Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

of the wall. The natural cave has been extended by a downward- trending tunnel for the mining of iron pyrites-no longer worked. Irom No. 6 stile follow enclosure walls. The precipitous Thurba Headf comes into view, with Tears Point, and the end of Worms Head beyond. There is a good promontory fort on Thurba Head. When enclosure wall makes right angle to right, follow it. Mewslade is now on your left, with Mewslade Bay at its foot. (Sandy beach from half ebb to half flood tide.) Detour to Mewslade Bay Descend steep grassy slopes of west side of Thurba Head to bottom of slade, then through rocky gut to the beach. Following boundary wall, a gate is reached leading into a green lane going slightly uphill. This soon joins a roughly metalled lane which descends, passes through a farm yard (Great Pitton Farm), becomes a smooth metalled lane and leads uphill to the main road and bus stop at Pitton letterbox. (5-L miles.) *Distances given are from the starting point. tFrom No. 1 stile to Paviland slade and from No. 6 stile to last gate, the route traverses National Trust property. Stephen G. Lee. Uhe Tftinchin Hole Excavations, 1953 1 HE EIGHTH season's work of excavation at the cave of Minchin Hole occupied three weeks and was directed by Mr. E. J. Mason and the writer. It marked the beginning of the second stage of the operation-the examination of the earliest deposits found within the cave, which belong to the middle of the Pleistocene or Ice Age. As a preliminary a shaft was sunk about thirty feet from the entrance and the rock-floor of the cave was reached at a depth of fifteen feet below the surface which existed before excavations began in 1946. As anticipated, the lowest deposits consisted of sand and shingle belonging to the Patella Beach, a product of a high sea-level which occurred in southern Britain before the Older Drift Glaciation. At a higher level a second high sea-level was indicated by a deposit of fine shingle, which in all probability can be equated with the Neritoides Beach first recognised by Prof. T. N. George. A number of small finds were made during the clearing of a mass of disturbed rubble in preparation for the cutting of a trench across the cave next year. These included pottery of the Roman and Mediaeval periods, a coin of Carausius (A.D. 287-93), a bronze belt buckle, two worked flints and a bone spindle-whorl. This season's work provided a considerable amount of very heavy labour in which we were greatly assisted by parties from the Kilvrough Manor Hostel, under the leadership of the warden, Mr. Bomback, and to these and other willing helpers we are especially grateful. J. G. Rutter.