xliv. 



service was not to be accepted. Although the number of priests was 

 specified as eight, nothing was said as to lay brethren. In 1539 the 

 chantry was surrendered to the King, and in 1544 the site of the abbey 

 building was granted to Giles Strangways, Knight. 



St. Catherine's Chapel was then visited. Mr. Udal called attention to 

 the wishing holes, into which, according to ancient tradition, young maids 

 used to place their thumbs, and into two larger holes below their knees, 

 and invoke the aid of the patron saint not to let them die old maids. 



By this time the party had become scattered, many preferring to ramble 

 about the gardens and examine the various rare shrubs and plants which 

 have been established there. 



Dr. Moorhead conducted a party of geologists to the site from which the 

 iron ore had been extracted, which is described in Damon's work on the 

 " Geology of Weymouth and the Neighbourhood." At the spot known as 

 Red Lane, where the operations were carried on, the iron ore is exposed, 

 lying on the surface of the ground. Damon says ' ' The upper part of the 

 formation contains certain oolitic grains of iron ore in such quantity as to 

 form a rich ore of hydrous oxide of iron (Limonite)." From a report made 

 by Mr. Bristow on August 1st, 1849, in reference to the iron ore in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of Abbotsbury, we find "That the general 

 inclination of the coral rag (and of the subordinate strata), of which the 

 iron bearing beds constitute the upper portions, is towards the north, at 

 an angle of 10 or 15 degrees ; but a fault north of the village has the 

 effect of reversing the dip and of producing an inclination to a similar 

 amount in the opposite direction. The slope of the ground varying very 

 little from the dip of the strata, the last are for the most part at or near 

 the surface of the ground, and consequently easily accessible, but in the 

 valley at the western end of Abbotsbury the beds containing the iron ore 

 are concealed by an oval patch of Kimmeridge clay about half-a-mile in 

 length, from beneath which they merge to form the high grounds in the 

 neighbourhood around. At the eastern end of the village, and on the 

 north side of Linton Hill, these upper strata of coral rag also dip under, 

 and are overlaid by Kimmeridge clay. I have not yet measured the 

 thickness of the iron beds, but they cannot be less than 30ft. or 401t." 

 Mr. Damon then says : " Other beds of the coral rag in the neighbourhood 

 are more or less ferruginous, as may be seen in the rusty -looking cliff near 

 Sandsfoot, but nowhere is it so rich in iron as at Abbotsbury." 



Mr. T. B. Groves, F.C.S., of Weymouth, then read a paper on the 

 Abbotsbury iron deposits, which will be found at p. 64 of the present 

 volume. 



Mr. Damon, F.G.S., of Weymouth, also contributed the following paper 



