VOL. xvii. (2) PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 147 



remains on the Cotteswolds, and has kindly supphed me with 

 a note summarising the results of his, enquiries. It would be 

 unfair for me to anticipate the paper which he promises to read 

 before us during the next Session. Sufficient to say that the 

 only palaeolithic implement which seems to be well attested, is a 

 scraper found by Mr Shrubsole, of Reading, in a gravel pit at 

 Moreton-in-the-Marsh, which may be included in the Cottes- 

 wold area as defined by Mr S. S. Buckman. I commend the 

 search for remains of this period to those who are engaged in 

 field work, because it would be a matter of much importance 

 to prove that palaeolithic man did not occupy this region, and, 

 if so, to account for his absence. 



While, however, we must reluctantly for the present 

 dismiss any palaeolithic ancestor of the present inhabitants, 

 the evidence of the continuity of the population from neolithic 

 days through the bronze and iron ages, seems indisputable. 



In this connexion, I may remark that I have recently 

 been in correspondence with Mr G. B. Witts, whose valuable 

 handbook and archaeological map of the district are familiar 

 to us all. I have hopes that he may be induced to prepare 

 under the patronage and with the aid of the Members of the 

 Club, a new edition of these useful works. If we could arrange 

 to combine with the archaeological details a geological map of 

 the county, marking all the more important sites where pre- 

 historic remains have been found, with the Roman roads and 

 other antiquities, and the more important village churches, it 

 would be a work which I consider the Club might undertake 

 with great advantage to its Members. 



Among the antiquities of the neolithic and other ages, 

 we possess no dolmens ; but we have many menhirs or standing 

 stones, such as the Hoar and Whittle Stones near Lower Swell, 

 the Tingle Stone at Avening, the Woeful Dane's Bottom near 

 Minchinhampton, and the remains of a circle at Marshfield. 

 We have at least thirty-four groups of long, and one hundred 

 and twenty six round barrows, of which fourteen are of special 

 importance. Then come the earthworks hning the scarp of the 

 Cotteswolds from Bredon to the further south, outposts occu- 

 pied by many races in succession, and from their position, 

 obviously intended to repel the raids of Welsh tribes from the 



