By J. Buckman, Esq. 



293 



rocks, are scattered more or less about all Romano-British settle- 

 ments. They vary much in size and finish ; a remark indeed, 

 which pertains to querns of all kinds. 



6. The Pudding-stone Querns are made from a conglomerate 

 rock, which gets its common name from the circumstance of its 

 finer silicious particles seeming to act as a paste to include rounded 

 portions of a whitish or reddish quartzose rock — these rounded 

 bits, varying up to the size of walnuts, being the plums of the 

 mass. The rock is well seen in situ on the west bank of the 

 Severn, and underlying the mountain limestone in the neighbour- 

 hood of Symonds-Yat, on the Wye. By far the greater number 

 of the British-made querns at Wroxeter, were of this material, as 

 I observed only a few weeks since. 



In going over a friend's estate in the parish of Saint Briavell 

 a part of the Forest of Dean district, I had the good fortune to 

 find several roughly hewn discoid stones of the Old- red-sandstone 

 conglomerate. These stones approached the shape of the finished 

 querns of the same material, of which I have obtained no fewer 

 than nine at Corinium. The diameter of these roughly hewn 

 discs was usually about 20 inches, whilst that of all my finished 

 examples is about 15 inches. 



From these facts then, I conclude that the rough discs were the 

 initiatives — the first stage in the preparation of the quern, and 

 that they were probably rough hewn, as the stones were chosen from 

 the rock as it crops out at the surface, just as I have seen stones for 

 various purposes hewn into different shapes on the Granite Torrs 

 of Cornwall, ready to be transported elsewhere for a higher finish. 



In reference to this subject it may be well to state that Mr. 

 Cunnington reports " an unfinished quern from Pen-pits — Upper- 

 green-sand — very rude — no hole in it — diameter 20 inches." 



I conclude that this is an example, like those just mentioned, of 

 a quern in an early stage of manufacture, and it is therefore not 

 improbable that the Pen quarry district may yield more upon an 

 attentive examination. 



In the case of the conglomerate specimens, it may be noted that 

 they were found over a wide area, and as might be expected had 



