248 REPORT— 1882. 



This boulder may be calculated to contain from 8 to 10 cubic 

 feet, and is subangular. It is a pebble grit belonging to the Plin- 

 limmon group, and may have come, according to Professor Lapworth, 

 from the neighbourhood of Rhaydr. So far as can be observed, it rests 

 upon the same limit of bed as the Great Boundary Stone. Its elevation 

 above the sea is 1,327 feet, and it is the highest of all the boulders of the 

 group. 



The ' 10 Feet Boulder.'—This boulder is a pebbly grit of the Plin- 

 limmon group, and is very remarkable in many respects. 



It lies on the Clun Hill, near Pen-y-wern, 52° 24' 20" N.L., 3° 0' 30" 

 W.L., at an elevation of about 1,160 feet above the sea. It measures 

 10 ft. X 3 ft. X 3 ft., and weighs probably between 6 and 7 tons. It bears 

 every evidence of having stood upright in the ground for a very long 

 time. The base is tolerably angular and well-preserved, but the sides 

 and apex are much Aveathered. About 4 ft. from the base it is deeply 

 undercut, apparently all round, exactly as we should expect such a block 

 to be where (on the ground-line) it had been most exposed to the combined 

 influence of moisture and frost. 



About 120 yards distant, at the highest point of the hill it stands on, 

 is a clump of young firs. Old inhabitants remember, before the trees 

 were planted, a circle of stones (foreign-looking boulders), some 30 yards 

 in diameter, existed here. The farmers, finding this piece of ground 

 useless for agricultural purposes, carted the refuse of their fields — loose 

 stones and weeds — on to it, and afterwards the firs were planted. 

 Distinct traces of the stone circle are still to be seen.' 



The work of destruction among boulders is still going on with great 

 rapidity. Many specimens are heard of as having existed some years 

 ago, of which now no trace can be found. The Committee appeal, there- 

 fore, to observers in all parts of the country to assist them in completing 

 the record upon which they are engaged. 



' Mr. LufE sends the following memorandum on the Clun 10 Feet Boulder : — 



' A line drawn from the centre of this circle to the base of the boulder, if pro- 

 longed, on one side would meet the 23oint of lowest sunrise (December 21), and 

 on the other that of latest sunset (June 21). This I have tested by mariner's 

 comiaass, making careful allowance for variation of the needle, and higher elevation 

 of the opposite hills, and also by observation of sunset on and about the longest 

 day. The boulder lies on the S.E. side of the circle, and in my opinion has been 

 used as a gnomon to indicate the point at which the sun would be first seen on the 

 shortest day. A spot more favourable for the observation or worship of that luminary 

 could hardly be imagined. It is the centre of an amphitheatre of hills, the valleys 

 are out of sight, and nothing is in view but hill-top below, and the dome of heaven 

 above. 



' It is impossible to say who first erected this rude obelisk, or worshipped at this 

 circle, but associated with them on the same range of hills are many clearly Neolithic 

 remains, nicely polished flint arrow-heads, flint cores, and broken fragments. 



' It is to be hoped this interesting stone may be preserved as a monument of a 

 bygone age.' 



