Miscellaneous Posts by Rhiannon

It is 100 feet long, its greatest width being 50 feet, and height five feet; its direction is east and west, the highest portion being towards the east.

The mound was cut in two about fifty years ago to make room for a cottage and some pigstyes; the latter now occupy the centre of the barrow! During the excavation one human skeleton was found. Probably this is the only instance in the county of a prehistoric burial place being turned into a pigstye!

In a field called Croeslechau about two miles eastward of this town or village [Talgarth] but in the parish of Bronllys and on a farm called Bryn-y-groes, is a cromlech, not merely interesting on account of its antiquity, but from the circumstance of a white thorn growing close, and indeed under part of it, which has gradually raised the horizontal or covering-stone several inches out of its original position; it is therefore not only venerable as a relic of very ancient days but as a natural curiosity.

Historic Wilts Stone Circle Damaged.
Mr Norman Cook, curator of Avebury Museum, stated yesterday that the soldiers who were encamped at Avebury, Wilts, last week, did considerable damage in the stone avenue which adjoins the famous stone circle there, and left behind them filth and litter and refuse from the camp kitchen.

Mr Cook, who was speaking at a Swindon Rotary meeting, said: "They parked themselves in the Avenue on August 9. They had 119 tanks, a camp kitchen, etc. with them. When they had gone it was found that this crack regiment had left a permanent record of their visit.

"To our horror we found they had cut inscriptions commemorating their visit on our stones, although personal assurances had been given that no harm would come to the monument. They left an indescribable amount of filth and litter. It will cost us a tremendous amount of money. One inscription may remain forever to record their visit."

It is understood that the War Office is investigating the matter.

Sir,
- It is unfortunate that the Office of Works should have disregarded the Garrol stone circle, so nobly situated, and so impressive. On my last visit (the 15th) I was shocked to find that the woodmen in clearing up the cut wood had piled and burned a large quantity of heavy brush in the very centre of the circle, thereby cracking, displacing and disfiguring the stones and chamber slab of the inner circle.

I could be scathing at this juncture, but it is seldom fruitful of happy results. I will only say that if rude men were the builders (by no means proved), our present civilisation is turning out ruder and cruder ones to whom nothing whatsoever appears to be sacred.

I foresee, too, that during re-afforesting by the Department further disfigurement will take place - and possibly complete obliteration.

This circles is a source of great interest to strangers, as I well know, and therefore a valuable asset to a locality endeavouring to popularise itself. But apart from this cheap side-view, the Garrol circle is an inspiring object, fascinating and fruitful of thought, and of the highest human and historical interest. May some kind hand protect it!

-Arthur F. Leslie Paterson,
Birkwood, Banchory.

Ascending Parbold Hill and proceeding eastward in the direction of Standish, says [Mr Price, honourary secretary of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire], a slight decent is made into the ravine called Sprodley Wood, locally known as Fairy Glen, and along this wood runs Sprodley Brook. Shortly after passing over Sprodley Brook, in a field on the left may be seen a grass-covered mound, which from time immemorial seems to have been called Boars Den.

[...] From this plateau a magnificent view presents itself at every point of the compass. Northwards, beyond the silver streak of the Ribble estuary, rise the Cumberland Hills; nearer, and trending eastwards, may be seen Pendle Hill, Bleasdale Moors, Longridge Fells, Rivington Pike, and Anglesark Moors; southwards, Standish, Billinge Beacon, and Ashurst; and westward stretches a vast plain, with the Welsh mountains faintly outlined across the Mersey estuary. Few sites in Lancashire could rival this in its command of the ancient landmarks and beacons of the county, and the estuaries of the Ribble, Mersey, and Dee.

The Tolmen of Constantine.
Mr. R. Edmonds called attention to this rock - the finest of its kind in Britain; it is ten time as large as the Logan Rock, which is estimated at 70 tons. The Tolmen (or holed-stone) is about 33 feet long, 19 broad, and 15 high. Of this fine relic, Mr. Edmonds said that unless a subscription be immediately set on foot to purchase the rock, together with that portion of the cairn which it covers, there is reason to fear that the fragments will soon form part of the national buildings now in progress at Chatham or Plymouth, as the granite quarries have already reached within a few feet of it. If the three Royal Societies of Cornwall were to interest themselves in the preservation of this noble monument and effect its purchase, the comparatively small sum thus expended would confer honour on all its contributors, but if it were suffered to perish, the disgrace to our native county would never be effaced.

