November 24, 1893.] 



SCIENCE. 



287 



upon these data the number of fecal bacteria per cubic 

 centimetre in the water under examination is calculated. 



A part of the results thus far obtained by the use of 

 this method, together with a more detailed account of the 

 method is published in the 1892 report of the State Board 

 of Health of New York. 



BEITISH STONE CIECLES— V. OXFORDSHIRE, 

 SHROPSHIRE, AND AVELCH CIRCLES*. 



BY A. L. LEWIS, F. C. A., LONDON, ENGLAND. 



There is a well-known circle called the Roll-Rich, better 

 known locally, however, as the "King-stones," four miles 

 from Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire (Great Western Rail- 

 way). It is 100 feet in diameter, and consists of fifty-four 

 stones and fragments, varying from one to seven and a 

 half feet in height, one to five and a half in width, and one 

 to two in thickness. Many of these stand close together, 

 giving the idea that the circle when complete may have 

 been a continuous wall of enclosure; but this is a point on 

 which the visitor can form his own opinion. Two hundred 

 and fifty feet from the circle, in a direction SS"^ north of 

 east, is a stone called the "Kingstone," 9}^ feet high and 

 from ly^ to 5 feet broad and thick; it is on the other side 

 of the road which divides Oxfordshire from Warwickshire, 

 and is therefore in the latter county. Though very sim- 

 ilar in position to the "Friar's Heel" at Stonehenge, it 

 would appear to be too far north to mark the point of sun- 

 rise; but it may have marked the point of the first appear- 

 ance of light on the longest day. About 300 yards from this 

 circle,in a direction 10* south of east, stand five stones called 

 the "Five Knights," which are from eight to eleven feet 

 in height and one to four in breadth and thickness. As 

 they now stand they enclose a small square space, three of 

 them standing in a contiguous line facing S. S. E., one 

 standing four feet behind them, and the fifth forming the 

 northeast side of the enclosure, but it is possible that the 

 latter was originally a capstone on the top of the others, 

 and has fallen into the position which it now occupies. 

 The ground enclosed by these stones is two feet higher 

 than that outside them; they may have been designed in 

 connection with the circle, or they may not; this is a 

 point for the consideration of the visitor. There is a 

 monument very like the "Five Knights," some four miles 

 south from Chipping Norton, at a place called Enstone. 

 These stones are called the "Hoarstone," and are four 

 miles from Charlbury Station (G. W. R.). 



On a hill above Penmfenmawr, on the north Welsh 

 coast, there is a circle called "Y Meinen Hirion" (the long 

 stones), eighty feet in diameter; seven stones from three 

 to five and a half feet high remain upright, and one, eight 

 feet long, lies prostrate; there are also sundry fragments 

 and stumps. This monument, described in Gough's "Cam- 

 den's Britannia" as one of the most remarkable in North 

 Wales, is not unlike the Roll-Rich in character, but is 

 smaller, and, as regards the circle itself, even insignificant. 

 The ground toward the northeast falls rapidly away into 

 a deep hollow, on the other side of which are lofty hills; 

 but about 500 feet to the northeast, down in the valley, is 

 a stone, now prostrate, nine feet long, five feet wide and 

 two feet thick, and in the same direction, but about 100 

 further, is another j)rostrate stone of the same length and 

 width, but twice as thick. These stones, placed like the 

 "Friar's Heel" at Stonehenge and the "Kingstone" at the 



*Nor I Abury appeared in No. 520, March 24. 

 No. 2 Stonehenge appeared in No. 537, May ig. 

 No. 3 Derbyshire Circles appeared in No. 545, July 14. 



No. 4 Somersetshire and Dorsetshire Circles appeared in No. 555, Septem- 

 ber 23. 



Roll-Rich, being down in a valley, do not themselves show 

 up on the horizon against the rising sun, but they lead 

 the eye directly to a hill on the other side of the valley, 

 over the top of which the sun would probably rise on the 

 longest day, as it is between 4.5 and 50 degrees east of 

 north, and not very much higher than the circle. This 

 hill, one on the north side of it, and the Great Orme, form 

 a group of three, and we shall find that in the hilly dis- 

 tricts of Great Britain trijjle summits or groups of three 

 hills are often to be seen to the northeast of circles, from 

 which it may be inferred that the circles were, for some 

 reason or other, intentionally placed in such positions as 

 to command views of triple summits in that direction. 



There are two other circles which are only just over the 

 border of Wales, in Shropshire, and are most conveniently 

 reached from Minsterley, to which there is a railway from 

 Shrewsbury. The farther and larger of the two is about 

 seven miles from Minsterley, and is called Mitchellsfold; 

 it seems to be slightly oval, the diameters being 86 and 

 92 feet; it consists of thirteen stones, varying from six to 

 two feet in height, and one to three feet in thickness. 

 There are also some fragments, but the original number 

 of stones may have been from 27 to 30. Two hundred 

 and fifty feet from the south side of the circle are two 

 stones, fifty feet apart, the dimensions of which are from 

 two to three feet each way; and half a mile due south was 

 formerly a monument of some kind called the Whetstone, 

 which may or may not have been planned in connection 

 with the circle. The top of a high hill, called Stapelev 

 Hill, is 50" east of north from the centre of Mitchellsfold 

 (the same direction as the "Friar's Heel" at Stonehenge), 

 and about three-quarters of a mile from it. Between the 

 tv^o is a single stone, now fallen, eight feet long. Still 

 farther, in exactly the same line, on the other side of 

 Stateley Hill, and at the same distance from its summit 

 on the northeast as Mitchellsfold is on the southwest, is 

 another circle, called the "Hoarstone," or Marshpool, 

 circle; and beyond this, looking northeasterly, may be 

 seen three low hills. The Hoarstone circle is about 74 

 feet in diameter, and consists of 33 stones and fragments, 

 the general size of which is from two to three feet in 

 height, width and thickness. The largest stone is in the 

 middle of the circle, a little to the southwest of the centre, 

 and is only three feet and a half high; but, as the ground 

 is soft and swampy, the stones may be sunk to some depth 

 in it, and their original height may have been greater, 

 and, if so, the bottom of the central stone, which now 

 leans to the southwest, may be nearly at the centre of the 

 circle. Many of these stones have artificial holes in them; 

 these are not ancient, but have been made by the miners, 

 who fill them with powder and fire them when a wedding 

 takes place in the neighborhood. Mitchellsfold, other- 

 wise Madge's Pinfold or milking fold, is said to have . re- 

 ceived its name from a legend connecting it with a cow 

 which gave milk enough for all honest people who wanted 

 any, until some wicked person drew her milk into a sieve, 

 from which time the cow disappeared. The fallen stone 

 between the circle and Stapeley Hill is called the "Dun 

 Cow," probably in connection with the same legend. 



There is another circle on Penywern Hill, two miles 

 south from Clun in Shropshire, but it is nearly destroyed; 

 it appears to have been about thirty yards in diameter, 

 and to have had an outlying stone ten feet high, 120 

 yards or ao to the southeastf. 



There is also a cii-cle at Kerry Hill, in Montgomeryshire, 

 eight or ten miles west of Clun, which, I am told, is about 

 thirty feet in diameter, with a central block, like the 

 Marshpool circlef. 



tl have not seen either of these, and am indebted to Mr. Luff, a former resi- 

 dent of Clun, for the above information concerning them. 



