rom
Arden, which word the Gauls and Britons heretofore seemed to have used
for a wood, since two very great forests, the one in Gallia Belgica, the
other amongst us in Warwickshire, are called by one and the same name,
Arden"? This latter suggestion Evelyn, in his 'Sylva,' accepts, in which
he is supported by the fact that the name of "Dean" is first met with in
William the Norman's survey.

Probably the earliest trace of this locality being inhabited exists in
the Druidical rocks which are found on the high lands on the
Gloucestershire side of the Wye. The chief of them is "the Buck Stone,"
so called perhaps from the deer which sheltered beneath it, or else from
its fancied resemblance to that animal when viewed from certain distant
spots. It is a huge mass of rock poised on the very crest of Staunton
Hill, which being of a pyramidal form, and almost 1000 feet high, renders
the stone on its summit visible in one direction as far as Ross, nine
miles off. A careful examination of the structure of the rock, and
particularly of the character of its base, will show that its position is
natural. But that the Druids had appropriated it to sacrificial
purposes, is evident from a rudely hollowed stone which lies adjacent.
In shape "the Buck Stone" is almost flat on the top, and four-sided, the
north-east side measuring sixteen feet five inches, the north seventeen
feet, the south-west nine feet, and the south side twelve feet. The face
of the rock on which it rests slopes considerably, and the bearing point
is only two feet across. This part may be an unbroken neck of rock, but
apparently the entire block has crushed down upon its base, as though,
from having once formed the extremity of the portion of cliff near, it
had fallen away, and had accidentally balanced itself in its present
position. {2} The texture of "the Buck Stone" is similar to that of the
slab of rock on which it rests, commonly known as the old red sandstone
conglomerate of quartz pebbles (a stratum of which extends through the
whole district), exceedingly hard in most of its veins, but very
perishable in others; and hence perhaps the form and origin of this
singular object.

[Picture: The Buck Stone]

In addition to the above, there is a large mass of grit-stone, from nine
to ten feet high, standing in a field on the north side of the road
leading from Bream to St. Briavel's, named "the Long Stone." Another,
called by the s