The following letter from "The Proprietor of Stonehenge" appeared in the Times, of Thursday last:-

In a recent impression of the Times "A Visitor to Stonehenge" complains of the general damage done in thirty years past, and of particular damage done on the day of his visit. I believe no one of our old monuments has suffered less during the period first mentioned, and, considering the thousands who annually visit it, I think the public deserve much credit for the very little damage done.

On inquiry I find that about a fortnight ago an individual of the mechanic class brought a large sledgehammer, and, notwithstanding the remonstrances of a person who is usually at the stones holding horses, persisted in breaking the corners of two of the fallen stones. This is the only recent damage I can find, after a careful inspection. If I knew his name and place of residence, I should assuredly try what the law could do in such a case of wilful mischief; but, speaking generally, and judging from results, I believe an appeal to the public interest in such monuments and to the good feeling so generally entertained is the best preservative.

In the few cases of attempted mischief I am bound to say that the operative class are not those principally implicated. A member of the professional classes was one evening found, in the interests of science, as he asserted, endeavouring to ascertain the depth of the foundations. He apologised in the county paper, and the matter dropped.

A respectable paterfamilias, who arrived in a well-appointed barouche, was heard by a relative of mine asking for "the hammer and the chisel." On being requested to desist from the intended operation, the answer was, "And who the deuce are you, Sir?" On being told the petitioner claimed to be the proprietor of the threatened institution, he declared he had always believed it "public property."

In another instance three young men, being found on the top of two of the standing stones, stated they were about to carry off a piece of what is called the Sarsen stone for a relative of one of them, who was a distinguished archaeologist. On my writing to that gentleman, depracating a renewal of his relative's visits with such intentions, he assured me no relative of his would be guilty of such an act, adding, as a further assurance, that the act was unnecessary, as he already possessed a piece of the stone in question; he added, "given him by a friend."

I think I can re-assure the public mind as to the question, and I may surely ask those who take an interest in it, when they see attempts of the sort, to offer one of those good-natured remonstrances which will carry weight with the offender, and are sure to enlist the sympathy and assistance of the great body of bystanders.

A few weeks since, a labourer employed in digging flints, near Hollingbury Castle (the ancient earthwork or camp on the summit of the hill between Brighton and Stanmer), discovered an interesting group of antiquities, placed very superficially in a slight excavation on the chalk rock. It consisted of a brass instrument, called a celt; a nearly circular ornament, spirally fluted, and having two rings placed loosely on the extremities, and four armillae or bracelets for the wrist, of a very peculiar shape. All these ornaments are composed of a metallic substance, which, from the appearance of those parts where the green patina, with which they are encrusted, has been removed, must have originally posessed a lustre but little inferior to burnished gold. They are clearly either of Roman or Anglo-Roman origin, and probably were buried on or near the site of interment of the individual to whom they belonged.

December 1866. The Donations to the Library and Museum were as follows, and thanks were voted to the Donors:-

1. By Samuel Gordon Esq. and J T Blackley, Esq, Castle-Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire.

Large Caldron, formed of very thin plates of yellow bronze, the bottom being formed of one large sheet, and the sides of various smaller portions, all riveted together. It is patched in various places with additional bronze plates of various sizes riveted on. The caldron measures 26 inches in diameter across the mouth, the sides being straight, but bulging out to the extent of 1 inch above the rounded and flattened bottom. Part of the circumference of the mouth, where the handle had been attached, has been torn away.

The caldron was dredged up by the donors from Carlingwark Loch, Kirkcudbright, and contained

an adze, 7 inches in length, 2 inches across the face (Plate 1 fig. 1);

three axe-heads, measuring from 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 inches in length, and 2 to 2 1/2 inches across the face (figs. 2, 3, 4) - each of these tools have small projections of the metal on each side of the half-hole;

four small picks or hammers, with narrow extremities, from 6 to 7 1/4 inches in length (fig. 5) and apparently a broken half of another hammer-head, 4 inches in length;

hammer-head with flattened ends (fig. 6);

portion of a small saw, 6 1/2 inches, with blade 1 inch in breadth - a portion of the wooden handle remains riveted to the blade (fig. 7);

portions of a fine cut saw, 2 1/2 inches in length and 1 1/2 inch in breadth;

nine portions of double-edged blades, with pointed extremities resembling sword points, from 2 1/2 to 6 inches in length, and from 1 1/2 to 2 inches in breadth;

nails of various lengths, one with a large head, with a cross marked on each side (fig. 8);

small slender chisel, 5 inches in length, 3/4 of an inch across the face; portion of another chisel; three punches, 4 3/4 to 5 3/8 inches in length (fig. 9);

four split bats with eyes (figs. 10 and 11);

two large holdfasts; six hooks, varying in size from 2 1/2 inches to 5 inches in length (fig. 12);

