Stonar and the Wantsum Channel Part III: (Conclusion) - The site of the Town of Stonar

( 37 ) STONAR AND THE WANTSUM CHANNEL. PART UI (conclusion).—THE SITE OF THE TOWN OF STONAR. BY THE LATE F. W. HARDMAN, LL.D., F.S.A., AND W. P. D. STEBBING, F.S.A.. " Stonard ys yn Thanet sumtyme a prety town not far from Sandwich ! Now appereth alonly the ruine of the chirch. Sum people cawle yt Old Sandwiche." THUS Leland's Itinerary of 1549. No survey of the site of this once famous town, originaUy buUt presumably more or less round the church on the 12 acres " of stone bache,"1 has been made but the shingle bank, which seems from the historic period to have been above the level of storm and tide, is now being proved to have been chosen for permanent settlement. The records of destruction by the sea probably relate to the spread of the town on to the flood plain, and towards the ferry across the Stour. In 1127 (A.C., LIV, 49, and Boys, 553) it was complained at Sandwich that some persons have begun to bund smaU houses on the opposite side of the haven at the place caUed Stonore where ships went in fine weather so that they might stop there, and toU and custom taken . . . " which should have been coUected by the officers of Sandwich." The excavations which have been carried on for the last few years on sites on the shingle show no evidence of destructive flooding, although there is no doubt, as mentioned later, that changes of level have and are constantly taking place. The shingle bank, which evidently acted as a breakwater for the shipping landing cargoes at wharves on its landward side at an earHer date than 1127, must have shown a scene of desolation when the town was derehct. WiUiam Somner (Roman Ports and Fortsin Kent, 1693, 96) describes Stonar as " being a low and flat level apt to inundations."' He probably was looking at the place from Sandwich whUe Dr. Richard Pocock (Travels through England) noticed in his journey south from Ramsgate on September 12th, 1754, that he had a "broad graveUy beach to the left most part of the way, and consequently the sea must sometime overflow in some degree." Barren shingle would suggest this last sentence to the passing traveUer. On destruction wrought by the sea in this area it is worth quoting what WUHam Dugdale2 records for us : 1 Boys's Sandwich, p. 835. 2 The History of Imbanking and Drayning of divers Fenns and marshes both in Foreign Parts, and in this Kingdom; and of the Improvements thereby. Extracted from Records, Manuscripts and other Authentic Testimonies. By W. D. Esq. Norroy, King of Arms, 1662, p . 44. 38 STONAR AND THE WANTSUM CHANNEL. In 39 Ed. I l l (1365-6) the King being informed that the Sea had more than formerly overflowed the Lands, Marshes, and other Tenements, extending from a certain place called the Clivesende, within the Isle of Tanet, unto the Town of Stonore, which contained in compasse two miles ; whereby in a short time the hurt and damage done thereto, was such, as that was almost destroyed: And that within a few dayes, except some help were had to resist those violent over-flowings, all the low grounds adjoyning to the Sea and Arms thereof within the Hundreds of Ryvesko, Wyngham, Prestone, and Downhamford, to an inestimable damage, would be overwhelmed ; he assigned Raphe Spigurnell, then Constable of Dover Castle, John Cobham, Robert Belknap and others, to enquire and determine thereof according to the Law and Custome of this his Realm. The excavations by the second author, with the help of Mr. B. W. Pearce and other friends, give us the foUowing section as exposed by the steam navvy. Above the clean shingle, which is dredged from below water level (see Pt. I, in A.C., LIII, 70) is about 5 ft. 8 in. of shingle with non-continuous seams of sand. Where the top of the shingle has not been disturbed, the parting between it and the occupation deposit is a buff sandy loam with scattered pebbles. Where disturbed, it shows an infiltration of muddy material from the early occupation. The whole of this top shingle with its overburden is being dug and dumped into the older of the two artificial lakes. In this way the face of the medieval layer is exposed, and is brought down as the excavation proceeds, The occupation deposits can in many places be divided up into two beds, both from the contents and from a sHght difference in composition. In one place