painting preserved at Cowdray in Sussex, the seat of Lord Viscount Montague; representing the Procession of King Edward VI from the Tower of London to Westminster, February 19th, A.D. 1547, previous to his Coronation, by John Topham, F.R.A.S., published 1787 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 8, article, pp.406-422)   View Online

The drawing now exhibited is made from one of those curious historical paintings which have been long since introduced to the notice of this Society by our late learned Vice President Sir Joseph Ayloffe, Baronet, in an account of some ancient historical paintings at Cowdray in Sussex, published in the Transactions of this Society, Archaeologia, vol. III. p. 239-272. In that memoir may be seen a minute description of many of those valuable representations which preserve several interesting parts of our national events, and exhibit to our view the state of the arts, and the dresses, manners, and usages, which prevailed amongst our ancestors about the middle of the sixteenth century.

Some Account of a Roman Road leading from Southampton by Chichester and Arundell, through Sussex and Surrey to London, so far as the same is found in Surrey, by William Bray, F.A.S., published 1789 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 9, article, pp.96-109)   View Online

Some Account of a Roman Road leading from Southampton by Chichester and Arundell, through Sussex and Surrey to London, so far as the same is found in Surrey

Report on the opening of a round barrow at Belle Tout, by D. Giddy, published 1814 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 17, article, pp.338-339)

Account of the Remains of a Roman Villa, discovered at Bignor, in Sussex, in the Years 1811, 1812, 1813, 1814, and 1815, by Samuel Lysons, V.P., F.R.S., published 1817 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 18, article, pp.203-221) accessible at: British Library & West Sussex Libraries   View Online

The village of Bignor, in Sussex, is pleasantly situated on the north side of the South Downs, at the distance of about nine miles from the sea, six miles from Petworth, and about the same distance from Arundel. Within half a mile of the village runs a Roman road very distinctly marked, leading from Chichester by way of Pulborough (where it crosses the river Arun) to Dorking, and from thence to London. On this road there was great reason to expect some traces of a Roman station about Bignor, as Richard of Cirencester, in his fifteenth Iter, next after Regnum, proceeding eastward, introduces a station which he terms "Ad decimum," not noticed in the Itinerary of Antonine; and Bignor is, by the Roman road, about ten miles disstant from Chichester, the Regnum of the Romans. No Roman remains had however been noticed near this place till the year 1811, when a mosaic pavement was discovered by the plough in the month of July, in a field called the Deny, about a quarter of a mile east of the church, part of a copyhold estate held under the Earl of Newburgh by Mr. George Tupper, a respectable farmer, by whom it is also occupied. The inhabitants of the village have a tradition, that Bignor formerly stood in this field, and the common field adjoining, on the east, called the Town-Field.

Observations upon the Composition of the Colours found on the Walls of the Roman House discovered at Bignor in Sussex, by Sir Humphry Davy, Knt., F.R.S., published 1817 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 18, article, p.222)   View Online

I have examined the colours found on the walls of the Roman house discovered at Bignor in Sussex, and I find that they are similar in chemical composition to those employed in the baths of Titus at Rome, and in the houses and public buildings at Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Account of further Discoveries of the Remains of a Roman Villa at Bignor in Sussex, by Samuel Lysons, V.P., F.R.S., published 1821 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 19, article, pp.178-183)   View Online

Since the early part of the year 1815, when I communicated to the Society of Antiquaries an account of the remains of a Roman villa discovered at Bignor in Sussex, further discoveries have been made, to a considerable extent, as will appear by the annexed plan, (Pl. XIII.) in which the several rooms, contained in the plan published in the eighteenth volume of the Archaeologia, are marked with figures from No. 1 to No. 26, and from 28 to 44.

Account of a fresco Painting discovered at Preston, Sussex, by Rev. Charles Townshend, published 1831 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 23, article, pp.309-316)   View Online

The Church of Preston, near Brighton, appears from various indications to have been built towards the end of the reign of Henry III. On the east wall of the nave, on both sides of the arch opening to the Chancel, the Commandments had been painted, which, becoming greatly decayed from damp and age, I endeavoured to scrape away; after removing many thick coats of whitewash and plaster, I gradually made out on the wall, northward of the arch, the painting of the murder of Becket, &c. (No. 1), and on that southward of the arch the various paintings (No. 2).

