The Eleventh General Meeting. 



19 



officer of the name of Beamish made an excavation under the stones, 

 and deposited a bottle containing a report of the fact. With 

 regard to the " L.Y. and sickle " which were cut upon the fallen 

 trilithon, Docter Thurnam acknowledged that the matter had been 

 satisfactorily cleared up by the exertions of Mr. Kemm and Mr. 

 Zillwood, of Amesbury, who had ascertained that the figures had 

 been cut by a travelling mason. 1 It was very satisfactory that the 

 matter had been so cleared up. He then proceeded to react an 

 extract of the report of the meeting of the Archaeological Institute 

 of Great Britain and Ireland in 1849, as showing what were the 

 feelings at that time with regard to the raising of the stones : — 



" The Right Hon. Sidney Herbert begged to remind the meeting 

 that that proposition (the raising of the fallen trilithon) involved 

 no incongruous addition to, or alteration of the temple. The stones 

 had fallen in the memory of man, and they would be re-erected 

 precisely in their former position in a spirit of reverent regard 

 for their antiquity. For the sake of posterity he was deeply 

 desirous of taking every precaution to preserve that august relic 

 of the past in its integrity and simplicity. — The Bishop of Oxford 

 likewise gave the weight of his opinion in favor of the restoration; 

 and Sir John Awdry assured the assemblage that the proposal met 

 with the entire concurrence of Sir Edmund Antrobus, who had 

 moreover, liberally offered to raise the stones. The question was 

 put to a show of hands, and carried by acclamation." 



The doctor's interesting explanation was listened to with great 

 interest, and he was frequently applauded. 



After a few observations from Mr. Cunnington, 



Mr. Parker was called upon. He said there was one branch of 

 the subject which the doctor had not referred to, and which he 

 thought the assemblage would be interested in. In the Oriental 

 language a circle of stones was called a Gilgal, and in Scripture 

 there was every reason to believe that such a place was a circle of 

 stones. A Gilgal was a temple where holy rites were celebrated, 

 where the army met together, and was also used for a place of 

 burial for the chieftains, and if they put all things together, and 

 1 Vide Wiltshire Magazine, vol. ix., p. 268, et seq. 



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