iron buckle (fig. 13);

two handles with loops, apparently the handles of a bucket, one rudely ornamented with punched parallel lines (figs. 14, 15, 16);

wooden handle (fig. 17);

an iron implement (fig. 18);

iron tripod or ring, with three feet, apparently for supporting a pot (fig. 19);

and an iron frame, with numerous bars, and having two feet, the other two apparently awanting, the whole resembling a rude gridiron; five pieces of iron handles, one measuring 5 3/4 inches in length by 1/4 of an inch in breadth, has a loop at each extremity (fig. 20);

snaffle horse-bit, with check-ring 3 inches in diameter (fig. 21);

file, 9 3/4 inches in length and 1 inch in breadth; various scraps of iron plates; portions of iron hoops or bands perforated with holes.

VANDALISM.
To the Editor of Saunders's News-Letter.
SIR- Yesterday, being in the neighbourhood of Glencullen, with two friends, we went to inspect a cromlech between that place and Ballyedmonduff named "Giant's Grave" in the Ordnance map. Imagine our surprise and indignation at finding only its site; it had recently been literally quarried away, perhaps, for some purpose for which any other stones would have answered just as well, and this too, at no great distance from quarries now being worked.

Archaeologists should learn from such cases as this, which unfortunately are only too common, the importance of never passing one of these structures without taking a sketch, or better still, if possible, a photograph, and measurements of it. It is much to be regretted that landed proprietors do not adopt proper precautions for the preservation of these interesting relics of remote antiquity from wanton destruction.

I am, sir, your obedient servant, W.H.S. Westropp, MRIA.
Blackrock, October 11, 1867.

The farmers' sons and daughters of the parishes surrounding Eggardon Hill held their annual private picnic on the hill on Whit-Monday, and were joined by a number of friends from a distance. The Askerswell band was in attendance, and dancing commenced shortly after four o'clock. During the evening a great number of persons went on the top of the hill to enjoy the extensive scenery. About six o'clock they all sat down to an excellent tea, and as evening drew on the band played almost without ceasing, and dancing was kept up with great spirit. Through the kindness of the Misses Toleman, of Witherstone, and Misses Wrixton, of King's, there was an abundance of refreshments. The party broke up about 11 o'clock, and left the hill cheering and congratulating each other upon their evening's enjoyment.

From inquiries that Canon Willcocks was good enough to get made for me amongst some of the oldest inhabitants of the district, it appears that the pillar-stone was always known as "the Clonegall stone." Gall is an ancient term for a pillar-stone; and "Clonegall," in the present instance, would no doubt signify "pillar-stone meadow."

A Gallaun near Ballindangan, Co. Cork.
(By Courtenay Moore, Canon, M.A., Council Member C.H. and A.S.)

"Some months ago, a Corporal Oscroft of the Royal Engineers, who was engaged in this district, told me of the existence of the Gallaun. I went out on Saturday, July the 16th, to find it out. Stopping at the level-crossing of Ballindangan, on the Mitchelstown and Fermoy Railway, I asked an old woman at the gate-house about it; but whether it was owing to her deafness or ignorance, she could give me no information. However, help was at hand, a bright, intelligent girl, just entered on her 'teens, who overheard the conversation, and who answered to the name of Mary Kate, came forward and said she knew the stone and the way to it. Under her guidance I started off, and in about seven minutes we reached the place.

The Gallaun is a remarkable one, standing by itself in a field near the railway line. It is a monolith, ten feet nine inches in height, and five feet in superficial breadth; it is greatly scored and fissured, doubtless by the atmospheric influences and ice-action, but I could not see any human inscription on it of any kind. There is a small elder tree growing out of a cavity near the top.

The Gallaun is out of the perpendicular, probably owing to some yielding of the earth at the base, and inclines at an angle, roughly speaking, of some 12 or 20 degrees. It would be a great pity if this inclination increased, and that the stone should eventually fall.

On returning to the gate-lodge at the level crossing, I made some further enquiries, and by this time Mary Kate, my guide, was recognised by all and sundry as the proper authority. She said the Gallaun was in the town of Kilnadrow, "Spill it for him, Mary Kate, spill it for the gintleman," said her grandmother. Mary Kate accordingly "spilt it."

[...] The thickness of the stone is about one foot six inches. How much of it is under ground I have no definite idea; judging from the inclination, there is probably not very much. An old woman, who lives in the locality, informed me that a number of years ago, a man was ploughing up the field in which the Gallaun stands. The plough struck against a large flat stone, which he raised, and found under it an earthen urn containing some human bones. He replaced the urn, covered it up, and it has never been disturbed nor re-discovered since. At all events, the existence of the Ballindangan Gallaun is worth recording as a remarkable specimen of its class of pre-historic antiquities.

