l x lv. TAUNTON AND 



The HON. SECRETARY took the opportunity to state that the 

 1200 deeds relating to the county of Dorset which had been 

 presented to the Club by Mr. E. A. Fry, of London, were now in 

 the County Museum, and the Club were inviting offers of help 

 from Members in the matter of making abstracts of these deeds 

 in order that they may be printed. Mr. H. Symonds, of Bridport, 

 and Mr. W. B. Wildman, the Sherborne historian, had volun- 

 teered their assistance, and they were well qualified for the work ; 

 but it was too big a job for only two pairs of hands, and the Club 

 would be glad to have further offers of help. 



THE AVEBURY EXCAVATIONS. 



Mr. H. ST. GEORGE GRAY delivered an able lecture on " The 

 Avebury Excavations of 1908 and 1909," which were carried out 

 under his direction. The lecture was marked with all Mr. 

 Gray's characteristic clearness, fulness, and precision of state- 

 ment, and its interest was much enhanced by the exhibition of a 

 series of lantern slides made from photographs taken by Mr. 

 Gray himself, some of them being of marked beauty as well as of 

 scientific interest. 



The excavations were carried out the first year under the auspices of the 

 British Association, and this year the fund was supplemented by donations from 

 the Society of Antiquaries and other learned bodies and individuals. The return 

 in actual relics was trifling when compared with the cost of obtaining them. Mr. 

 Gray observed (and this observation is relevant to the digging of Maumbury 

 Rings now proceeding) that the success or non-success of archaeological investiga- 

 tions was to be gauged, not by the number and excellence of the relics found, 

 but by the extension of archaeological knowledge. The lecturer gave a vivid idea 

 of the impressively majestic sight which Avebury must have presented when it 

 was perfect, with its two inner circles of megaliths on an area of land 1,400 feet 

 in diameter within the huge encircling vallum, whereas the corresponding 

 diameter of Stonehenge measures but 300 feet ; and with the dignified approach 

 to it through the Kennet Avenue, which, although there are now but eleven 

 stones left in alignment, formerly comprised 300 stones. Avebury in its glory, 

 with the Kennet Avenue, consisted of no less than 650 stones, but at present 

 only about 45 remained. The relationship, if any, which Avebury has to its 

 great neighbour, Silbury Hill the largest artificial mound in Britain has yet to 

 be determined. Mr. Gray gave a detailed description of the excavation of the 



