ARCHAEOLOGICAL NOTES 
33 
Though Shropshire has such beautiful scenery and so many pictures(|ue old 
buildings and ijuaint churches, I was surprised to find how little this part of 
the country is visited by strangers, even in the height of summer. 
Photograph by the Pei'. E. Collett, /.] 
Figure 14. — \\'iLt)ERHOi>E, I 5 .\ck View. 
It is in these out-of-the-way spots that so much of interest lies, and as old 
buildings are fast disappearing, some by the hand of time, others by fire, or 
through their being pulled down to make way for modern houses, no opportunity 
should be lost of paying a visit to those places which as yet happily remain. 
Sarah A. Steward. 
King’3 Knot. — At Stirling, near the Castle, is a very ancient structure 
of earthen mounds and terraces cut in a geometrical pattern, the traditional 
name of which is the “King’s Knot.’’ In Barbour’s poem, “The Bruce,” 
written about 1375, it is mentioned as the “ Round Tabill,” a name also used 
by Sir David Lindsay in his “ Complaynt of the Vapingo,” published in 1530. 
It is believed that, whatever its earlier history may have been, the structure 
formed part of the royal gardens attached to the neighbouring palace of the 
Scottish kings. “ Round Table ” suggests the Arthurian legends, and “ Knot,” 
as a term for a garden ornament, is used by Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton and 
other writers. I should be glad to know (1) of any other similar structures 
known by the name “ Knot” ; (2) of any other instance of the association of the 
terms “ Round Table ” and “ Knot” ; (3) of any instance of the use of the term 
“Knot” by a distinctively Scottish writer; and (4) of any reference to a 
mediaeval game, said to have been called the “Round Table” and played at 
Stirling. D. B. M. 
ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR FEBRUARY. 
Mercury will be favourably visible as an evening star during last week of 
February and first few days of March. 
Venus will be brilliantly displayed just before sunrise. Near moon on 
February 9, at 7 a.m. 
Mars will be seen as a morning star rising about 2.30 a.m. 
Jupiter will be seen to advantage amongst the stars of Gemini, and will be 
in view nearly the whole night. Near moon on February 22. \V. F. D. 
