xlvi. THE FIRST WINTER MEETING. 



16ft. by 2ft. at the butt, was lying in gravel, with 4ft. Sin. of alluvial 

 clay and 1ft. of solid blue clay over the butt. Underneath the tree 

 was found a roe deer's antler. The second oak was in a similar position 

 in the gravel about fifty yards up stream, but the tree had fallen in the 

 reverse direction, viz., towards the north. Its dimensions were 20ft. Gin. 

 by 2ft. 6in., and the clays above it were of practically the same 

 thickness as those covering the earlier find. Remants of broken limbs 

 of the second oak were lying near, and a pointed oak pile was found 

 driven into the river bed below the level of the log, but not connected 

 with it. In each case the head of the tree lay 3ft. under the clay of the 

 banks. The wood of both logs was in excellent condition, the colour 

 approximating to that of Irish bog oak. Dr. Ord, in the course of 

 his notes, remarked that the points of intarest raised by these discoveries 

 were (a) the age of deposition of the gravel beds in which the logs 

 occurred, (6) whether the deposit was in its original position, or had 

 been washed down from higher beds of an earlier period, (c) the period 

 to which the pile should be assigned. He thought there could be little 

 doubt that the gravel was laid down by the stream, probably at a time 

 when the natural drainage system of the country was much the same as 

 at present, the period of such river deposits usually corresponding with 

 the Neolithic age of human occupation. The existing water shed of the 

 district south of Sherborne suggested that the material in which the 

 logs were found came from the chalk hills to the south-west ; from these 

 hills there would bo a fall of about 600ft. to the Oxford clay through 

 which the stream flowed, in less than 3| miles. 



3. Mr. HEYWOOD SUMNER, F.S.A., contributed a paper 

 on the Earthworks of Cranborne Chase, illustrated by many 

 plans which he had drawn. The paper is printed in this 

 volume. 



4. A paper bv Mr. F. J. POPE, F.R.Hist.S., on Dorset 

 Assizes in the Seventeenth Century, could not be read owing 

 to the lateness of the hour, but the communication will be 

 found on a subsequent page. 



