190 Recent Wiltshire Books, Pam^phlets, Articles, &c. 



The author says in his preface " the general conclusions here given 

 are those stated by the author in ' Stonehenge and its Earthworks ^ 

 (published 1895) ; but views on various details have been revised and 

 other matter added ; more especially has the origin of the foreign 

 stones been inquired into." In this latter point the chief value of this 

 little book consists. The theory which the geological facts are mar- 

 shalled to support can only be described as fantastic, but the geological 

 facts themselves, derived apparently from iMr. H. H. Thomas, of the 

 Geological Survey, are of value. The author rightly pours contempt 

 on that most unhappy theory put forward by Prof. Judd that the Stone- 

 henge downs were once sprinkled with Sarsen stones as the Marlborough 

 Downs are now, and that the Blue stones are erratic boulders found 

 near the spot. What, in this case, he rightly asks, has become of the 

 Sarsens "? Where on the plain is a Sarsen gatepost, or wall, or piece of 

 pitching ? and where will you find even a portion of an erratic boulder 

 on or near the Plain ? As to the real place of origin of the " Blue 

 Stones " Mr. Barclay says " Mr. Thomas, a specialist in Welsh rocks, 

 who has intimate knowledge of this part of the country, assures me 

 that Diabase boulders, and also boulders of Grey Felsite, both agreeing 

 in their nature with the Stonehenge foreign stones, lie plentifully along 

 the eastern shore of Fishguard Bay ; also that such boulders lie scat- 

 tered inland .... they are found in the district lying between 

 Haverfordwest and Clarbeston. He also assures me that such rocks 

 do not occur further south in Devon or Cornwall." Diabase also occurs 

 in Scotland in boulders at Leith and about the River Tay. 



Mr. Barclay believes that the Blue Stones came from Fishguard Bay, 

 on the Welsh coast, and to transport them to Stonehenge he ingeniously 

 calls in the aid of the fleet of Agricola, which made the circuit of 

 Britain in A.D., 84, on the conclusion of the campaign in Scotland. On 

 the strength of a statement by Tacitus that Agricola in order to 

 reconcile the natives of Britain to quiet and tranquillity, encouraged 

 them to erect temples, courts of justice, and dwelling houses, Mr. 

 Barclay elaborates a theory that the tribes of Southern Britain were 

 kept out of mischief by being set to build Stonehenge, the men of 

 North Wilts being occupied in transporting the great Sarsens from the 

 Marlborough Downs, those of South Wilts and Hants in bringing the 

 Blue Stones up the Avon from its mouth, where the Roman fleet had 

 landed them after bringing them from Fishguard Bay, or possibly in 

 the case of the diabases from the East Coast of Scotland, whilst the 

 men of West Wilts and Somerset were charged with the carriage of the 

 Altar Stone from the neighbourhood of Frome. 



The Blue Stones therefore commemorate the first circumnavigation 

 of the island. As to the story of Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth 

 of the erection of Stonehenge as a monument to the British chieftains 

 slain by Hengist, this refers really not to the building but to the des- 

 poiling of Stonehenge and the taking away of some of the stones of the 

 sacred circle to form a monument at Amesbury, probably in Ves- 

 pasian's Camp. The theory is all highly ingenious and entirely devoid 



