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THE STONES OF STANTON DREW : 



and Natural History Society, lias been— (1) To ascertain tlio 

 nature of the rocks of which the stones are composed; (2) 

 To ascertain where such rocks may now be found in situ ; 

 and thus (3) To ascertain whence the ancient Neolithic folk 

 (for by them I believe the stone circles to have been 

 erected) brought those giant stones. 



The Nature of the Stones.— In addition to the stones of the 

 Great Circle and its Avenue, the North-east Circle and its 

 Avenue, and the South-west Circle, there are three stones, 

 known as the Cove, situated near the Church ; there are 

 two small stones in the Middle Ham or Tjower Tyning, 

 about one thousand yards west (and a little north) of the 

 Great Circle ; and there is one large stone (Hautville's or 

 Hackwell's Quoit), about six hundred yards east-noi-th-oast 

 of the Great Circle. 



A cursory examination of the stones shows tliat thny are 

 not all composed of the same rock-material. The ma,jority 

 of them arc, as has often been pointed out, of a very 

 peculiar nature, being composed of a highly silicious breccia, 

 full of angular fragments, of various sizes and shapes, em- 

 bedded in a reddish silicious matrix, freely impregnated 

 with iron. The rock is also full of hollows, some of which 

 are lined with crystallized quartz, while others are com- 

 pletely filled up with this material. The embedded frag- 

 ments have also a curious banded appearance ; the banded 

 layers running parallel with the contour of the fragments. 

 The stones of this class exhibit considerable variety of 

 structure and external appearance ; some are composed 

 throughout of a close rod or brown cherty material, witli 

 but few embedded fragments, and scarcely any hollows. 

 Others have many larger or smaller hollows, and have a 

 rough and slaggy appearance, giving rise to the popular but 

 erroneous idea that they are of volcanic origin. Collinson 



