94 



stalagmites seen on the floors of caves, and also the stalactites 

 hanging from their roofs. Sheets of lime are also formed upon 

 surfaces over which a thin stream or film of lime-saturated water 

 flows. Examples of very beautiful forms of these are shown in 

 Cox's and Gough's caves, near the mouth of the gorge. Doubt- 

 less many others, yet undiscovered and never yet trodden by 

 human feet, remain hidden in the vast limestone masses of these 

 hills. 



These processes are still going on, though, doubtless, less 

 rapidly than in past ages, when, from greater rainfall, far more 

 water flowed than at present. And this brings us out of the mist 

 of geological times, to the human period, when these hills and 

 their ravines were frequented by the savage hunters of the 

 palaeolithic age. Their remains have been found in the caves, 

 together with those of animals long since extinct, such as the 

 Mammoth, Bison, Cave Bear, hyaena and others. Hyaenas in 

 particular, hunting in packs, drove their quarries over the cliffs, 

 and dragged their mangled remains into the caves to be devoured 

 at their leisure, where their fragmentary bones have been found 

 in great abundance. Lastly, at the close of Roman times, the 

 caves were once more used as refuges by the unfortunate residents 

 of neighbouring villas, who fled to them from the marauding bands 

 of semi-savages. This explains the discovery of a set of Roman 

 household keys, the owner of which, probably, never returned to 

 his luxurious villa, but perished miserably in the rocks, leaving the 

 ashes of his home to be discovered by the modern archaeologist, 

 and his lost keys in the cave he had fled to. 



The Berkeleys of Bisterne, etc., Hants : their Homes 

 and their Chauntries. 



By G. Brownen, Esq., F.C.S. 



An expansion of a Paper read at an Excursion of the Archaeological Section, 



August 7th, 1912. 



(^N the north side of the choir of the Priory Church of Christ- 

 ^ church, Hants, may be seen the remains of a late 15th 

 Century chauntry, known until recent years as the " William 

 and Margaret " Chauntry, from an imperfect inscription upon ; ts 

 front, the names of its founders being unaccountably lost for 

 centuries since the Reformation. 



Neither Warner in the 18th Century; nor Ferry 

 or Walcott in the 19th Century, who accurately describe the 

 chauntry and date its erection, was able to name its founders, 

 even though Christian names were on its facade. 



