393 
Two Pebbles from Minchinhampton Common. 
In March last when looking over Mr A. E. Smith’s very 
interesting collection of fossils from the sands at Nailsworth, 
he shewed me two pebbles in Oolitic matrix which much 
interested me. He kindly allowed me to take them for 
examination, and I have since received from him the following 
statement of their history. 
“The smaller Pebble I found at the highest part of 
“ Minchinhampton Common (676 feet above the sea), at the 
“‘ eastern corner of the outside mound of the Amberley Camp* 
“there. The mound is at that place 2 to 3 feet high, and is 
“ covered with turf, except in a few places where it is cut or 
“worn through by roads or footpaths, and in such cuttings the 
“< stones forming the mound are exposed. 
“On examining a section of the mound made by one of 
“these cuttings, I saw the Pebble amongst the white stones 
“of the mound, and on putting it out I found that it was 
“partly embedded in a small piece of Great Oolite of the 
“same description as the other stones forming the mound. I 
“was satisfied from its position and appearance that it was 
“part of the original structure of the mound when thrown up 
‘‘ from the ditch there, and that it had, not been dropped there 
“accidentally. The same description of rubbly Great Oolite 
“stone is found all over the Common a few inches under the 
“turf. A large reservoir has lately been made by the Stroud 
“ Water Co. about 100 yards from this spot, and the sections 
“there showed the same description of stone for some few feet 
“ below the surface. 
“ Lycett in his ‘Cotteswold Hills’ p. 93, describes a section 
“at a large quarry not far from this spot, and the stones in the 
“mound agree with the description of the top part of his 
“section. He also says at p. 99 (referring to the Minchin- 
“hampton Great Oolite): ‘It is a common occurrence to find 
““‘isolated pebbles of hard calcareous freestone in the shelly 
* Camp No. 30 in G. F. Playne’s “ Ancient Camps of Gloucestershire.” 
Proceedings for 1874-75, p. 214. 
