_Houses._—In 1869 a mosaic pavement was discovered in Bucklersbury which is now at the Guildhall (_Builder_, May 15 and 29). It was fully described in a volume by Price. The floor was that of a small round-ended chamber, and belonged to a building on the western bank of the Walbrook, Around the apsidal end of the room which had the mosaic was a wall of stone and chalk, built upon piling; this wall contained the flues of the heating-system, and it terminated in piers at the ends of the semicircle. From the fact that no more walling was found and the evidence of an attached lobby which had a wooden sill around it, we may suppose that the rest of the house was of timber work (Fig. 23). The curved apse would be a strong form in which to build a mass of wall to contain the vertical wall flues; and it is an interesting example of building contrivance. We have already seen that timber and clay construction was frequent in Londinium. Near this building a well was found (built of square blocks of chalk, _The Builder_ says). This building with the mosaic floor must have been a superior house on the bank of the Walbrook. To the west, as we shall see, seems to have been a street possibly of shops; we can thus imagine a little group of buildings and streets, and a bridge over the Walbrook at the end of Bucklersbury. [Illustration: FIG. 24. ] The well mentioned above is one of a great number which have been discovered; for instance, in excavating for Copthall Avenue “a pit or well, boarded, and filled with earthenware vessels,” etc., was found (_Builder_, October 5, 1889). Such wells with boarding like a long barrel have been excavated at Silchester. Again to the south of Aldgate High Street two wells were found (_Builder_, May 3, 1884). The most complete Roman building which has been recovered and planned is one excavated in Lower Thames Street in 1848 and again in 1859 (_Builder_, February 5, 1848, and June 11, 1859). A restored plan was given in the _Journal of the British Archæological Association_, vol. xxiv. (see Fig. 21). The two apsed chambers had hypocausts beneath their floors, supported on little piers built of tiles 8½ in. square, and broken materials. Fig. 25 is reproduced from the illustration of the eastern chamber given in _The Builder_. Several sketches and some notes, by Fairholt, of this building are in the Victoria and Albert Museum. About 4 or 5 ft. of the walls remained in places, all of tiles with mortar joints nearly as thick as themselves. [Illustration: FIG. 25.—(A, old masonry; B, brickwork with a flue tile; C, foundations of chamber.) Foundations discovered in Lower Thames Street in 1859. ]