34 



The Naturalist. 



Tlie first assemblage was at 1-30 p.m., at the church of Borough- 

 bridge, when the vicar, the Rev. E. D. Owen, M.A., showed the 

 remarkable ancient Norman stone carvings, relics of the old church, 

 preserved in the vestry of the newer edifice. 



At 2-30 p.m. the members again assembled at the " Devil's 

 Arrows" — three immense gritstone monoliths, 18, 22|, and 21 feet 

 in height, standing in a line at distances of 129 and 361 feet from 

 each other. The most southerly one had been excavated for the 

 occasion, to show the depth to which it was imbedded in the soil, four 

 feet. Geologically speaking, these stones have been quarried in 

 Plompton grit, the uppermost member hereabouts of the millstone 

 grit series. Prof. Phillips says*: — "At Plompton great and lofty 

 cliffs of solid rock appear, such as may have yielded the Devil's 

 Arrows, those massive monoliths of the British settlement which 

 preceded ancient Isurium." Plompton is eight miles from Roecliffe, 

 but the same grit is seen in place at Lingerfield, about six miles off, 

 the nearest point at whicb the stone can have been obtained. 



An address upon the " Arrows " was delivered by the Rev. W. C. 

 Lukis, M.A., F.S.A., rector of Wath, near Ripon — so well known in 

 connection with the investigation of similar prehistoric remains in 

 Brittany. He did not support the hypothesis given in various guide 

 books as to their being Roman in their origin, remarking that it is not 

 at all flattering to that highly civilized people, of whose architectural 

 skill we have evidence in Isurium close by, to suppose that they 

 would condescend to imitate the rude barbaric art and customs of a 

 dark age. He pointed out that writers on prehistoric monuments 

 have been too apt to look upon ruins as perfect and typical examples, 

 and to forget the enormous amount of destruction to which all such 

 remains are subjected. Leland spoke of four of these pillars as 

 existing in his day, one of which was afterwards destroyed to build a 

 bridge over a stream in the vicinity, while the northern stone shows 

 at six feet above the ground wedge-holes, thus giving foundation for 

 the surmise that at one time its destruction had been contemplated. 

 Mr. Lukis then stated that in his opinion they were probably the 

 remains of a line of pillars similar to lines which exist at Shap, in 

 Westmoreland, in Devon and Cornwall, and also in South Brittany 

 and other countries. Where destruction has not been carried to so 

 great an extent as here, the plan can be discovered without much 

 difficulty. In these cases it is found that rude blocks of stone, of no 



* Quart. Journ, Geol. Soc, xxi, 235. 



