After a long halt at Bosbury for both men and horses, the members on leaving this pretty village, shortly re-entered the Bromyard and Ledbury Road, and drove up Stanley Hill towards Castle Frome. At the bottom of Stanley Hill is Stanley House on the left, near which is a small track of land called Barland or Barelands. From this place the Barland Pear assumed its name; the perry which it produces has a reputation for being wholesome and beneficial in nephritic complaints. It is represented on Plate xviii. of the Herefordshire Pomona, Vol. I. The road runs over a mass of Cornstone, represented in the Ordnance Geological Map, averaging about a quarter of a mile in width, and less than two miles in length, with a direct east and west fault at its northern extremity a little south of Castle Frome Rectory. On the elevated ground, about half a mile south of the Smithy, where the road to the Rectory joins the main road, is an exposure on the left hand, where the stone, of a compact durable structure, and fit for building, is quarried.

It is to these masses of hard Cornstone that our county of Herefordshire owes its charming landscapes, and its physical features of hill and valley. The Cornstones have retained their positions, whilst the softer Old Red Sandstones have been more or less denuded through countless centuries of exposure to deluges and the disintegrating forces of Nature. The formations of all the surrounding hills were effected under a sea. Cornstones contain carbonate of lime in variable proportions, and are formed chemically by segregation, aided by mechanical pressure round some nucleus. In one form, the inasses of Cornstone are mixed with marls and material less hard and calcareous, in which form they are readily decomposed into their component parts. In the harder and more durable form, owing to mechanical action, the stone assumes more the character of a coarse conglomerate, ranging up to a compact fine grained stone, such as we observe at this quarry. Occasionally the process of crystallization occurs. In the recent excavation of the new tunnel under Dinmore Hill, opened for traffic in the autumn of 1893, some pretty specimens of crystals of calcite, interspersed with a little quartz, were met with. The greenish grey coloured nodular concretions thrown out of the excavation, owe their colour to hydrated protoxide of iron, whilst the more red coloured masses are coloured by the peroxide of iron. Some of the masses sparkled under sunlight with innumerable white spangles of the muscovite form of mica, the more brownish colourations being due to the biotite form of mica.

The mention of Dinmore Tunnel excavation reminds us of the value of a knowledge of chemical and mechanical agencies in changing the character of a rock. The old tunnel under Dinmore Hill, on the Shrewsbury and Hereford line, was opened on December 5th or 6th, 1853, having occupied about two years in its excavation. The new tunnel, commenced at the end of 1890, or early in 1891, was opened for traffic on Sunday, October 15th, 1893, and took more than two and a half years in excavation, notwithstanding the great advance made in excavating implements, such as "The Steam Navvy," and the use of the brilliant "Wells light," whereby work could be performed during the night. The old tunnel is 1,100 yards long, the new tunnel is 1,060 yards long, and situated at a distance of only eight yards from the former. The contractors naturally expected to have to deal with

material most probably similar in every way to what was excavated from the old tunnel, whereas the rock was found in larger quantities and of a more compact composition. This was noticed by some of the workmen who had been employed forty years ago upon the older tunnel. The explanation is given by the Rev. J. D. La Touche. "Whenever rock in a moist condition is by any means deprived of its moisture, the process of crystallization of its component parts is liable to set in. The old tunnel at the base of Dinmore Hill has, for a period of forty years, acted as a huge drain pipe, thus making the hill more dry than it was originally. The process of crystallization has taken place in the massive nodules of which carbonate of lime is a constituent, the interlacing crystals all tending to render the rock more hard. The same alteration is found even in such hard rocks as Portland, Grinshill, and others. The same thing may often be seen on a small scale where are found nodules of rock of any kind that have been exposed to similar conditions. The first effect is to increase their internal density at the expense of that at the surface, which "weathers," and in so doing draws off the moisture from inside, causing a number of concentric layers which are seen when the nodule is broken across." Again, a stone cutter, especially if he is working by piece-work, always knows which stone he would prefer to chisel, a stone from a quarry in daily use, or a flagstone which has been extracted forty years ago from the same

quarry.

Upon arrival at the blacksmith's smithy at the top of the Castle Frome pitch, the members quitted their carriages with directions to drive down the hill and await their arrival at Castle Frome Church, the members themselves proceeding on foot towards Castle Frome Rectory. On their way they entered the small coppice on the left of the road termed in the Ordnance Map, Camp Coppice, and inspected, at its northern extremity, the small elevated mound, the supposed site of the tradional castle. Its site is certainly as commanding as any to be found here, and although no vestiges remain of masonry,* or even of the more ancient wooden stockade, nevertheless the sunken road of approach for ingress and egress betokens from its great depth an age of several centuries and a work of no slight manual labour. In The Castles of Herefordshire, the Rev. C. J. Robinson, President of the Club in 1875, devotes three pages to the history of the possessors of the estate of Castle Frome, dating from Walter de Laci to whom it was granted for his services to William the Conqueror, down to the present proprietors, the Rev. Wm. Poole, and the Rev. John Hopton. As regards the Castle he writes: "There is upon the hill side, within the limits of the parish, a grassy mound (called within the memory of man the Castle Tump) around which are some faint traces of a stream-fed moat, and in one ancient title deed (undated, but probably of the 12th or 13th century) certain lands are described as "infra ballivam castri de Froma Castri," i.e., within the bailiwick of the Castle of Castle Frome. The present lord of the manor, the Rev. Prebendary Poole, has an interesting series of deeds connected with the early lords of Castle Frome. The de Lacys were early lords, as appears from a deed (being a grant of lands in

*Since the period of our visit a small fragment of masonry has been exposed amongst the roots of a very fine tree which was blown down in a gale."-ED.