Account of the Discovery of an Ancient Canoe at North Stoke in Sussex, by Thomas Phillips, R.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., published 1836 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 26, article, pp.257-264)   View Online

If you deem the following statement of the late discovery of an ancient Canoe near the village of North Stoke, in the west of Sussex, with a description of it, and some observations concerning its probable antiquity, likely to interest or afford pleasure to the Members of the Society of Antiquaries, I would entreat the favour of you to lay it before them; together with a drawing of it, and a plan of the situation where it was found, and you will oblige

Remarks on the Matrix of the Seal of Boxgrove Priory, in Sussex, by Sir Frederic Madden, K.H., F.R.S., F.S.A., published 1838 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 27, article, pp.375-380)   View Online

About six years ago I had the pleasure of submitting to the notice of the Society of Antiquaries, by the hands of our worthy Treasurer, impressions from the very curious matrix of the Seal of Southwick Priory in Hampshire; engravings of which, accompanied by some observations, were inserted in the twenty-third volume of the Archæologia, pp. 374-379. At that period I stated truly that it was the only existing matrix of a very peculiar mode of forming conventual Seals; but recently another instance has been discovered, some account of which may not be unacceptable. Some laborers at work in excavating a railway, the precise locality of which has not been ascertained, are stated to have dug up an earthen pot or urn, in which were found two original matrices of brass, which subsequently came.into the hands of Mr. Chamberlain, optician, of Broad Street, St. Giles's, in whose possession they now are, and by whose leave I am able to lay impressions of them before the Society. The most important proves to be the Seal of the Benedictine Priory of Boxgrave, in Sussex, dedicated to St. Mary and St. Blaise; the foundation of which by Robert de Haye took place in the reign of Henry the First, when it was annexed as a cell to the monastery of Essay, in Normandy; and although ordered to be suppressed in 1414, together with the other alien priories, continued to exist till the final dissolution under Henry the Eighth.

Several Vessels of glass and earthenware, and Ornaments, discovered near Chilgrove, in Sussex, by Rev. L. Vernon Harcourt, published 1846 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 31, article, pp.312-317)   View Online

I beg leave to present to the Society of Antiquaries the accompanying drawings, executed by Mrs. Vernon Harcourt, of some Antiquities recently discovered on the estate of Leyland Woods, Esq. near his residence at Chilgrove, in the county of Sussex, about five miles from Chichester: they consist partly of vessels intended to hold liquors, and partly of female ornaments, bracelets, and rings. Three of the Vessels are of glass (See Pl. IX.), one of which has been broken most unfortunately, for the glass is much clearer than in the others, and it is curiously ornamented with a linked pattern. The others are of coarse clay, without inscriptions, or any elaborate ornament. I am aware that vessels of this sort have been found in such abundance that they might scarcely seem to deserve the notice of the Society, were I not desirous to discuss the question which has been raised, whether they are of British or of Roman origin. The former opinion rests upon the assertion, that glass is more a British than a Roman manufacture, and that it does not occur in Roman sepulchres; that the earthenware vessels display no refinement of art, and while they are too large for lachrymatories, they are too small for cinerary urns; that the ornaments are evidently of British manufacture; for I found by an analysis of some fragments, that one hundred grains contained sixty-eight of copper and twenty-eight of tin, the rest being earth accidentally mixed with them, and zinc to the amount of less than a grain: there were traces of iron, but nothing more. Copper and tin are the chief mineral products of this island. And, lastly, that the bodies near which they were found, had been interred instead of burnt.

Account of Two Leaden Chests, containing the Bones, and inscribed with the Names of William de Warren and his wife Gundrada, founders of Lewes Priory in Sussex, discovered in October, 1845, within the Priory precinct, by W. H. Blaauw, published 1846 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 31, article, pp.438-442)   View Online

It is well known that the coffin-shaped tomb of Gundrada, finely sculptured in black marble, probably a limestone found in Britany in Dr. Mantell's opinion, was discovered in 1775 in Isfield Church, five miles from Lewes, forming the upper slab of the monument of Edward Shirley, cofferer to Henry VIII. who died in 1558; and Sir William Burrell removed it to Southover Church in Lewes, where, after seventy years' interval, her bones and coffin, as well as those of her husband, have now been brought. The sandstone slab, which was substituted on the Shirley monument, is five feet five inches and a half long; and as Gundrada's monument has been broken off at five feet four inches, it may be suspected that the Shirleys broke off the twelve or fourteen inches, wanting to complete it, in order to adapt it to the space required.