this bedding was shown by a discontinuous course of blocks of chalk and finer chalk, whUe at another occurred a course of a few broken pale-buff haven-mud bricks of a late fifteenth or early .sixteenth century type, measuring in width and thickness 4J in. by 2 in. A section at the latter spot showed the medieval layer to be 13 in. thick, whUe the thickness from the base of the bricks to the bottom of the concrete foundations of the 1914-18 war sheds was 17 in. The height of the concrete floor of the sheds nearest the present excavations is 13-93 ft. above O.D. at Liverpool, and the top of the shingle on which the medieval layer rests is on the average 3 ft. below this. The lower (medieval) occupation deposit lies on the fairly level surface of the shingle but in places, where there had been hearths, it Hes in shaUow hoUows, or in one case in a definite trench-like hoUow. This last (A.C., XLV, 257, and XLIX, 278-9) ran for some feet nearly north and south, and contained much pottery. On its northern side was a weU, steened with rubble stonework, the longer pieces shaped to the curve of the face, and large flints. This was oleared down to water level and in its fUling was found one of the timber crutches for the rope drum. STONAR AND THE WANTSUM CHANNEL. 39 The lower part of the above deposit is inclined to be clean and loose in composition but soon alters to a dark stiff earth which dries very hard. From the blocks of chalk, pieces of Folkestone Stone and broken tUes there is some evidence of buUdings. A layer of tiles in one place seemed to indicate a paved floor, but no waUing has as yet been exposed. The soil is fuU of decayed material, animal bones, shells of oyster, whelk, periwinkle, mussel and cockle (the first two far the most plentiful) although some handfuls of periwinkles at one spot showed the discarded remains of a feast. With these are waU plaster, ashes, charcoal and burnt flints, worn pot-sherds which had been lying about, and cleanly broken sherds of cooking pots and various coloured and decorated glazed wares. This material and other finds are referred to more fuUy later. Proof of the Roman occupation of Stonor seems clear by the recovery of various fragments of brick and tile, Niedermendig-lava querns, a 4 in. section of a white marble shaft, 3 in. in dia., with a drUled hole, and a part of a turned Purbeck-marble bowl. It seems unlikely that these scraps were carted from the Roman site at Richborough, especiaUy as the 6 in. Ordnance Survey marks site of Roman remains round and about Stonar House. From the occurrence of the course of bricks, and of sherds of stoneware, the deposit which Hes above the medieval layer, seems to be of sixteenth and early seventeenth century date, but with the Httle that has been found so far and the evidence that has been adduced the place must have been deserted. It was certainly not a profitable cure for a parson, few of whom from the fifteenth century are Hkely to have been resident. From the high class of much of the pottery in use at Stonar (it has been considered that the polychrome ware was " the finest of the period and acquired for the tables of the great "J1 we may gather that people of some wealth dwelt there in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, but like so many near sea-level settlements on the south-east and south coasts it suffered through the instabUity of the coast line (see Pt . II of this paper, LIV, 55). This was inclined to decrease its value as a port and in the Calendar of MisceUaneous Inquisitions, quoted by Miss Murray under the date 12802 it is declared " that the King would lose nothing if Stonar were submerged or destroyed ; five ships were owned by the Barons of the Head Port of Sandwich, and they alone were responsible in case of default." Rather later, apparently of the closing years of this century, we have a fuU rental of Stonar.3 The Hst includes 1 Pox and Radford. " Kidwilly Castle, Carmarthenshire, and Polychrome Pottery found in Britain," Archaeologia, Vol. 83 (1933), p. 115. 2 Miss K. M. E. Murray. The Constitutional History of the Cinque Ports, 1935, p. 50. 3 " The Blaok Book " Register of St. Augustine's Abbey. British Academy Records, Vol. 2, Pt. I (1915), p. 17. 