154 DIGGING OUT A BOULDEB. 



corruption of " Holystone." The bonlder lies fifty yards -witliin the 

 field, not far fi-om a hedge. Before being uncovered its -visible mass was 

 insignificant, being lichen-covered and rising only some seven or eight 

 inches above the grass, with an area of 2ft. by 3ft., but that it extended 

 under the turf for some distance was evident fi'om the dryness of the 

 Burrounding patch in winter, and the burnt appearance of the grass in 

 summer. 



Nichols also tells us that this stone " seems to confirm the generally 

 received opinion of Naturahsts concerning the gi-owth* of these bodies ; 

 for, notwithstanding great pains have been taken by a late proprietor of 

 the land to keep it below the sm-face, it defeats his efforts, and rises 

 gradually, though not insensibly." The Holstone is nearly three miles 

 distant from the site of '• St. John's Stone," another fine mass of Mount- 

 sorrel gi-anite, which formerly stood in a hollow in a field neai- Leicester 

 Abbey. A line joining these two masses was said to point to the rising 

 place of the sun on ilidsmnmer-day. It would beai- two or three degrees 

 north of east. 



The occupier of the field — Mi". Kirby, of Humberstone — who is a 

 member of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society, kindly 

 undertook to have the stone uncovered, and invited a party of gentlemen 

 interested in Geological and Archasological pm-suits to view its bared 

 proportions. On arriving on the ground on the afternoon of May 2nd, I 

 found that a trench had been dug completely round the boulder. It was 

 now seen to be a pentagonal mass, the sides measuring 7ft., 5ft., Oft., -ift., 

 and o^ft. respectively. Its height varied fi-om -ift. 9iu. to 3ft. 6in. Now 

 the average specific gravity of the Mountsorrel granite is 2-659, and, 

 consequently, each cubic foot weighs 166-19 pounds. Taking the contents 

 of the boulder at 200 cubic feet, we find its weight to be in round 

 numbei-s fifteen tons. The matrix in which it was embedded was 

 boulder clay of the ordinaiy description, rather sandy in the upper part, 

 and full of rounded quartzite and gi-it pebbles from three to six inches 

 in diameter, with broken Uassic fossils, also pieces of mountain Ume- 

 stone, millstone grit, &c. The sides of the boulder are clean and shai-ply 

 defined, evidently trarei-sed by master-joints. No striations wex-e visible, 

 but they may possibly exist on the tmder-surface. Its top is worn into 

 rounded hummocks, just as the summits of the syenite hills of Cham- 

 wood now weather. I have, indeed, httle doubt that this mass formed a 

 part of the then summit of Mountsorrel, when a glacier advancing south- 

 wai'ds tore it fi-om its home, carried it over a depression in the Soar 

 Valley of more than 100ft., and finally dropped it at a point six miles 

 distant from its native mass. 



* Thfi apparent growtli of boulders is thus referred to in the report of the British 

 Association Boulder Committee. " It should be mentioned here that boulders 

 gradually ' work up ' to the surface. This is due, no doubt, to denudation which is 

 taking place. In a field on Ked Hill Farm, between Stafford and Stone, is one 

 of the larcest boulders of the district. This boulder was not noticed till some 

 twenty years ago, when it was found to obstruct the plough, although still some 

 depth underground. The obstruction became more and more serious each year 

 until, in consequence of this impediment, the field was turned from an arable to a 

 grazinv; one. At this time the boulder rises about 1ft. above the level of the field. 

 The part exposed measures Oft. by about .5ft., and evidently extends nndei the turf 

 for a much greater distance."— Kei>ort 1S73, p. 103.— Eds. M. N. 



