iPORTESHAM AND BRIDEHEAD DISTRICT. Ixxix. 



Dr. CoLLEY March pointed out to tlie party liow admirably 

 this valley illustrates the tendency of the sarsen stones to travel 

 down the steeper slopes and to congregate in the chalk valleys. 

 The bottom of the Valley of Stones is dotted with them so 

 thickly that it is possible to step from one to another for a long 

 distance ; and in the street of Portesham there are upwards of 60 

 great blocks within a distance of less than 200 yards. Here in 

 this valley, where they saw hedges for partition, the stones had 

 been spared and left alone by man, instead of being broken up 

 and built into the walls, as in other parts ; but even within the 

 memory of some men still living many of the valleys in the 

 district contained similar drifts of stones. Many of these valleys, 

 too, through which streams once flowed were now dry ; but in 

 some places they saw little patches of sand which marked vents 

 out of which the streams gushed after heavy rains. These 

 valleys, when Avell watered, were much frequented by ancient 

 " small holders." As to the stone circle, it was a subject of 

 great inteiest in regard to interment, ritual, and orientation. 



"The Grey Mare and her Colts." 



Dr. CoLLEY March described it as the remains of a fine long 

 barrow. The two megaliths standing up at the east end— for the 

 barrow was oriented east and west — were probably crossed by a 

 third, constituting a trilithon, which was at the entrance 

 into the gallery that ran along the middle to an interment at that 

 end. There were other long barrows in the neighbourhood ; but 

 none with so fine an example of the entrance. Probably the 

 mound was originally much higher than now, and the stones 

 which formed the gallery collapsed and let the earth in. 



The Members next walked to the Gorwell circle. It was, said 

 their conductor, a very fine stone circle above 78 feet in diameter. 

 He had been asked why the stones were so small ; and his 

 answer was that it was a matter of using stones that came nearest 

 to hand. He explained how the cuplike cavities in some of the 

 stones were formed by natural agencies, such as rain and wind. 