0 40 STONAR AND THE WANTSUM CHANNEL. about 120 tenants or heirs of tenants, among whom are seven women a priest, clerks, a skinner, a cobbler, and miners. They paid in reni 44s. 5d. (John the miller of Stonar paid 5s. twice a year for his mUl The Black Book, 23.) In 1359 Edward I I I lodged in Stonar from October 11th to 28th ir the house which Robert GoverUs had lately possessed, waiting to embarl at Sandwich for foreign parts (Boys' Sandwich, 669). In the same yeai there was a great inundation ; and this was foUowed in 1365-6 by whal is recorded to have been a more destructive one (Boys, 669). In 137S (Murray, op. cit. 56) Stonar refused to pay the subsidy assessed, on ii as it had been decided in 1368 that their town lay in Kent without th< Cinque Port Uberty, but in 1384 the church was included in the Deanerj of Sandwich. The next year the French with eighteen ships descended on the town and having first laid it waste destroyed it with fire. The Abbot of St. Augustine's at the time was at his manor of Northbournt and, as Thorne teUs us,1 would have saved it [Stonar] had he been abl< to find free passage from his manor to Sandwich. " The Abbot being thus foUed by the French ships " which, as Davis notes, must hav< occupied the Wantsum Channel far up from Sandwich, " wishing witl God's help to keep safe his own property and that of his tenants [and making a detour by Fordwich and Sturry, succeeded with great toi in reaching the island " of Thanet. The whole story is a dramati< account of the treachery of Simon Burley, Constable of Dover Castle and of attempts of the French to get a footing in Thanet. PhiHpott'i observation on this destructive raid is that Stonar " ever since hatl found a sepulchre in its own rubbish."2 In the Index to the Cinque Ports White Book, edited by H. B Walker, 1905, 53, is the entry under the date 1520, Rob* Broke o: Sandwich to have 40/ - of M1 Worms " for hurts received at Stonar." The New Black Book of Sandwich, which records matters fron 1608-42, contains a petition to the Lord Warden for leave to tak< stones from Stonar to mend its (Stonar's) highways. Sir Henry Crispi as owner refused to give leave. The Lord Warden " refers ye matte: and agrees that stone may be taken tfil ye Title can be tryed by Law.' In 1650, two years after Sir Henry's death, there was an order for thi work to be done as the inhabitants of the Isle of Thanet needed to pasi that way to the Haven, and that " there be a footway and posts o. beacons about ye horseway to direct the passengers when the watei shaU overflow the ways . . . and that grippes or open places fa made to pass away the water that it annoy not the marshes." Sir Henry stood very much on his rights in any claims of Sandwiol over Stonar. In an early epitome of the Black Book " a Ryot a 1 Wm. Thome's Chronicle of St. Augustine's Abbey, ed. and trans, b; A. H. Davis, 1934, p. 651. 2 Villare Oantianum, 1659, p. 390. STONAR AND THE WANTSUM CHANNEL. 41 Stonnar " was a cause of complaint by him and Peter Vanderflate to the Justices of Sandwich. A jury was empaneUed to enquire thereof. Crispe during this period was distressed for Ship money on land in Stonar and Heneborg (Little Joy),1 " but pays before its driven." The Stonar land had been assessed at £6 towards providing an 800 ton ship to cost £6,000. These squabbles arose from the owner's claim " that Stonnar is out of ye Liberty of ye Ports." Harris in his History of Kent (1719) quotes from a MS. diary of Dr. Robert Plot, dated about 1693, which says " that the Ruins of the Town of Stonar did remain tiU the Memory of Man and took up many Acres of Ground ; but were lately removed to render the Ground fit for TiUage, and so much of them as could not be put to any Use composed that Bank which remains between the Two Houses; whereof that House next the present creek [Stonar House] borders upon the old Town; the other which is more remote, being of a later erection ; but both are caUed Stonar." The Rev. John Lewis in 17362 wrote that " the Town stood on a rising Ground. . . . Some of the Foundations were remaining not many Years ago, and the Traces are stiU visible among the Corn. At present there is only one Farm-house where Stonore anciently stood, about twenty roods from which, near the Road, on a Httle rising Ground, stood the Church, of which there are now no Remains left above Ground." Seymour records in 1776 that Viscount Dudley and Ward rebuilt the farm-house in (sic) stone. THE CHURCH. ^ St. Augustine's Abbey was granted by Canute