After,  however,  the  foregoing  observations  were  already
in  proof  I  was  informed  that  a  description  of  the  recent
discovery  of  a  similar  series  of  piles  in  Holland  had  been


230

received  by  the  Society  of  Antiquaries.  Unfortunately,
their  copy  was  not  at  the  time  accessible.  But,  on  my
application,  the  Author  courteously  sent  me  one,  and  the
perusal  of  it  seems  to  add  confirmation  to  the  theory  of
the  Roman  origin  of  the  Norwich  pile  bridge.  The  Paper,1
by  Dr.  W.  Pleyte  of  Leyden,  Director  of  the  Royal
Netherlands  Museum  of  Antiquities,  relates  to  a  discovery
of  ancient  piles  at  Zuilichem  on  the  river  Waal.
In  digging  clay  for  brickmaking  in  a  field  on  the  south
bank  of  the  river  was  discovered  a  double  row  of  piles  at  a
depth  of  4 '50  metres  below  the  surface.  They  extended  for
a  length  of  180  metres,  and  were  in  groups  separated  from
each  other  by  an  interval  of  3*30  metres.  They  had  evi-
dently formed  the  supports  of  a  bridge,  the  centre  of  which
had  rested  on  an  island  still  existing.  Like  the  Norwich
piles,  they  all  had  their  tops  decayed  or  broken  off.  The
flooring  of  the  bridge  which  they  supported  had  entirely
disappeared.  Although  similar  in  character  to  the  Norwich
piles,  their  arrangement  was  different.  Instead  of  being
irregularly  scattered  all  over  the  ground,  they  were
systematically  arranged  in  two  distinct  rows.  Each  row
consisted  of  groups  of  four  supporting  piles,  set  in  pairs
close  together,  each  group  being  opposite  to  the  corres-
ponding group  of  the  other  row.  The  rows  of  piles  were
not  sunk  perpendicularly,  but  sloping  towards  each  other.
