On the question of a Roman Church in Britain, however, Thomas Wright took up a position of extreme scepticism, stating that there were no remains, that historical references were forgeries, or flourishes of rhetoric, that Gildas was a pretence, and that it was impossible to say how Christianity reached Cornwall and Wales. The more recent position would be the opposite of all this, and considerable material evidence can be produced, which has been crowned within the last few years by the discovery of the foundations of a Roman church at Silchester, which may be the cathedral of the city, for there Geoffrey says Manganius was bishop in 519. The later Irish, Cornish, and Welsh Churches are only parts of the common British Christianity, which ultimately got shut up into the corners of the land by the English invasion, but originally formed part of the one Church which was an offshoot from the Church of Gaul, the original centre of which was at Lyons. As Lyons derived from Rome, and London from Lyons, so the Church in the western and northern provinces of England derived from London, and the western provinces in turn handed on the faith to Ireland. Even the Celtic rule as to Easter was the Roman use up to the middle of the fifth century. [Illustration: FIG. 12.--CROSS FROM MOSAIC PAVEMENT FOUND IN LONDON.] The monumental evidences, certain or doubtful, for the British Church found in London are:-- (1) Eight small cakes of pewter found at Battersea, and stamped with the [Greek: CHR] monogram. They are now in the British Museum. There are two varieties of stamps; one has the letters [Greek: A.Ô.] added to the monogram; in the other the words SPES IN DEO surround it. These most interesting inscriptions are supposed to be of the fourth century (Fig. 8). (2) A chain bracelet of bronze with a simple cross attached, now in the British Museum (Fig. 9). (3) A disc forming the head of a pin, on it an imperial head and a cross; probably Constantine's vision, as suggested by Roach Smith (Fig. 10). (4) An enamelled plate on which two beasts appear drinking from a vase, as so often found in early Christian art; probably, as suggested by Roach Smith, of the fifth or sixth century (Fig. 11). (5) An ornamental cross on a mosaic pavement (Fig. 12). The last three have been figured by Roach Smith, and are also in the British Museum. (6) A lead funeral cist found in Warwick Square with the [Maltese Cross X] monogram, or possibly only a star form, now in the British Museum. There is every probability that St. Germain of Auxerre, on his way to St. Albans, preached to the British citizens of London against the heresy of their countryman Pelagius about 429. * * * * * [Illustration: FIG. 13.--SAXON SPEAR.]