the estates of the dissolved nunnery of Minster in 1027, and from about 1087 Stonar, as one of the Abbey's possessions, begins to appear in the Charters (A.C., LIV, 48 and 49). We must suppose that the place possessed a church in pre-Conquest times as " S Nicholas at Stanores " appears in the eleventh century document copied into the White Book of St. Augustine of the year 1200. The site is shown on the thirteenth century map reproduced' in the RoUs edition of the History. In 1242 Abbot Robert freed the church of the smaU pension of 2s. up to then due to the Abbey.3 In 1280-1 (A.C., LIV, 51) men of Sandwich assaulted the Abbot's officials, burnt his mills and did much damage to his coast defences, and, to aggravate the offences, pursued the men to Stonar church and besieged them in it almost a day.4 In 1 of. William Boys's map in Pt. I, Arch. Cant., LIII, p. 69. a The History of the Isle of Tanet, 2nd ed., pp. 191 and 201. 3 Gordon Ward, M.D., P.S.A. " The Lists of Saxon Churches in the Domesday Monaohorum and White Book of St. Augustine," Arch. Oant., XLV (1937), p. 86. 4 Calendar of Patent Rolls, 9 Ed. I, Vols. 1272-81. 42 STONAR AND THE WANTSUM CHANNEL. the taxation of Pope Nicholas IV of 1291 the church was worth £5. The importance of the bunding as a meeting place both to the town and in the eyes of the barons of Sandwich is shown from the foUowing extract relating to the liberties and privflegea claimed by the barons in Stonar.1 The Barons when they pass over to Stonore with the Mayor and jurats are to command by proclamation the commonalty to assemble before the Mayor and jurats in Stonore church. In 1384 the church of Stonar paid 5s. to the King, being the half of one-tenth of its assessment. This was little more than the least paid by the poorest of all those belonging to St. Augustines.2 The sad end of the church may be visaged in this final record.. On June 22nd, 1558, at the sale of Stonar with the patronage of the rectory (A.C., LTV (1941), 54) the church seems to have been disused and derelict as from the sale were excepted the bells, the lead on the rooi and in the guttering, and the windows. In A.C., VI (1864-5), 1, it is recorded that Mr. E. F. S. Reader had traced out the foundations of the church which, with adjacent buudings: stood in the middle of a clump of trees. The latest note on the site comes from Captain C. F. Newington of SandHng who has recorded that in October 1911, men, supervised by the present Major GwiUyni Lloyd George, were excavating on the site of the church and hac exposed foundations, a few tiles, and skeletons. THE RECTORS OF ST. NICHOLAS, STONAR. The foUowing Hst, with some additions by the late Mr. Arthui Hussey, was compUed from the Registers of the Archbishops aj Lambeth Palace Library by the late Rev. T. S. Frampton. His original notes are in the Canterbury Cathedral Library. He Hsts thirty-one rectors to the Reformation. 1 The Oustumal of Sandwich, 14th 0. Of. Boys, 1792, p. 647. 2 Tlwrne's Ohronicle, p. 635, Names. Patrons. Registers. 1289 May 11. WiUiam de Findon St. Austins Abbey A WiUiam was rector of Stonore in 1293 (A.C., XXX1T, 172) In or before 1300. Walter Tn or about this year 17 incumbents holding livings in the patronage of St. Austins -were excommunicated by Archbishop Winchelsea. 12 of them were arrested and incarcerated in Canterbury and the other 5 were returned as '' non inventi." The vicar of St. Lawrence was among the arrested, the rector of Stonar among the "non inventi." The King (Ed. HI) intervened and on Feb. 18, 1301 a royal writ required the Sheriff of Kent to release the imprisoned clergy on bail. At this time CCC. was nearing the end of the long and fierce struggle with the Canons of St. Martins in Dover. (A.C., XXV, 98.) 1314 May 22. Richard de Hakyntone 1317-21 John caUed Plomer of Canterbury 1321-23 John de Holt, on resignation of above 1323- Simon de Ov'bury, on resignation of above Sede vacante. 1349 Dom John de HUdresham admitted. 1351-61 Peter Gardener 1361 April-Nov. John Russel de Aumberle. Presented by Ed. m . Canon of Wingham 1368-92 1361-67 John Brandrede, on resignation of above 1367 Eeb. 5, 1366-7—John Pidding, on resignation of above 1393-1411 WffliamConington. July22,Wm.Sonington (sic) to the Church of Stonore near Sandwich. 1412 Jan. 20,1411-12-1413 David Kery, on death of above. St. Austins St. Austins Winchelsea, fol. 53. Reynolds, fol. 19. „ 27. 