History Of The Present Deanery Of Bicester Oxon Volume 1 PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1882 edition. Excerpt: ... ROMAN BATTLES. chiefly made within the last few years. Thus, in 1866, upon digging a deep drain across the road at the north-west corner of the churchyard, just outside the old mound, five human bodies were found buried in graves such as have been described. Soon afterwards, upon digging a pit for an ice-house at the opposite corner, and outside the churchyard, several human bones were found dispersed in the earth. Again, at the restoration of the church in 1874, three bodies in separate graves were found more than a foot below the north-east angle of the chancel-wall; and at the same time three more placed side by side, the heads of the two outside resting upon the shoulders of the central one, in one grave, were found under the pavement of the church in the spot where the earth was dug out to form a chamber for the present heating apparatus. More than common attention had been bestowed upon the last-named grave, the head-stone having been carefully hewn into a trefoil shape Of the remains within it, the skull of the central body was found quite perfect, retaining the teeth, and the bones were those of a man of large stature, the hip-bone measuring 2 feet 4 inches, but the two bodies on the side of it were those of younger persons, probably the sons, or perhaps the wives, of the central figure, if the latter had been female warriors The same friendly hands which dug these graves, probably laboured afterwards to cast up a mound of earth around them, and the fact that a mound was raised proves that this was the burial-place of some person of distinction. The care bestowed upon the grave last mentioned, and its position in the centre of the enclosure, make it not unlikely that here rested the great man, perhaps Carausius himself, in whose...