Frome Herbert from King John to Stephen de Ebroicis) dated July 6th, 1205, in the possession of the Rev. Wm. Poole, with the royal seal, in a tolerably perfect condition, attached thereto.

FROME'S HILL.

This hill on the old Hereford and Worcester road is in the present day much avoided, and consequently but little known. Proceeding northwards, from Castle Frome Rectory, for about a quarter of a mile, the pedestrian attains an elevation of 595 feet on Frome's Hill, on the Hereford and Worcester road, at a junction distant about 12 miles from Hereford, and 13 miles from Worcester. On the Ordnance Map, scale six inches to the mile, a bench mark with the altitude of 599 3 is given; the broad arrow is apparently incised on the north wall, near its eastern corner, of the school grounds. Proceeding eastwards from this point towards Worcester for the distance of only 50 yards the pedestrian finds himself above the contour of 600 feet. The dangerous portion of the hill lies westwards in the direction towards Hereford, the name given to this part being Lock's Hill. At the base of Lock's Hill the Bromyard and Ledbury road forms a junction dangerously near a right angle; the difference of elevation ranging from 595 to 248 feet in the short distance of three quarters of a mile, or more than 115 feet in quarter of a mile, or an average gradient of 1 in 12.

Upon the lawn of Castle Frome Rectory, Mr. George H. Piper read notes on the local history, and after the members had surveyed from this commanding elevation of over 500 feet the country of Herefordshire, rich in orchards and hopyards, with the range of the Malvern Hills, Herefordshire Beacon, and the distant Cotswolds in the background, they walked down the grassy slope to Castle Frome Church.

The approach to Castle Frome Church from the much higher grounds of the Rectory, crosses near the churchyard the ancient trackway leading to the Castle Tump. This trackway surrounds the churchyard on its eastern and northern sides, assuming, upon its northern side, the character of a very deep moat, now dry. On the south side of the churchyard is a yew tree 21 feet in girth at the height of five feet from the ground.

Mr. Robert Clarke furnishes us with the following description of this Church: The Church, dedicated to St. Michael, is a Norman structure, and consists of nave, chancel, a wooden porch on the south, a bell turret on the west end of the nave roof, and a modern vestry on the north side of the chancel. Its walls are three feet in thickness. Externally there are three plain Norman doorways, all of similar pattern, with square headed lintel and circular tympanum above. Of these doorways one is at the west end, one to the south porch, and the third for the priest's entrance on the south side of the chancel. Of the Norman windows there is one at the west end, two in the north wall of the nave, and one in the north wall of the chancel. The east window is a three light in the Perpendicular

style, and there is an Early English and Perpendicular light in the south wall of the chancel. The west end is a perfect Norman front, with a Norman doorway, surmounted by a Norman window, above which is a set off course, from the centre of which arises a flat buttress which extends to the apex of the roof.

Internally there is a large semicircular chancel arch. The eastern half of the chancel ceiling is richly moulded and panelled with Perpendicular carved bosses at the intersections. On the south side of the chancel there is a low recessed arch, now empty, which probably originally contained a figure or a slab. Adjoining is a plain square-headed aumbry. Above the recessed arch, at the base of the mullion of the south window, is a diminutive stone effigy (half figure only) of a knight in chain armour, holding a heart in his hands. The length of this effigy from head to elbows is eight inches. It is supposed to represent the interment of the heart only of a crusader knight, or other person whose body was buried elsewhere. There is at Tenbury Church under a recessed arch in the north wall of the chancel a complete effigy of a knight in armour, with his legs crossed, only two feet two inches in height. An episcopal effigy fifteen inches in length is to be seen in Abbeydore Church.

On the north side of the chancel is an altar tomb with two full length effigies of a Cavalier and his wife, beautifully carved in alabaster, of the period of Charles I., with shields of arms underneath as follows:-Shield No. 1: Arg. a fess gul. in chief three roundels az. Shield No. 2: Arg. a fess, in chief three martlets gul. Fragments of 14th and 15th century glass, figures, and ornamental work are interspersed over the upper part of the east window. According to Vol. III., page 362, of Hill's manuscripts of the 18th century at St Michael's Priory, Belmont, containing the book plate of Robert Biddulph Phillips, of Longworth, there were at that period "in the eastern window imperfect inscriptions in old English character, such as Scæ Johes evangelestiæ ora pro nobis; also the figure of a man kneeling with the same arms as upon the altar monument." The fragments, however, of glass now to be seen in the upper part of the window are of a much earlier date than that of the Cavalier and his wife. The chalice, not elegant in form, with cover, is Elizabethan. The register dates from 1624.

On the right-hand side of the south doorway to the nave, in the thickness of the wall on the jamb, is a circular-headed recess large enough for a holy water stoup; a rather unusual position.

A very striking feature is the fine old Norman font, richly carved in coarse Old Red sandstone. Around its bowl it has in bold relief the Insignia, or emblems of the four evangelists, viz., angel, lion, bull, and eagle. The Holy Trinity is also represented by an angel, a male figure, for the Father, an infant on the sea for the Son, and a dove with the hand pointing downwards for the Holy Ghost. An interlaced band of foliage runs round the upper and lower portions of the bowl, which latter is supported by three grotesque figures, the whole resting upon a plain circular base. The bowl is three feet four inches in diameter. There exists in Eardisley Church another fine example of a richly carved Norman font, with interlaced scroll ornamentation upon the same lines. Mr Piper exhibited a very neat sketch of the font taken in the year 1877, executed by his sister, Miss Piper.