251. G 68. 256. 167. 292. 97. IsHp, fol. Langham, fol. Courteney, Pt. II, fol. 213b. Arundel, Pt. II, fol. 63b. CO 1 S 1413 Jan. 28, 1412-13 WiUiam Boteler, on resignation of above. On May 19 he exchanged with Thos. Nouchon, rector of Prisshton, Dio. Bath and Wells. 1413 May 19-1416 Thomas Nouchon 1416 April 28-1418 John Lanton, on resignation of Thos. Huchon (sic) 1418 March 26 John Wateombe, on resignation of above. -1419 John Bride 1419 March 18, 1418-19—1420 WiUiam Touman, on resignation of above. 1420 AprU 25- Jbhn Godin 1445 Dec. 19—William Drake -1475 Nicholas GoldweU 1475 March 3, 1474-5—1479. William Walshe. "To the Church or Free Chapel of Stonor " on resignation of above. 1479 May 30 1486 Richard Topcliff, scolaris, on death of above. St. Austins St. Austins Arundel, Pt. II, fol. 67a. Chichele, fol. 73. 966. „ H4. „ 109a. Stafford, „ 86b. Bourchier, „ 111b. 121. The Sandwich Records for 1479-80 seem to indicate tha t this man at any rate was an absentee rector. A minute states that " James Style Heremite of Stonar chapell " came before the Mayor and Jurats and gave to them and their successors various vestments, cloths, books and sacramental vessels under the understanding " that hosoever after his descess shale happe to be heremyte of ye saide chapell at ye plesur of ye said Maior and jurats shall have to hym delyvred ye said goodes to ye worship of God and for ye said chapell, with sufficient surete to be hadde to ye Maior and his brethren." J. A. Jacobs. A short Account of the Ancient Town of Stonar, p . 22. O 3 5 o tef H CD d 3 1486 April 20—1492. Andrew Bensted, on death of above. St. Austins ' R ' fol. 19. 1491-2 Jan. 14—1498. Hugh Yonge M.A., on resignation of above. „ „ Morton, H, fol. 151a. 1497-8 Feb. 16—1528. Edward Repe M.A. Canon of Wingham 1524—8. „ „ „ n, fol. 164b. w 1528 Nov.. 11—1535. Christopher Vessey, on death John Alen LL.D. this Warham, fol. 396b. § of above. turn. ^ 1534-5 Feb. 5— Thomas Courtope M.A. on St. Austins Cranmer, fol. 354b. t> death of above. § (Thos. Courtope, parson of Stonore, in ^ tithes and other spiritual profits, received § 5 marcs (£3-6-8). Valor Ecclesiasticus. ^ 1534, p. 46) § —1544. William Braborne w 1544 Dee. 3—1569. John PekeU (Puckle) or Henry Voyche or Cranmer, fol. 394a. g Salisbury, on death of above. Foche, brother of Q the last abbot, and fe Henry Aide this turn 3 1569-70 March 2—1571 Robert Hart, on death of John Crispe Parker, fol. 398. P above. 1571 AprU 7—1581. Richard Webbe B.A., on death „ „ „ „ 404. of above. 1581 Aug. 22—1617. Blaze Winter. Also from 1577 The Queen „ „ 554. vicar of Goodneston where he died. C3 1617 ...—1630. Thomas Turner, M.A., on death of Sir Henry Crispe above. He died at St. Nicholas at Wade in 1631. 20th Oct. 1618. Thos. Turner, Rector of Stonar sued Charles Brooks of the town of Sandwich for unpaid tithe. Acta Curia, Vol. LVI (1618-19) 1630-1 Jan. 17—1647, d. Aug. 18. George Stan- Sir H. Crispe combe B.A., on death of above. Vicar of Birchington 1623-^7 „ „ Monkton 1644-47 1647-1663, d. May. Edward FeUows M.A. Lived at Wingham 1630-40. 1663 July 2—. Blaze White M.A. 1701—d. 1743. Owen Evans Abbot I, fol. 427. Abbot IU, fol. 193. Henry Crispe Juxon, fol. 146. Admiral Sir George Rooke He had an allowance by the patron of £16 a year as a composition for all the tithes great and small which he received-until 1734 when the next patron George Rooke refused any further payment. (Hasted Vol. X, p. 423) Rector of Ehnstone. Vicar of St. Paul's, Canterbury, 1681-1743. 1743-52 Rectory vacant. 1752 July 1-1760, d. Sep. 2, 1760. Thomas Lam- The King Herring, fol. 293. prey M.A. Vicar of St. Pauls, Canterbury, 1743-60, O b 1 % 01 PLATE I. JUG OF EARLY 14TH C. TYPE FROM THE CARMELITE FRIARY, SANDWICH. Found buried close to the wall of the South side of the Church. Restored. STONAR AND THE WANTSTTM CHANNEL. 