A Few Remarks on the Discovery of the Remains of William de Warren, and his wife Gundrad, among the ruins of the Priory of Saint Pancras, at Southover, near Lewes, in Sussex, by Gideon Algernon Mantell, LL.D., F.R.S., published 1846 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 31, article, pp.430-437)   View Online

It is not a little remarkable that so few objects of geological, or antiquarian, interest should hitherto have been brought to light, by the excavations and cuttings made, during the formation of the numerous lines of railway, in various parts of England. Extensive as are these operations, the accessions to the collection of the geologist, and to the cabinet of the antiquary, have been comparatively unimportant. The most interesting archaeological discovery effected by the railway cuttings, is unquestionably that which took place, about six weeks since, in the ruins of Lewes Priory; namely, of the two leaden coffers, containing the remains of the founder and foundress of that once celebrated religious establishment.

Remarks on Matilda, Queen of William the Conqueror, and her daughter Gundrada, by W. H. Blaauw, M.A., published 1847 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 32, article, pp.108-125)   View Online

The Observations of Thomas Stapleton, Esq. F.S.A., in No. 9 of the Archæological Journal, purporting to be "in Disproof of the pretended Marriage of William de Warren with a daughter of the Conqueror," contain so much curious matter relating to the early locations in Normandy of some families afterwards belonging to English history, that the reader may have failed to notice how little of such disproof there really is in the numerous extracts from Chronicles and MSS., however interesting, brought forward by that able antiquary.

An Examination into the Character and probable Origin of the Hill Forts of Sussex, by Colonel Augustus Henry Lane Fox, F.S.A., published 1869 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 42, issue 1, article, pp.27-52)   View Online

In the month of September last whilst staying at Brighton I examined nearly the whole of the ancient earthworks which occupy the summits of the highest eminences of the Downs between Beachy Head on the east, and the neighbourhood of Chichester on the west.

Further Remarks on the Hill Forts of Sussex: being an Account of Excavations in the Forts at Cissbury and Highdown, by Colonel Augustus Henry Lane Fox, F.S.A., published 1869 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 42, issue 1, article, pp.53-76)   View Online

In a paper which I had the honour of reading to this Society on the 6th February 1868 I gave a general description of the ancient earthworks of the downs between Beachy Head and Chichester, and I concluded by expressing an opinion, derived chiefly from a consideration of the principles of castrametation, outline, and other indications observable on the surface, that these intrenchments belonged to the Ancient British period, and were not, as some writers have supposed, the work of the Roman invaders of this country.

On Flint Workings at Cissbury, Sussex, by Ernest Henry Willett, published 1880 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 45, issue 2, article, pp.337-348)   View Online

In 1868 Colonel A. Lane Fox, F.S.A. contributed a paper to this Society, on the Sussex Hill Forts, and on the principles of castrametation which a most careful examination of the whole series led him to conclude had been adopted by the tribes who had constructed them.
In the course of his inquiry, and in the description of the seventeen earthworks that line our Sussex downs, he mentioned the occurrence, in several places, of various pits in and about the camps. The instances are at Wolstanbury, Highdown Hill, Mount Caburn, and Cissbury - most notably the latter.
This paper was shortly followed by another, giving a detailed account of the extensive excavations carried on by him at Highdown and at Cissbury. In this communication he dwells at length on the pits situate within the latter camp, their character and contents; the flint implements especially are elaborately classified and fully described by him. The examination of about thirty pits resulted in the following information,-to which I may be permitted briefly to refer in order to be intelligible. That they were from 20 to 70 feet wide, and of a depth of from 5 to 7 feet below the surface. That they contained a great quantity of flint implements, a few bones, dead land-shells, charcoal and fragments of coarse pottery distributed in layers of red clay and chalk rubble, the pottery being only found immediately beneath the turf.
In considering the object and use of these pits, Colonel Lane Eox states that he believes them to have been for the purpose of obtaining flint for manufacturing implements, and subsequently to have been used for habitations.
I hope to add confirmatory evidence of both of these theories.

