254 DRUID SANDSTONE. 



Examples of the siliceous sandstone may be seen on the hill near 

 Lewes Kace-course; at Bormer; in Stanmer Park; and on the ploughed 

 lands near Hogshrove farm. At Falmer, the pond that suppUes the vil- 

 lao-e with water is surrounded with large masses of this substance. These 

 boulders have their edges rounded and even, and exhibit incontestable 

 proofs of long exposure to the action of the waves. They are of various 

 sizes, some of them exceeding nine feet in length; their colour is either 

 white, or of different shades of grey, and reddish brown. Their tex- 

 ture is subcrystaUine ; the white varieties, when recently broken, much 

 resembhno- lump sugar. In a few instances they enclose chalk flints 

 shghtly worn, and small fragments of a dark green substance, the nature 

 of which is unknown. 



Boulders of druid sandstone also occur in the shingle bed, and calca- 

 reous deposit, at Brighton, and may be observed lying on the sea-shore in 

 considerable numbers, after a recent fall of the cHffs. 



Upon comparing the sandstone of Stonehenge with that of Sussex, no 

 perceptible difference can be detected; and in this county, as well as in 

 Wiltshire, it has been employed by the earlier inhabitants, as landmarks to 

 denote the boundaries of towns*, and villages, or to commemorate the 

 site of battles ; as sepulchral stones, to perpetuate the memory of their 

 chiefs ; and as altars, on which to sacrifice to their gods. 



No regular stratum of the druid sandstone has yet been discovered in 

 this country, and its geological position is stiU undetermined. In the ta- 

 bular arrangement of Professor Buckland, it is placed below the plastic 

 clay f ; and if the cliffs at Brighton (hereafter described) belong to that 

 formation, there is conclusive evidence, that the appropriation is correct. 



* The frequent occurrence of large smooth blocks of stone, on the boundary line of vil- 

 lao-es and parishes, in the south-eastern part of Sussex, must have been noticed by many of my 

 readers. A large boulder of druid sandstone placed at the corner of Ireland's Lane, in St. 

 Ann's parish, forms the western boundary of the borough of Lewes. Similar stones are not 

 unfrequent in the large tumuli on the Downs; several may be seen near Lewes Race-course. 

 It seems probable, that the ancient Britons regarded this sandstone with superstitious venera- 

 tion ; for besides employing it in the construction of their temples, kist-vaens, &c., they con- 

 verted the pebbles and smaller stones into amulets and beads. 



f On a former occasion, this gentleman referred it to the plastic clay formation; and con- 



