NATURE'S MASONRY 



921 



have stimulated the imaginations of our 

 forefathers, and as a result the following 

 quaint legend relating to the origin of the 

 Agglestone has been handed down from 

 monastic times. Tradition has it that 

 when Salisbury Cathedral was in process 

 of building, his Satanic Majesty was so 

 enraged as he gazed upon it from the Isle 

 of Wight, that he seized the Agglestone, 

 and hurled it with all his force at the 

 cathedral, hoping to obliterate it. But 

 the Agglestone was miraculously arrested 

 in its flight, and fell harmlessly upon the 

 sandy hilltop at Studland. 



The coast of the Isle of Purbeck affords 



many interesting examples of Nature's 

 masonry. Passing down to the coast 

 again, after our examination of the 

 Agglestone, let us in imagination set sail 

 towards Swanage. As we pass out of 

 Studland Bay, the great chalk cliffs of 

 Ballard Down tower above us, and just 

 before coming to the famous geological 

 Fault, where the strata are seen to have 

 been thrust upwards, we pass one of 

 Nature's towers that she has chiselled out 

 of the cliff with her tools, the waves, and 

 the wind and rain. In the afternoon, 

 when the cliffs are partly in shadow, this 

 tall, white, conical tower stands out fi-om 



IMMENSE BLOCKS OF STONE ARE SPLIT AND WEDGED OUTWARDS. 



117 



