Silurum (Caerleon) and Gobannium (Abergavenny) passed. This road, under the name of Watling Street, passes within one mile west of Croft Ambrey, thence leads northwards near Wigmore, through Bravinium (Leintwardine) and Uriconium (Wroxeter) to Deva (Chester). This road is met at Wroxeter by the more commonly known Watling Street from Kent through London and the midland counties. During the Roman invasion this road would have been useless to them without the occupation of defensible posts along its route. In this locality we have Croft Ambrey on the east, the camp in Pyon Wood on the west, and three miles north the defensible post at Wigmore.

In the 7th century the West Saxons pushed their possessions as a wedge between the Mercians and the Silures.

In the 8th century Mercia attained the first position of supremacy, even above Northumbria and Wessex, and Offa (A.D. 758-796), who conquered the land between the Severn and the Wye, carried his ravages into the heart of Wales. His name is perpetuated in Offa's Dyke, ten miles west of Croft Ambrey.

At Wigmore we see the earthen mound characteristic of the English or Saxon stockaded enclosure, in later times encircled by the Norman masonry keep. According to George T. Clark, in his Medieval Military Architecture, 1884, page 42, "the attacks of the Danes upon Wigmore are on record." It was Roger, the sixth Lord Mortimer, who, on May 28th, 1265, in concert with the Lord of Croft, artfully contrived the escape of Prince Edward from the custody at Hereford of Peter de Montfort, a son of Simon.

In still later times we find Ludlow Castle, seven miles distant, the great head quarters of the government of the powerful Lords of the Marches.

Although we have no particular "finds" of ancient coins, pottery, or implements of war in confirmation thereof, nevertheless the above historical facts tend to associate the camps of this locality, originally ancient British strongholds, with their successive occupation by the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Norman, in the medieval period, by the Lords of the Marches.

With reference to the etymology of Croft Ambrey, we read in Jakeman and Carver's Directory and Gazetteer of Herefordshire, that "it is said to have been the camp of the British King, Ambrosius." This is not very probable. We have no evidence of Ambrosius, a praiseworthy ruler of the most southern parts of the kingdom in the early part of the fifth century, ever having visited Herefordshire. In Epping Forest there is an ancient camp called Ambersbury Banks, and in Wiltshire there is Amesbury, formerly Ambrose-burh, Ambrose's fortified town. In both Sussex and Worcestershire there is an Amberley, Ambrose's place. In Oxfordshire there is Ambrose-den, or Ambrose's hollow. Welsh legends associate the name of Ambrosius with Ambresburh or Amesbury in Wiltshire. Gildas and Nennius both refer to Ambrosius (which in Welsh becomes Emrys) as Gwledig (ruler or prince) of Lower Britain. Gildas represents him as leader of the Britons in their effort to expel the German invasion, and his descendants as still in power in Lower Britain at the period of his writing in the middle of the sixth century. (Celtic Britain, by J. Rhys).

Croft is an old English or Anglo-Saxon word signifying a field or

appropriated land. Ambrey is a British word. Croft Ambrey would signify "Ambrey's field."

Researches by our member, Mr. James Davies, on the etymology of Croft Ambrey have been furnished as follows:-" Ambrey or Ambury may be a transformation of Am-bre. Bre in Welsh is a hill, and am a circuit. Rev. T. D. Fosbrooke in his Encyclopedia of Antiquities, page 541, under the names Amberley, Ambury, writes:-"Mr. Gough says that the first term denoted an Earthwork, and a Danish Camp on Minchinhampton Common is so (called; but Ambury is applied to an old Danish Temple near Huddersfield. The etymology of the first syllable is uncertain."

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Mr. James Davies further writes:-"In the Cornish language 'Bre' was a mountain or hill, and the suffix is preferred in names of places as follows:Carn-brea, also in Wales as Moelfre, Tenbre-see Cornish Lexicon, by Rev. Robert Williams, page 32." Again-" Ambrosius, also styled Aurelius Ambrosius, was a British King He is said to have killed Vortigern

See Archæologia Cambrensis, 2nd Series, Vol. II., page 299.

See also "Epitome of History of Britain,' attached to Rees' "History of Cambro-British Saints," page 614.

There is a Fort or Camp on the Snowdon range of mountains called Dinas Emrys or the Fort of Emrys, i.e., Ambrosius. As to Ambrosius, continues Mr. James Davies, see "Review of the Conquest of Britains by the Saxons," by D. H. Haigh, Arch. Camb. 3rd Series, Vol. VIII., page 71, also "Horæ Britannica," by J. Hughes, page 188." Surely this subject has provided some occupation for our historians.

The commanding elevation of Croft Ambrey makes it a favourable site for a beacon fire to speed the message on in case of war's alarms. The guide books say that thirteen counties are visible from the Camp. We cannot certify this statement. We were favoured on the day of our visit with a very clear atmosphere, especially towards the north. Some of our members from the Salopian diocese recognised Corndon Hill, the ridge of the Stiperstones, The Longmynds, and other hills in Shropshire, hills in Montgomeryshire, and possibly part of the Berwyn range in Merionethshire. To those counties add Radnorshire, Breconshire, Monmouthshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and do not forget to reckon Herefordshire.

