A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE character, are entirely unworked. Probably they have been merely selected for the purpose without any attempt to shape them. The arrangement of ten uprights and a long capstone are features which suggest a relation- ship to such cromlechs as some of those which still exist in Anglesey and Carnarvonshire.' An ancient road runs along near the cromlech and on the south-west side of it. Cromlech at St. Margaret's Park. — A curious cruciform earthwork at St. Margaret's Park is referred to in another part of this article. About two hundred and fifty yards north-east of this earthwork there is (or was in 1854 when the account was written) 'a flat horizontal slab of limestone like the upper stone of a cromlech.' Its form was oval, measuring 27 ft, 6 in. by 9 ft. 6 in., with an average thickness of 2 ft. 6 in. ' This stone,' the writer of the account continues, ' lies on the declivity of the wooded hill, its face on the western side being level with the adjacent surface of the ground, and on this side there is a trench, 2 ft. wide and 2 J ft. deep, which appears to have been at one time much deeper, and to have been filled up by soil brought down by the rain into it. On the east side, and partly on the north, the ground slopes from it, and a cavity appears under the slab. Half a century ago, as stated by an old man in the neighbourhood, it stood wholly free from the ground on certain upright stones. There is still at the west end of the slab, but now at a slight distance from it, an upright stone, flat at top, which may have originally been one of those on which it was supported. It seems probable that these may be the remains of a fallen cromlech.' The Queen Stone. — This stone stands in an open field about a quarter of a mile to the north-east of a new bridge, which has superseded and occupied the site of the ancient Huntsham Ferry. The stone, which rises about seven feet six inches above the surface of the ground, is a block of Old Red Conglomerate containing angular, subangular, and rounded fragments of older rocks. Mr. J. G. Wood, F.S.A.,* judging ' from the comparatively small size of the pebbles, and their small proportion to the mass of the enclosing sand rock,' considers ' that it had formed part of the lower, rather than the upper, beds of the conglomerate.' His precise account has furnished the chief facts which are here given of a stone which, it not of artificial shape, is so remarkable and striking in its appearance that it must always, have occupied a prominent place in local folk-lore and superstition. It is manifest that the Queen Stone is not in situ so far as vertical position is concerned, but it is probable that it rests on the surface of the old denuded beds of rock underground. It may, indeed, have been brought down to its present level by a process of vertical denudation similar to that which the sarsen-stones, or grey wethers, on the chalk downs have undergone. The chief point about the stone, more remarkable even than its singular shape and vertical position, is the deeply-grooved character of its sides. These grooves are very regular in their direction, extend from the top to the bottom, are strongly marked, especially on the eastern face, and are thirteen in number. A careful examination leads Mr. Wood to the conclusion that ' Llligwy, Ystymcegid, &c., for example. See Portfolio of Photographs of the Cromlechs of Anglesey ani Carnarvonshire. By J. E. Griffith, 1900.
- The ' Queen Stone' at Huntsham, Trans. Woolhope Nat. Field Club (vol. for 1900-2), 229-31.
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