Ix. WEST pukBECK MEETING. 



I have not the remotest idea of what the original surface of the 

 summit consisted. This tumulus, which forms such a convenient 

 shelter, consists of those very large flints which have been 

 gathered from all round. But the greatest annoyance is that 

 a house has been built on the top of Creech Barrow, and the 

 foundations and walls make it utterly impossible for anyone 

 to judge what may have been the original composition of the 

 summit. It has been sophisticated by man, and the only way I 

 can see of ascertaining the true structure of Creech Barrow is to 

 drive a horizontal level right in to see what the hill is really made 

 of. If the Dorset Field Club would like to vote a sum of money 

 for that purpose, I will undertake to see that it is properly spent. 

 But I am afraid that this is hoping rather too much. 



Lord Eustace Cecil expressed the thanks of the Club to Mr. 

 Hudleston for his most interesting and instructive address, and 

 the party shortly afterwards descended the hill and drove by 

 Cocknowle to 



BARNESTONE MANOR HOUSE, 



which the tenant, Mr. Chilcott, had kindly given the Club leave 

 to inspect. Here Mr. Hudleston, who had taken Lord Eustace 

 Cecil's place as President, introduced the Rev. W. D. Filliter, 

 who reminded the Club that they had now dropped into the 

 quietest part of Dorset. Owing to its isolation, Purbeck had 

 preserved almost unchanged for many ages its ancient character- 

 istics. Some of the old feudal customs had lingered on. They 

 went back in thought to days when the great feudal castle of 

 Corfe overawed the whole valley, when the life of a deer was of 

 more value than that of a man, and builders were not allowed to 

 build a stone wall so high but that a doe and her fawn could 

 jump over it. " Many old Purbeck manors are still standing, all 

 of them now used as farmhouses and considerably altered, such 

 as Godlingstone, Downshay, Afflington, Blackmail stone, Lutton. 

 They are marked by no great architectural features to which 

 Purbeck stone is not adapted, but are of considerable interest. 

 Barnestone was one of the best preserved of the old manor 

 housesi There was a house of some kind there in Edward the 



