Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society 79

Review of some of the notable Cambridge antiquaries in the centuries preceding the foundation of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society.

The author compares the four bronze statuettes of Diana found in Britain, each of which portrays a different interpretation of the goddess. The possible local manufacture of the Bassingbourn figure at a British workshop is discussed, as is a speculative date of the second century AD.

Report on the recovery during construction work in 1986--7 of two burials in stone coffins to the east of the remains of the St Neots Priory buildings, along with the results of a watching brief during work on a sewer line in 1989 to the south of this point. The watching brief revealed structural remains, although it remained inconclusive whether these corresponded with the Priory remains recorded in earlier excavations between 1954 and 1960. At least seven further burials were recovered to the east of the Priory buildings, including those of women and children indicating a parish cemetery. The group contained an unusually high number of skeletal anomalies. A sherd of St Neots ware in one burial indicates a date of the tenth/eleventh century or later.

Biographical account of the life of the nineteenth-century collector and amateur scientist, Marshall Fisher, and his work as curator of Ely Museum from shortly before 1849 until his death in 1899. The author argues that the work of such lesser-known figures in the history of museums and of archaeological research should not be underestimated.