256 THE ESSEX NATURALIST
Further Observations on the
Conglomerate Track
BY E. A. RUDGE
Since the publication of the last report on this subject (E.N., vol. 29,
pp.17.31), a continuous field research has been maintained, and additional
data obtained.
Little further information concerning the western end of the track has
come to light, and at present there is no evidence that it continues beyond
the Rotherfield plateau, west of Henley-on-Thames. Careful search in the
districts around Newbury, Berks, produced nothing more than the discovery
of a short series of puddingstone boulders leading from Hungerford in a
south-westerly direction to the village of Little Bedwyn, and it is impossible
to state at present whether or not this series is connected in any way to
the main alignment.
An observation of greater importance was made in Dorset, during the
summer of 1953. Although the great number of stone circles and standing
stones in this county have been frequently described and recorded, no
attention appears to have been paid to their petrological character. An
examination of the stone monuments in the neighbourhood of Dorchester
was made, therefore, and overwhelming evidence found that prehistoric man
clearly preferred conglomerate above all other available material for his
handiwork. The well-known landmark on the Dorchester to Bridport road,
known as the "Nine Stones of Winterbourne Abbas", is a case in point,
for six of these boulders are Puddingstones. A few miles to the south, the
hill-top circle of Kingston Russell consists entirely of 18 puddingstone blocks,
obviously hauled from the Valley of Stones some three miles to the east—
a feat all the more remarkable in the light of the fact that an extensive
limestone outcrop exists at the foot of the hill on which they stand.
Other monuments in the same area of Dorset were found to consist of
the same conglomerate, e.g., "The Grey Mare and her Colts" and the
Portesham "Hell Stone", both being denuded remains of barrows. The
source of this conglomerate is a local one, well represented in outcrops in
the village of Portesham, near Weymouth, the site of the western boundary
of the Eocene sea, beneath which was laid down the Hertfordshire and Essex
puddingstone deposits.
It is not to be implied that these Wessex observations necessarily have
a bearing upon the East Anglian track: they are recorded to emphasise the
conclusion that the cult of the puddingstone was very widespread among
prehistoric peoples of Britain, and that the deliberate choice of this stone
throughout the track in Essex had its counterpart as far away as Dorset.
Turning to recent developments in the track itself, the first noteworthy
discovery was that of a complete series of stones still traceable through the
heart of the city of St. Albans. An incomplete list was published in
E.N.. vol. 29, p. 182, and is amended here, with additions.