Dean  Stanley  says  that,  in  addition,  there  was
a  fragment  of  one  of  its  walls  on  a  rising  ground
with  St.  Martin's  Hill  behind  it.  Mr.  Micklethwaite
was  strongly  of  opinion  that  it  was  entirely  a  Saxon
church,  and  in  regard  to  Thorn's  story  about  the
idol  temple,  which  he  supposed  was  its  precursor,
he  says :  "  Those  who  argue  for  its  having  been
a  heathen  temple  must  explain  the  fact  of  the
temple  of  the  heathen  god  being  built  after  the
fashion  of  a  Christian  church,  and  one  so  satis-
factory to  the  missioners  from  Rome,  that  they
made  it  the  model  upon  which  their  smaller
churches  were  built."  *  The  site  of  the  church  has
been  recently  completely  explored  by  Mr.  St.  J.  Hope

*  Thorn,  col.  1760.  •  Arch,  Joum,  liii.  316.
