Thus also the large
quantity of fine mould overlying the pavements can be accounted
for, the presence of which would otherwise be inexplicable. My
sons noticed that in one room in which the pavement had sagged very
little, there was an unusually small amount of overlying mould.
As the foundations of the walls generally lie at a considerable
depth, they will either have not subsided at all through the
undermining action of worms, or they will have subsided much less
than the floor. This latter result would follow from worms not
often working deep down beneath the foundations; but more
especially from the walls not yielding when penetrated by worms,
whereas the successively formed burrows in a mass of earth, equal
to one of the walls in depth and thickness, would have collapsed
many times since the desertion of the ruins, and would consequently
have shrunk or subsided. As the walls cannot have sunk much or at
all, the immediately adjoining pavement from adhering to them will
have been prevented from subsiding; and thus the present curvature
of the pavement is intelligible.
The circumstance which has surprised me most with respect to
Silchester is that during the many centuries which have elapsed
since the old buildings were deserted, the vegetable mould has not
accumulated over them to a greater thickness than that here
observed.
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