The British and Irish Meteorite Society

Kieron wrote:
Also, although the caption on the Benett watercolour states that the stone fell on Rev Blakeney's estate, do we necessarily believe that?

Hi Kieron,

We can get a sense of Etheldred Bennet's character by reading "Miss Etheldred Benett (1775-1845): A Preliminary Note on her Correspondence" by R.J. Cleevely. There's a copy scanned from Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine here. We can see an example of here work here. Benett authored other papers, on the subject of geology and fossils. I haven't found copies on-line yet, but I'm sure they are available, if not on line. I feel confident in saying Bennet was a diligent and meticulous person.

Kieron wrote:I am not sure that I have followed the arguments correctly. However, if we are to believe Maxwell's account of the Scagh stone as being 17lb, how can that be the stone at Oxford - Nevil Story-Maskelyne recorded the Oxford stone as 18lb 11 oz in 1865 and this was confirmed by Prior in 1923.

Regards, Kieron

Hi Kieron,

Re-reading "The Letter" as quoted in Mapping the Limerick Strewn Field, three weights are indicated....

Brasky "about sixty five pounds"
Scagh "about seventeen pounds"
Faha "above twenty four pounds"

As you say, the Oxford stone was determined to weigh 18 lb 11 oz by Nevil Story-Maskelyne amd Prior and 8410.9 g (18.5 lb) of this stone are currently accounted for at Oxford and NHM.

So...

If the Oxford Stone is Faha, based on current knowledge, the discrepancy from the original estimate given, in the letter, of (above) 24 lb, was over-reported by 28%.
If the Oxford Stone is Scagh, based on current knowledge, the discrepancy from the original estimate, given in the letter, of 17 lb, was under-reported by 9%.

To me this doesn't support the Oxford stone being Faha particularly strongly. Is your main objection, which I'd agree with, that it is possible for the meteorite to have lost weight, as bits are removed, but it is never possible to gain weight?

I suppose there is a risk of relying too much on Maxwell's evidence. However, he does state that the Scagh stone 'had no appearance of having been fractured in any part'. The cast of the Oxford stone that was made prior to it being sectioned clearly shows a fractured surface.

To be honest, I doubt that the questions surrounding this fall will ever be resolved unless some new piece of evidence comes to light.

Regards, Kieron

Whatever the truth, happy 202nd birthday Limerick

This is perhaps somewhat trivial but... the Brasky mass was acquired by the National Museum in 1945 from a Mr John Collins, who himself had purchased the meteorite at an auction related to the sale of Miss C E Taylor's estate at Hollypark, Co Limerick. And here are the actual contents of that auction, dated June 1939 and listing just about everything under the sun - except of course the most valuable treasure

How the specimen held at Limerick museum actually ended up there seems unresolved -

Matthew Parkes, Geological Curator in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin, gave a talk last night in Limerick City hosted by the Limerick Astronomy Club. I was stunned and amazed when he brought down the Crown Jewel itself, the Brasky meteorite, to the show. He ordered us not to lift it but of course we couldn't resist wow, what a weighty mass! I was reminded of the Indiana Jones line... "We are passing through history but this, this IS history..."



Finbarr.

what a fantastic looking stone
I really must get to Dublin for a proper look at it