Such an expanse of scenery varied by hills of striking outline naturally prompts us to the consideration of their formation.

GEOLOGY.

From Croft Ambrey the spectator views rocks embracing the earliest dawn of vegetable and animal life, as well as the most ancient azoic rocks.

To the geologist the district of Aymestrey is classic ground; and lest he should shudder at the spelling of the word, we will at once state that the above is according to the usage of the present day to which we shall adhere, whilst the geologist who is not familiar with our provincialisms will probably continue his adherence to the Aymestry of Murchison's Siluria. Here the Rev. T. T. Lewis, who was President of the Woolhope Club in 1853, was quietly pursuing those

researches, and gathering into his museum since the year 1827 (see his "Address" on January 24th, 1854, also see Transactions 1870, p. 5), those treasures of the great invertebrate period of ancient life which opened to Sir Roderick Murchison the key of the "Silurian System," so elaborately worked out by him in the marvellous work under that title published in 1838, in such a manner as to be intelligible to the student, and of which no man can bring against him the accusation "I have gathered a posie of other men's flowers, and nothing but the thread which binds them is mine own." The name of Murchison is perpetuated in all countries in the history and orders of the Silurian system, but the Woolhope Club will never cease to associate with it the name of Lewis of Aymestrey, as chronicled in their Transactions. Sir Roderick Murchison has frequently acknowledged the great debt he owed to Rev. T. T. Lewis " my most efficient coadjutor in all the regions of Siluria," page 128, as indeed he styled him in the Preface to the 1st edition, first discoveries by whom are referred to in the following pages of the 5th edition, published 1872: pages 5, 116, 119, 128, 129, 133, 198, and 605. In one place he writes-"This central member of the Ludlow formation was named by me after the beautiful village of Aymestry where the rock is well laid open, and its relative position as well as fossil contents were elaborately worked out for me by my friend the late Rev. T. T. Lewis."

From Ashley Moor house until the members left Mortimer's Cross the ground traversed is entirely Silurian. The boundary line between the Old Red Sandstone, "the age of fishes," and the calcareous sandy beds of the Silurian formations, "the invertebrate period," follows closely the main road from Mortimer's Cross eastwards as far as Highwood House, thence enclosing Bircher Common, and extending north-easterly to Ludlow, it passes westwards, encircling the heights of Bringwood Chase. On the Geological Map 55 N.W. is represented a section from Croft Ambrey to Bringwood, shown on Horizontal Section, Sheet 34. Starting from the high road between Lucton School and Cock Gate, with his back to the Old Red Sandstone, the geologist proceeds northwards through Croft Park, passes for the length of one mile over the Upper Ludlow Beds until, on arrival at Croft Ambrey Camp, 1,000 feet high, he reaches an upthrust of Aymestrey Limestone, reaching from the river Lugg, and extending thence eastwards for a total length of four miles, the whole stratum dipping to the south. From the summit of Croft Ambrey, looking north, he has the valley of Leinthall Earles between him and the next elevation, Gatley Hill, 1,108 feet high, distant one mile and a half. Along the northern slope of Croft Ambrey Hill are the Lower Ludlow Beds, followed by Wenlock Limestone, all dipping southwards, and in the valley Wenlock Shales underlying another exposure of Wenlock Limestone, dipping north, forming portions of a small anticlinal of one mile in extent, whose summit has been denuded. Here, at the southern base of Gatley Hill, is a geological fault. See Section and Plan.

A similar anticlinal of three miles length, and of the same formations, extends from Gatley Hill to Bringwood; the intervening valley, the catchment of which drains into Burrington Pool and into the Teme, has been similarly denuded down to the Wenlock Shales. (See Section).

About one mile north of Aymestrey is the watershed between the Lugg and the Teme, or, in other words, the parting line of watershed between the Wye and the Severn, which are respectively supplied by the above tributaries.

On visiting the village of Aymestrey, the geologist is delighted with an exposure of Upper Silurian rocks in a quarry 90 feet high, called Rock Hall quarry, in the Common Wood, behind the Crown Inn, on the right bank of the Lugg, south of Aymestrey Bridge, and less than one hundred yards distant from it. Here is developed, in successive layers, the " Aymestry Limestone" of "Siluria," and the same formation extends in a narrow band southwards for three-quarters of a mile, half-way to Mortimer's Cross. From opposite the southern extremity of the quarry a band upon the left bank of the river stretches at nearly a right angle through Pokehouse Wood north-easterly, to form the natural ridges of the ramparts of Croft Ambrey Camp, before referred to. Rock Hall quarry is noted for "finds" of the finest specimens of Pentamerus Knightii, the size of a closed fist, the special characteristic of the Aymestrey Limestone, and so called from its five compartments. Here also the geologist has been rewarded with finds of Favosites alveolaris, Heliolites, Strophomena euglypha, Encrinites, &c. In the top layer of the Aymestrey Limestone the small Leptæna levigata, and Rhynconella navicula, have been found in abundance. Of recent years the best of the fossiliferous beds have been excavated, and the fossils are more rare. The quarry is now disused.

