Thursday, August 14-th 445 



was in ruins and the cult with which it was connected forgotten 

 in the prehistoric Iron Age. The Kev. W. Done Bushell spoke on 

 Sir Norman Lockyer's theory of fixing the date by the orientation 

 of the structure. It was a gallant attempt, but really it was a 

 forlorn hope, for it was not possible to fix the actual central line 

 of the building and the avenue with sufficient accuracy to determine 

 the date. The President would have none of Sir Norman Lockyer's 

 theory, and as to the conclusion arrived at by Dr. Gowland on the 

 strength of the rude flint "implements" supposed to have been 

 used in shaping the stones, he could not see that they were neces- 

 sarily Neolithic, and there was at least one small stain of bronze 

 found. Sir Henry Howorth spoke strongly against accepting the 

 orientation theories of Sir Norman Lockyer, they could not be taken 

 seriously. 



Inside the circle the Eev. E. H. Goddard described the structure 

 and spoke of the debt which archseologists owed to Sir Edmund 

 Antrobus for his care of the monument. He dissented from 

 Professor Judd's view that the " blue stones " may have been de- 

 rived from erratics on Salisbury Plain itself, and in this he was 

 supported by the President. The President commenting on the 

 fact that Dr. G-owland's excavations had proved that the sarsens 

 were erected from the inside, and therefore the " blue stones " 

 could not have been standing at the time, said that he accepted 

 this conclusion, but it did not affect his belief that in the " blue 

 stones " we have the original sacred circle. 



On leaving Stonehenge the party made for Amesbury, where 

 lunch awaited them, and then proceeded to OLD SAEUM, where 

 Dr. W. H. St. John Hope, who in conjunction with Col. Hawley 

 is in command of the excavations, explained the general features 

 of the Castle and its earthworks. He said it was doubtful whether 

 the site was really that of Sorbiodunum, he thought possibly the 

 Roman settlement might not have been on the hill, where scarcely 

 anything Eoman had been found in the excavations, but perhaps 

 on the west side of it, at or near Stratford. There was some 

 evidence that before the Norman conquest the area was divided 

 into two by a cross bank and ditch, but this was destroyed by the 



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