THE 'FRIAR'S HEEL' 205 



enough, the Great Trilithoiis. Each of these five 

 groups wouhl appear to have been accompanied on 

 the inner side by a cluster of three small standing- 

 stones, while a black flat monolith, called the ' Altar 

 Stone,' occupied the innermost position. A smaller 

 trilithon seems to have once stood near its bio; 

 brethren, but it and three of the great five are in 

 ruins. Only six imposts of the outer circle are left 

 in their place overhead, and l)ut sixteen of its thirty 

 upright stones are now standing. The smaller circles 

 and groups are equally imperfect. Some of this ruin 

 has befallen within the historical period ; one of the 

 Great Trilithons having been wrecked in 1620, in the 

 absurd treasure-seeking expedition of the Duke of 

 Buckingham, while another fell on the 3rd of January 

 1797, during a thaw. 



These circles seem to have been surrounded Ijy an 

 earthen bank, with an avenue leading oft' towards 

 the east. Very few traces of these enclosures now 

 remain. In midst of the avenue lies the flat so- 

 called ' Stone of Sacrifice,' with the rough obelisk 

 of the ' Friar's Heel,' as the most easterly outpost of 

 all, bevond. To the Friar's Heel belonos a leoend 

 which gives, by the way, an even more distinguished 

 person than Adam as the builder of Stonehenge. 

 The Devil, according to this story, was the architect, 

 and when he had nearly finished his work, he 

 chuckled to himself that no one would be able to teli 

 how it was done. A wandering friar, however, who 

 had been a witness of it all, remarked, ' That's more 

 than thee can tell,' and thereupon ran away, the 

 Devil flino'ino- one of the stones left over after him. 