47' THE POTTERY AND OTHER FINDS. Part II of this paper (A.C., LTV (1941)) included an appendix by Mr. G. C. Dunning, F.S.A., on Polychrome Pottery from Stonar. This dealt with a series of sherds of jugs whose provenance is S.W. France. TUl the many other types of pottery can be submitted to a, detafled examination it is only necessary now to mention the main classes of wares that were in use on this maritime site in the thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries. As might be expected cooking pots of the stew-pan class with nearly flat bases up to 9 in. in internal dia., and, in the better potting,, of thin body, form the majority of the sherds. With these are deep dishes. Rims are usuaUy broad and flat, sides spread and bulge sHghtly; and there is an angle at junction of sides and base. The interior in many cases has a thin hard brownish glaze which may alsospot the outside. These very fragile wares seem to have been the commonest productions of the potteries on the London Clay of the Forest of the Blean, whence they could have been transported down toand by the Stour to Stonar. Preliminary notes on a recent exposure of a kiln site in the above area, and a report by Mr. Dunning appear later in this volume. Handled jugs are many and various, and often fuU-bodied. They may be partly covered with a yeUow, brown or oHve green glaze, and they may also be glazed inside. The typical lips are thin with a pinched-out spout and with a moulding of two members. In coarse pottery an example of the tubular spout has been found. The simplest handles are wide with plain thickened edges, but these show an endless variety in shape, massiveness, ornamentation and glaze. Stabbing of handles and rims to allow for the shrinking of the clay in firing is general. The better class of flagon, probably imported from the Continent, has a hard cream or bluish-white body, and has a Hght mottled green glaze. The slightly moulded base is flat and the spout, if parrot-beaked, is of the bridge type (cf. A.C., LIV, 57). This type of spout is also found in coarse heavy ware with greenish glaze. The common reddish or grey ware jug of the period has the foot pinched out into a number of supports which counteracted the sagging base (see Plate I). A characteristic article is a smaU, taU narrow beaker splayed out towards the top and drawn in near the base. Decoration takes the form of belts made by engraved wooden wheels, by scale work, or by rosettes. These last are stamped on the clay M'hich has been pushed up from the interior. The separately made rosette common on the Rye pottery is rare. Among the glazes is a thick dark green one which was used on a red body, and which flakes off much as does the tin glaze on Delf ware. Although fragmentary the most interesting object of this class flTOM^ •:::•*' • 1 — CO 7- o Ed p r PLATE II. VARIOUS METAI. OBJECTS AND A BONE TAG FROM STONAR. STONAR AND THE WANTSUM CHANNEL. 49 that has been found is a pottery aquamanUe. These jugs were copied from those of bronze which date from the late twelfth to the fourteenth century. The few other objects that have turned up include keys, knives, nafls and rings, bronze strap ends, scraps of brass and copper, a mass of melted lead, and two weU-made spindle whorls. Seven of the finds are fllustrated on Plate II. The Tertiary sandstone was found an efficient material for the larger hones. One imported schist hone has been found. Broken tUes when chipped into rough disks came in useful as pieces for such a game as shovel-board. Their average diameter is from If ins. to 2£ ins. DESCRIPTION OF PLATE OE ARTICLES PROM STONOR. ALL ETJLL SIZE. 1. Small bronze hanging badge ornamented with a chequer pattern. 2. A bone tag or piercer -with a drilled hour-glass shaped hole at the distal end. 3. Flat bronze case -with riveted-on cover. The loop for suspension missing. (A reliquary ?) 4. Broken length of oval bronze with a baluster band, 2 -fa in. long. 5. Enigmatic fragment of a medieval openwork bronze ornament, 13th or 14th 0. 6. Small iron key with ring bow. 7. Small bladed knife with long tang. APPENDIX. In Part I of this paper (A.C., LIII (1940), 70) an account was given of the composition of the Stonar shingle bank. Among the flint boulders and pebbles, its natural constituent, occur certain derived materials from the beds at and above the junction with the chalk to the north. These are tabular and green-coated flint, indurated Umecemented sandstone, siHcified wood and cemented chalk breccia. But far more interesting than any of these are the erratics of quartz, quartzite, and igneous and altered rocks which are far traveUed. Their occurrence presupposes an antiquity for this isolated deposit far greater than the coastal beaches. The attached Report deals with certain of these foreigners and their composition; and suggests one stage in their origin. W.P.D.S.