Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/418

346 CROMLECH AT DREWSTEIGXTOX, DEVON. edition 1S56), it contains nearly 21(1 cubic ft., and ^Yeighs sixteen tons and sixteen pounds. At page 110 of the Essays above mentioned there is an engraving of the Crom- lech from the north-west, taken from a drawing by J. 8wete, and *• N. E." describes the quoit as 14 ft. and a half long from nurtli to soutli, and from east to west 10 ft. wide, and the height from the ground as above 6 ft. ilr. Samuel Lysous made a drawing of the Cromlech in 1807, and in his "Devon.shirc " (page cccvii) the measures are given as about 12 ft. in length and 9 ft. in width, and the height of the sup- porting stones as from G ft. to G ft. G in. to the under side of the covering stone. This last measure was about the height at the time when the fall took place ; very little cliange, if any, had therefore taken place in the height to the under side of the quoit during the sixty-six 3Tars preceding the fall. Tho dimensions of the qiioit as first stated may, I think, Ijc relied upon ; those given by " N. E." as from north to south and east to west are not correct, and those given by ^Ir. Lysons are only approximate. I much regret that I did not take exact measures and a plan before the fall ; as the restoration is not quite a comiter- part of tlic original Cromlech, the present dimensions will not supply the deficiency. On .Monday, 27th January lsG2, I endeavoured to take a photogra[)h of the Crondech, but iu consequence of the deficiency of light was not able to succeed. 1 was there about three-quarters of an hour, and there was no sign of the adjoining land being disturbed, and on tho following Friday, 31st January, the Crondech fell. On Wednesday, ."itli February, I took a j)hotograph of the Crom- lech in its fallen conditi<Mi, and there was no sign of the land being disturbed save where it had been broken ) by tho accident. TIk; following is the minute entered in my journal : "The southerly and easterly stones had given way, and tho quoit had fallen leaning against the northerl}' stone, and the two others were umlcr it ; judging by the small dt'j»th of stone in the ground it is a wonder that it did ni)Llall before." Tlio accident prol>ably arose from the following causes : tlio upright st(jnes had only a hold of from IS to 21 in. in tiio groimd ; as above stated, the (juoit rested on tin; tops of two Btone.s, and against the bevilled top of the tliiril ; llic souLliorly and easterly stones, a.s shown in diagi'anis in The Mssays, p;igo 110, au'l in I^yson's " Jievon.'shiro," page ccc.wiii., leaned