]86 



History of the Sanctis. 



In the "Geologist," vol. v., for L862, p. 449, Mr. Bensted states : 

 "The Druid Sandstone, of which rock Kits Coty House, Stonehenge, 

 iind other remains are composed, is found scattered in great blocks 

 over the surface of the Chalk hills (near Maidstone), or buried 

 superficially in the beds of clay retained in the hollows on the sum- 

 mits of the escarpments/'' Mr. Bensted also met with fragments 

 of the flint conglomerate on the Maidstone Hills (p. 450). 



The following is an interesting record, by the Rev. Osmond 

 Fisher, F.G.S., of the conditions under which some Sarsens occur 

 in Dorsetshire : — " Close to the village of Broad mayne, about five 

 miles (south-east) from Dorchester, on the Wareham road, are several 

 blocks of Druid Sandstone, in two fields on each side of the road, 

 close to a farm-house, marked ' Little Mayne ' on the map. These 

 blocks have been a puzzle to the local archaeologists, who have en- 

 deavoured to give them an antiquarian value, and to explain their 

 arrangement as belonging to some ancient so-called ' Druidical ' 

 work. They are, however, a natural deposit, and, as I conceive, are, 

 so to speak, in situ ; that is to say, they have not travelled any 

 distance from the place where they were formed. The locality is 

 on the line of junction with the Chalk of a small outlier of the 

 Lower Tertiaries. These beds are extremely variable in character; 

 and at this spot a fine, sharp, white sand crops out on the north 

 side of the shallow valley in which the blocks lie. In the side of 

 the road this sand has been cut into ; and two of the blocks of 

 sandstone are seen, one partly cropping out on the surface, with its 

 lower portion embedded in its native sand; the other is entirely 

 enveloped in the sand, except as far as it has been exposed in cutting 

 the road. The blocks are evidently indurated masses of this bed of 

 sand. The denuding forces which have scooped out the valley have 

 removed the sand and left the blocks behind. There are numerous 

 other blocks of a similar character on and beneath the lofty hill 

 called Blackdown, near Portisham (about seven miles S. W. of 

 Dorchester). These, however, are conglomerates of large flints. 

 Some lie on the top of the hill on the upper surface of the Chalk, 

 almost in situ, as at Mayne, and close to the Tertiary beds from 

 which they came ; others have been carried by some torrential 