The Aymestrey Limestone rock has a position between the Upper and Lower Ludlow formations, and is also known under the title of Middle Ludlow. Salter regarded the Aymestrey Limestone as only a calcareous condition of the Lower Ludlow formation. Most of the Aymestrey fossils are also found in the Wenlock Limestone. H. B. Woodward in his Geology of England and Wales, 2nd edition, 1887, page 103, describes it as "a dark-grey or blue earthy limestone, often well-bedded in layers of from one to five feet in thickness, but sometimes of a concretionary nature. It is inconstant in occurrence, and generally contains numerous layers of shells and corals, whilst associated with it are beds of shale. The thickness has been estimated at from 30 to 40 feet, but frequently it is much less." On page 15 of La Touche's Geology of Shropshire we read that about the neighbourhood of Craven Arms it is 20 feet thick. In the neighbourhood of Hereford the Aymestrey Limestone forms a wall around the greater part of the well-known Silurian upthrust encircling the Woolhope valley. There is a fine exposure in the Parton lane, about 6 miles from Hereford, leading from the Ledbury road to St. Ethelbert's Camp on Backbury Hill.

Of other quarries in Aymestrey there is one in Grayley Wood, at the back of the Garden House, where formerly the typical character of the Aymestrey Limestone was well developed; and another on the eastern side of the small six-acre camp in Pyon Wood, half a mile north of Aymestrey Bridge. For the long narrow belt of Wenlock Limestone extending from the keeper's cottage near Lyepool bridge, thence westwards, crossing the river to Shirley, re-crossing the river west of Deerfold bridge, circling back east of the ruins of Limebrook Abbey, thence in a north easterly direction by "Haven," through

Dickendale (where a landslip has been reported), to Wigmore, see the accompanying part of Sheet 55 Geological Ordnance Survey, where it is marked b 6′′.

These bands of Aymestrey Limestone yield a more hard and durable road material than other Ludlow stones and shales which, originally mudstones, are liable to disintegrate and return to mud upon exposure to climatic influences. Stone from the local quarries is used in the bye-ways, cart-tracks, and lanes, but it is evident to the observer, and is confirmed by the practical quarrymen, that the material from the quarry in Pyon Wood is much better than that from the quarries near Lyepool and Lower Lye, on the road to Lingen, on the left bank of the river, and than that from the quarry at the western end of Mere Hill Wood on the right bank of the river. The main high-roads under the supervision of the County Council are metalled with the best stone in the kingdom, the Clee Hill basalt, which is used universally throughout the County of Hereford, and generally in many adjoining counties. At the present period the Worcestershire Council are making comparative experiments with the Rowley Rag basalt from Dudley in their vicinity, and the basaltic Dhu Stone from Clee Hill: there has to be taken into account the initial cost of conveyance from so long a distance. The observant traveller in a vehicle along the highway (Watling Street) from Mortimer's Cross to Aymestrey, and in places to Leintwardine, will observe the firmness and solidity of the road, due to the fact of its foundations dating from the time of the Romans.

The Lower Ludlow Beds which underlie the Aymestrey Limestone, and from which they are usually separated by soft soapy beds (the decomposition of which unctuous "Walker's earth," similar to an imperfect fuller's earth, has been occasionally the cause of landslips), consist of grey and greenish-grey sandy shales, micaceous sandstones, and flags. Some of the upper beds are calcareous, and contain small concretions of impure limestone. The shales have been locally termed 'mudstones,' from their tendency, when wet, to dissolve into mud. Their thickness has been estimated at 750 feet at Malvern. The uppermost strata (according to Murchison) become somewhat more sandy, constituting thick flagstones termed 'pendle' by the workmen."* Of these landslips we have several examples in Herefordshire, e.g., on Backbury Hill, on Dadnor's Hill, Dormington, at "The Wonder," near Putley Cockshoot, and at Palmer's Cairn, on Churn Bank, less than half-a-mile north of Maidenhead Inn, in Orleton parish, which we passed in the early part of our walk this morning. A representation of the latter is given on page 129 of Murchison's "Siluria," 5th edition, 1872.

Fossils of the Lower Ludlow formation, Wenlock Limestone, and Wenlock Shales, may be found on the northern slope of Croft Ambrey and in the valley at Leinthall Earles.

In the dark and grey thin flags and argillaceous shale of Lower Ludlow are Lingula lata, Leptæna minima, Orthoceras, and Graptolites Ludensis. See Section.

The Upper Ludlow Beds "consist of flaggy arenaceous and micaceous * "The Geology of England and Wales," by H. B. Woodward, 2nd edition, 1887, page 101.