205 



Alfred Watkins were elected members. Kev. R. Remington was proposed as a 

 new member. 



Upon the western end of Stanner Hill, the President gave an address, 

 rendered the more interesting and instructive from its treating of the structure of 

 the ground upon which the members were standing, and of whose geological 

 wonders they were witnessing so remarkable an e.xample in the charming diversity 

 of the surrounding hills and valleys formed by eruptions, and by centuries of 

 denudation. Those who have not experienced the pleasures of studying the 

 convulsions of nature in this neighbourhood are referred to Murchison's Siluria, 

 and also to their description illustrated upon page IGl of "The Records of the 

 Rocks," by the late Rev. William Symonds, who was President of the AVoolhope 

 Club in 1854. The western end of Stanner Hill overhangs the Stanner Rocks, 

 forming a bold feature from Stanner Railway Station, luxuriating in an abundance 

 of wild plants, in many places inaccessible, and so, fortunately, they have been 

 allowed to escape extermination. The locality is known in the neighbourhood as 

 "The Devil's Garden." The botanists and entomologists of the party could not 

 resist the temptation of exploring this wilderness, and were missing until dinner 

 tiuje, but were rewarded for their adventurous climbing, as the result of the 

 Kev. Augustin Ley's observations, hereafter to be published, will show. 



The remainder of the party descended by easier paths, thence through the 

 grounds of the mansion called Downfield, charmingly situated, with its gardens in 

 terraces, and an extensive avenue of Araucarias, i)erhaps 40 years old ; one which 

 was selected for measurement was found at four feet from the ground to have a girth 

 of 5ft. 4in. One was 30ft. high when the Club visited them in June, 180() (see Trans. 

 1S6G, p. 168). The way home was now directed tlirough Bradnor Wood past one or 

 two excavations of Lower Ludlow, and skirting the Kington slope of Bradnor Hill 

 to Bradnor (Quarry — Downton Sandstone — where Mr. Richard Banks' hammer has 

 rendered such service to Silurian and Old Red geology by the detection of a series 

 of fossils in the Passage beds, where such characteristic specimens were un- 

 exjiected. Thence retracing steps for a short distance down Newton Lane, 

 where some outcrops of bone beds were occasionally visible, over the Black 

 Brook, and by the side of the ancient fortified elevation, Kington was reached. 



Upon emerging from Bradnor Wood, the upper portiou of which was 

 previously turf land, and about 40 years ago was planted with Larch and Scotch 

 Fir, of which no vestiges now remain beyond a line of Scotch Firs marking its 

 boundary, the attention of the members was attracted by a mound surrounded by 

 a trench which had every appearance of having been used, perhaps at a remote 

 period, as a roadway, being fully four feet or more wide at tlie bottom. The 

 earth excavated from this trench formed the mound, ten to twelve feet high upon 

 the lower slope of the hill. The appearance and dimensions of this Dyke 

 correspond to those of Offa's Dyke. It is obvious that such a work would entail 

 too vast an amount of labour to have been formed in recent times as an enclosure 

 to the wood. While it is a matter of regret that time did not permit a more 

 extended exploration of this trench and mound in both directions, it is to be 

 hoped that members, local members especially, will soon be able to throw more 