Remarks on some Charters and other Documents relating to the Abbey of Robertsbridge, in the County of Sussex, in the possession of the Rev. J. H. Blunt, M.A., F.S.A., by Charles Spencer Perceval, published 1880 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 45, issue 2, article, pp.427-461)   View Online

The charters and other documents which Mr. Blunt has kindly exhibited this evening formed a part of the archives of the Cistercian Abbey of Robertsbridge, founded in 1176, at a spot within the parish of Salehurst, in Eastern Sussex, where the high road from Hastings to Tunbridge crosses the River Rother, which here changes its course from south-east to east, and after passing Bodiham Castle forms for a few miles the boundary between Kent and Sussex, until turning sharply to the south it enters the sea at Rye Harbour.

Excavations at Mount Caburn Camp, near Lewes, conducted in September and October, 1877, and July, 1878, by Col. Augustus Lane Fox, published 1881 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 46, issue 2, article, pp.423-495)   View Online

Although many places from their extent may have possessed greater importance in early times, no British camp is perhaps better known to ourselves than Mount Caburn. Situated, not in the midst of a deserted heath as some of them are, but in the centre of a populous district, a very conspicuous feature from the town of Lewes, and close to the junction of the railways from Eastbourne and Newhaven, it has necessarily attracted the attention of all who pass that way. Various conjectures have been hazarded in local histories as to its origin and uses, and more numerous by far must have been the unrecorded speculations of the curious during the long period that Lewes has figured in history.

On Excavations in a Cemetery of South Saxons on High Down, Sussex, by Charles Hercules Read, published 1895 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 54, issue 2, article, pp.369-382)   View Online

In the autumn of 1892, Mr. Edwin Henty, in planting trees on his property on High Down Hill, in the parish of Ferring, in Sussex, came upon a number of graves, which, from the character of the relics found in them, were readily determined to be of Saxon origin. Mr. Henty has carefully preserved all that he could secure, but from the unfortunate accident that the men employed in the work were strangers, and not his own workmen, there is reason to believe that a number of the articles found were disposed of to visitors and others.

Further Excavations in a Cemetery of South Saxons on High Down, Sussex, by Charles Hercules Read, published 1896 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 55, issue 1, article, pp.203-214)   View Online

The first exploration of this cemetery in the autumn of 1893, of which I had the honour of laying an account before the Society was of so interesting a character that it was felt both by Mr. Edwin Henty and myself that it would be desirable to ascertain whether other graves did not exist within the limits of the ancient British camp. With this view the examination of the adjoining ground was made in the autumn of last year, and the results not only fully justified the examination, but resulted in discoveries of far greater interest than those previously made, and in one instance, at least, of a character hitherto unknown in England.

On the date of Grime's Graves and Cissbury flint-mines, by Reginald A. Smith, published 1912 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 63, article, pp.109-158)   View Online

The formal recognition by the Monaco Congress (1906) of the Aurignac stage of culture marks a distinct advance in the classification of palaeolithic cave-relics. The point has been keenly debated, but most are now agreed that Aurignac, as a typical station, comes between Le Moustier and Solutré, and represents a civilization that extended over a large part of Europe. This stage has in recent years been so thoroughly studied that its distinctive types can be easily recognized, and many cave-deposits readily fall into this division; but so far very little of this sort has been noticed in England, where the industry seems, however, to have had a special and a splendid development.

On a Wall-painting till recently at Hardham Priory, Sussex, by C. J. Praetorius, published 1913 in Archaeologia; or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity (vol. 64, article, pp.453-454)   View Online

Hardham Priory, Pulborough, Sussex, the property of Lord Charles Beresford, was destroyed by fire on May 16, 1912. A wooden beam in the brickwork of a modern chimney was the cause of the outbreak, by which the farmhouse was entirely destroyed.