New-York tribune., 1901-05-05

islets in the Severn Strait Sandstone, mind
you. is comparatively soft and workable; what
wonder if, from time immemOrial, the rocks
have been utilized habitatons for men?
FIRST, doubtless there the worn and
sea scOoped caVerns in which the first men of
the rude stone weapon age lived; but these have
long ago disappeared or been widened. and now
we have very worthy. respectable people living
in these burrows in the rock
Let go at once" said /.
kinver Edge, ridge of red sandstone,
terminates abruptly above the River stour.
above Sturdon Castle. once royal dwelling
much affected by King John. The extreme
headland 5i2 feet above the sea, steep all
sides but one. fortified by King Wulfhere
who reiened in Mercia from 6I, to 60. and the
church Of kinver dedicated two of his
sons. who were accounted saints. The mighty
embankment thrown up by Wulfhere remains,
and the place was, doubt. a stronghold
against the inCursons of the Welsh This point
of rock has between it and the old sea bed i
remarkable mass of isolated crag that goes by
the name Of Holy Austin Rock. and this is
literally honeycombed with hahitatIOnS in three
stories or stages with families still occupy ing
the rock at each level. though all the dwellings
are not now tenanted. The tOpmOst has bench
and table before the door, and the inhabitants
OF the cave keep by them store of ginger
beer and lemonade wherewith refresh vsi-
tors from Stourbridse Kddermnster.
The cave dwellings, are either entirely scooped
out in the heart of the rock, windows and doors
being cut in the stone, and the front being
mere screen of living rock. else. in the
case of the topmost story of dwellings, brick
front has been erected before the caves. and this
has been done on account of the original faca
of rock having been cut about that il has
given way. Usually the only brick structure
connected with the cave dwelling is the chin
ney. One house the middle stage has this
feature in very extraordinary fashion, curled
like to avoid the projections of rock
One of the inhabitants of Holy Austin Rock.
not content with scooping out for himself many
chambers in the rock. has dug his way through
it. and look out the face of the precipiee
on the further side. These cave dwellings
warm i'm winter and cool in summer; they
very dry indeed drer in winter than in
mer-as in the hot weather the GOODNESS of the
stone has effect of condensng il any
moisture there may he in the air.
In Worcestershire, at Areley Kings is rock
hewn hermitage in tlun, called the Red Stone.
1t in this parish and. if tradition may be
trusted. in this hermitage. that Layamon
wrote his poem The Brut,' of the earliest
monuments of the English language that
possess. 1t is a metrical history of Britain
based the fabulous work of GeOfrey of
Monmouth and he wrote either the end of
the reign of Henry III not long after his death.
Layamon tells that he native of
Erney the Severn, and his language be-
longs to the period of transition. when Saxon
phraseolOgy and grammatical construction were
still preserved, although the words were rapid
y changing their forms and softening down
their ternlinations The Ernley of which Laya-
mon was a native is the modern Areley, in
which parish the Red Stone Hermitage exists.
This consists of q range of chambers cut in the
rock, with doorways and windows, and do not
all belong n single habitation. When the
church was rebuilt in 1SS5S6 the early front
discovered broken up. but bearing on it
an inscription commemorative of the poet-priess
Layamon.