SESSION 1894-95. Ixlx 



Wales,' vol. i, p. 29) to be from eight to fourteen feet high, but 

 are now very little raised above the general surface of the ground. 



The principal object of the meeting was then carried out, and 

 that was to see an example of tlie ancient quarries of the Totternhoe 

 Stone, which consisted of galleries tunuelled under Totternhoe 

 Knoll. It is probable that those quarries were worked at least 

 as early as the time of the Norman Conquest. In many Hertford- 

 shire churches early Norman decorative work is of this stone, 

 which is excellent for interiors, admitting of very fine carving, 

 but is of too perishable a nature for exteriors, as may be seen by 

 the present state of the west front of Dunstable Priory Cliurch, 

 which was inspected later in the day. 



Most of the tunnels which have been worked for this stone for 

 centuries, up to a comparatively recent period, are now closed by 

 fallen debris, and even their entrances are concealed by having 

 become grassed over, but one of them was recently re-opened by 

 Messrs. De Beringer and Gower, the owners of the large quarries 

 at present worked at Totternhoe. Permission for the party to 

 enter this tunnel had been kindly granted by them, and men 

 with lamps conducted the greater number of those present, in 

 several separate parties, through the tunnel and some -of its 

 ramifications for a distance of more than 100 yards in a direct line 

 under the hill. 



The quarries which are at present being worked were then 

 visited, and several fossils were obtained from the Totternhoe Stone, 

 including part of the jaw of a saurian, with the teeth in position. 

 Mr. Hill states that " Messrs. De Beringer and Co., by means of a 

 trial shaft, have proved the bed of Totternhoe Stone to be at least 

 32 feet thick " where these fossils were obtained, and that " blocks 

 equal in quality for building purposes to those seen in the pit were 

 obtained at the bottom of their shaft." (' Proc. Geol. Assoc.,' 

 vol. xiv, p. 194.) 



Returning across the Downs, Dunstable Priory Church was 

 visited. It is but a small remnant of the original Priory. "The 

 glory of Dunstable," say Britton and Brayley, "was its once 

 celebrated priory, yet of this extensive building little remains but 

 the part now appropriated for the jjarish church, and a few frag- 

 ments in the adjoining wall. It was founded by Henry the First, 

 about the year 1131, for black canons, in honour of St. Peter. . . . 

 The priory church was originally in the form of a cross, with a 

 tower in the centre, supported by four lofty arches, parts of which, 

 belonging to the two western pillars, still remain ; these are of 

 a large size, with clustered columns, surmounted with hexagonal 

 capitals." ('Beauties of England and Wales,' vol. i, p. 19.) 



But by far the most interesting portion of the church is the 

 west front, the whole of the ornamental work in which is carved 

 out of Totternhoe Stone from the ancient workings which had just 

 been visited. " The west front," the same writers say, " has 

 been considered as ' one of our great national curiosities,' from its 

 singular intermixture of circular and pointed arches, and the curious 



