126 EEPORT— 1889. 



Driffield, is a boulder; lat. 53° 57' 45", long. 0° 29' 47". Whinstone, 

 4 ft. 3 in. X 3 ft. 5 in. X 1 ft. 3 in. Longest axis E. and W. About 100 ft. 

 above sea-level. Is near a chalk pit, a short distance from the new 

 railway between Driffield and Market Weigbton. Has not been moved. 

 Is on boulder clay resting upon Upper chalk. 



Some large Yorkshire blocks which have been erroneously described 

 as erratics have been examined by the Yorkshire Committee, and, to pre- 

 vent further errors, their report is subjoined : — ■ 



The 'Fourstones' near Bentham. — The ' Fourstones ' was reported to 

 the Yorkshire Boulder Committee in 1887 as an isolated boulder, but there 

 were several points of similarity between this block and the ' Hitching- 

 stone.' As the latter had been erroneously reported to the British 

 Association in 1874 by a private individual as an erratic, whereas it 

 was demonstrated in 1887 that it is not one, it was deemed desirable 

 that the ' Fourstones ' should be closely examined before a report was 

 forwarded. 



Mr. C. D. Hardcastle, Vice-Chairman of the Yorkshire Boulder Com- 

 mittee, has visited it, and thus reports : — 



The so-called ' Fourstones ' boulder forms a prominent feature in the 

 landscape for some distance in every direction. It stands on the open 

 moor, about two miles south of High Bentham, and within a few hundred 

 yards of Fourstones Farm-house, a shooting-box belonging to the Fosters 

 of Hornby Castle. 



The stone is of irregular form, about 10 yds. by 6 yds. in extreme 

 length and width, 29 to 30 yds. in circuit, and nearly 4 yds. high. It is a 

 moderately fine sandstone grit, similar to the stone quarried in several 

 places about Bentham. It appears to be in or near its original position, 

 and at first sight gives the impression of having been tilted, weathered 

 grooves, apparently along bedding lines, crossing the top at the southern 

 end with an inclination towards the south or south-west; but this perhaps 

 may be from false bedding. In composition it is the same as the stone 

 beneath it, as evidenced by an exposed portion in a hollow about 18 yds. 

 distant, generally filled with water. 



The ' Fourstones ' is evidently a relic of denudation, and there is no 

 probability of its having travelled. 



The ' HaddocJcstones,' near Uipon. — Note by the Yorkshire Boulder 

 Committee. — The attention of the Committee has been called by the 

 Rev. J. Stanley Tute, B.A., Vicar of Markington, to a group of remark- 

 able blocks, which give the name to the farm of Haddockstones, 4 miles 

 S.W. of Ripon. The word ' haddock ' is a local name for a shock of 

 corn. 



The Chairman and other members of the Committee, accompanied by 

 Mr. Tute, visited the farm on June 1. The blocks are of sufficient size 

 to be visible at a distance of several fields, and lie among a low escarp- 

 ment of the same rock as that from which they are derived, viz., a sand- 

 stone in the Third Grit series. Few of the blocks are undisturbed, and 

 their planes of stratification rarely coincide with the bedding of the rock 

 beneath. Some exhibit apparently modern surftices, as if pieces had 

 been removed by wedges. 



From the position of these blocks along an outcrop of precisely 

 similar sandstone, the Committee consider it likely that they are merely 

 weathered fragments, nearly in situ, and concur with Mr. Tute that they 

 cannot be claimed as erratics. 



