HISTORIC FIND

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21218, 14 September 1940, Page 9

HISTORIC FIND

AUSTRALIAN SOLDIERS STONE ARCH 1000 YEARS OLD (By Telegraph.—Special to Times) WELLINGTON, Friday While Australian soldiers were digging a trench at the Headquarters camp of the Australian Imperial Force in Britain, they unearthed a stone archway estimated by local historians to be almost 1000 years old. The story of this discovery is related in a special despatch from Kenneth Slessor, official correspondent with the A.I.F. in Britain, arid released by the Australian Trade Commissioner in New Zealand. “The camp,” says Mr Slessor, “is situated on a site which is rich in literary and historical associations, and though the Australians are not archaeologists, trench digging assumes new interest when your pick is likely any moment to land on some buried relic of early English romance. “The three-stone top of the arch is perfectly preserved, and the line of the walled corridor approaching it can be clearly traced. According to history books of the district, the arch is almost certainly part of a convent built in 980. “Among flint and rubble thrown up by the Australians’ spades, a number of beautifully glazed tiles have been found, with coloured patterns of crosses, fleur de lys and lions rampant. These come from the walls of cells, and others are unglazed from floors that were trodden by holy feet almost 1000 years ago. The tiles have been eagerly sought as souvenirs by the Australians.”