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was laid bare to the very hard ground, which had lain hid for many 
ages : and, by further exposure, the people found great trunks of 
trees, which when they had digged up, they were, apparently, lopped, 
so that one might see the strokes of the axe upon them, as if they 
had been given but the day before. The earth looked very black, 
and the wood of these trunks was altogether like ebony. At the first 
discovery made by these storms, the trees (we speak of) lay so thick, 
that the whole shore seemed nothing but a lopped grove*. 
At Charmouth, in Dorsetshire, is found a petrified wood, which 
agrees, in many of its appearances, with the larger masses of that 
of Lough Neagh ; particularly in the dark bluish grey stone, with 
which it is sometimes invested, and in the softness which is some- 
times discoverable in the wood thus inclosed. 
Indeed there is hardly any part of Europe, in which subterranean 
wood is discovered, more generally, than in England ; there scarcely 
being a spot through the whole island, where, upon digging to any 
considerable depth, vegetable remains are not found. Thus we 
learn from Dr. Plott, that at Watlington Park, in Oxfordshire, at 
the bottom of a pond, were found some tons of oak ; and a pit being 
sunk 50 or 60 feet deep, many whole oaks were found, one of which 
was upright; one was also perpendicular, but inverted. All of 
them were dyed through, of a black hue, like ebony, but sound 
enough, and fit for many uses. Hazel nuts, and a large stag’s head 
with the brow antlers, were also found here, the horn being as 
sound as the beam itself, and not at all dyed. In the same spot 
two Roman urns were also foundf . 
Dr. Plott also describes a stone, found between Clifton and Nune- 
ham Courtney, which, he says, represents a sound piece of ash ; re- 
taining the grain and colour so well and lively, that nobody, at sight. 
* Britannia Baconica, p. 142. 
f The Natural History of Oxfordshire, by Dr. Plott, p. 161. 
