SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



*93 



THE STONE (TRTAIN AT ROXBY. 



I5y Henhy Preston. ]•'.(;. S. 



TN a field on Sawcliff Farm, in the parish of 

 -*- Roxby-cum-Kisby, North Lincolnshire, there 



is a deposit of uncon a character and singular 



beauty. It is particularly interesting to the lover 

 of natural objects. Locally it is known as the 

 ••Sunken Church." An ancient tradition informs 

 us that it was a church attached to one of the 

 monasteries, and was buried by a landslip ; or. 

 according to Abraham de la Pryme, the Yorkshire 

 antiquary, who visited it in 1696 (Surtees 

 Society, vol. liv.), the tradition is that the church 

 sunk in the ground, with all the people in it, in the 

 times of Popery. 



Both the name and the legends do discredit to 



curtain," a name more in character both with its 

 appearance and manner of growth. 



Tin stone curtain, then, as will already have 

 been gathered, consists of a mass of calcareous 

 tufa deposited by a petrify iir_r spring trickling out 

 of the limestone rocks, as seen in the second illustra- 

 tion. It is a wall-like mass, some ninetyfeel or 

 more in length, having a varying thickness from 

 fifteen inches to two feet at the top, and a heighl 

 above ground of nine feet at its highest point. 

 From the higher end where it first leaves t In- 

 ordinary slope of the hill, there is a gentle fall 

 along the ridge until, about half-way down, a big 

 step of about four feet occurs. Then the ridge 



Photo, by} 



The Stone Curtain at Roxbv, showixg Gutter. 



[//. Preston, F.O.S. 



this remarkable structure, inasmuch as the visitor 

 who goes with the idea of finding architectural 

 remains, as some justification of the name, is dis- 

 appointed to find that no such ancient church 

 exists, and that no human agent has ever been at 

 work in connection with the mass of stone which 

 he has come to see. Such disappointment often 

 fails to yield to the new interest which should be 

 awakened by finding a structure of no mean size, 

 beautifully built and (luted by an artist so diminutive 

 as to be often altogether overlooked. In describing 

 this production of the tiny spring which issues 

 near the foot of the hill, I shall discard the present 

 name and venture to rechristen it the '-stone 

 Dec. 1900.— No. 70, Vol. VII. 



continues to descend, until at the lower end it 

 almost comes to the level of the ground again. 

 Undoubtedly the most striking feature about it is a 

 groove two inches wide and one and a quarter 

 inches deep, which runs along the ridge from end 

 to end, and also continues down the step above 

 mentioned. This groove is well shown in the 

 first illustration. 



At the foot of the hill there is a cattle-trough, 

 into which has been conducted from the top end 

 of the stone curtain a small spring as feeder, and 

 which at once gives a clue to the formation of this 

 interesting piece of Nature's architecture. 11- 

 foot of the escarpment, which is really part of the 



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