[The Daff Stone] is the name popularly given to a large stone which lies on a low mound of earth in a field close to the Moneydig cross-roads. It is roughly diamond-shaped, the longer diagonal reaching 7 feet, and the shorter about 4 feet. The average thickness is from 1 foot 9 inches to 2 feet.

[...] Recently, Mr. S. K. Kircker and myself, happened to be driving past the place. Noticing the stone, we stopped to have a closer look at it. To our astonishment we discovered that it was the cover-stone of a sepulchral chamber. Clearing away some dead thorn-bushes which were about, we found that the stone did not quite cover the chamber at one particular spot. We were afterwards told that the bushes were designed to prevent some young lambs, which were in the field, from falling through the opening thus formed.*

Making his way, with much difficulty, into the chamber by this "open door," Mr. Kircker, after taking some measurements, made a further discovery. He reported that one of the upright stones forming the chamber had some curious markings or scribings upon it.

I immediately secured some paper from a neighbouring shop, and he made me a rubbing, which, though not very satisfactory, showed at least that the stone was rudely decorated. [...]

The word "Daff" means in Irish 'a vat or tub'; and certainly the appearance which the chamber presents to anyone looking in justifies the name. Seven large stones form the staves of the 'cask', if I may so call it, and the cover-stone furnishes the lid.

[...] The stone marked X on the plan is the one which carries the scribings. They occur at about one-third of the height from the bottom as exposed, and cover a space 1 foot 7 inches broad by 1 foot high. On an average they are one-tenth of an inch in width. They are made up of five figures; the largest is a spear-shaped one, and runs almost across the entire space occupied. It also occurs below the other four.

The edges of the blade are formed by a series of scorings, at least five or six on the upper edge, and ten or twelve on the under one. The ends are open, and seem to curl outward - one of them certainly does. The space between these ends is filled with a smaller triangular figure, shaped like an arrow-head, with longish wings and no stem. A similar figure, but longer and sharper, occupies the top corner to the right.

The left-hand corner opposite this is taken up with a circular ornament, 5 1/2 inches in diameter. The circle is incomplete, or penannular, three inches or so of an are being wanting [sic]. There is no cup at the centre, but there are some five straight lines running downwards from the centre to the circumference, two of which are very distinct.

Though the rubbing shows only one circle, or rather partial circle, there are what seem to me faint traces of other concentric circles within this. Mr. Kircker is inclined to think that originally it was a spiral - and it may have been so; but the surface of the stone is so rough, and the scribings so faint, that it is impossible to make anything more out of the figure than what appears on the rubbing.

Between this circular figure and the point of the large spear-like one underneath the others is a fourth 'broad arrow.' Its point is in the opposite direction to that of the 'spear' and also of that which is within the open ends. In both these instances the direction of the point is determined by the shape of the space to be filled with the ornamentation.

I may add, before I leave this, that on the large stone directly opposite to the one bearing the decoration - the largest one, indeed, of all the uprights - there are a few lines scored, but there is no approach to a pattern [...]

Summary of Proceedings of the Bath Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club for the years 1865-6.
[...] The first [Excursion] of the season, to Wantage, the Berkshire White Horse, and Uffington, was a success in every way, due chiefly to the admirable arrangements made by Mr. Wasbrough for the transit and conveyance of the members. Under this gentleman's guidance the chief points of interest in the birth place of King Alfred were visited [...]. Leaving Wantage the members proceeded in carriages to the foot of the Downs, and essayed a blast upon the blowing stone (a mass of perforated silicious sandstone, said to have been formerly used for sounding an alarm over the neighbouring country).

The united efforts of all Bath were unable to produce a sound from the trumpet shaped hole. A native trumpeter, however, being found was more successful, and satisfied all present that when in its original place on the top of the Downs a most effective alarm could be raised.

Manton Down Barrow Destroyed.
Discovery by Youth Hostel Party.
From our correspondent, Swindon, April 27.

The Long Barrow at Manton Down, near Marlborough, Wiltshire, which is believed to date from about 2,200 B.C., has been destroyed. Its destruction was discovered yesterday when a party of Youth Hostel Association members were taken to inspect the tumulus by Mr. N. Thomas, curator of Devizes Museum, and Mr. L.V. Grinsell, curator of the Department of Antiquities, City Museum, Bristol. Trees in the area had also been cleared.

Large stones which composed the barrow are scattered over a fairly wide area. Gathered around a solitary small tree are big sarsen stones at the point which was probably the burial chamber. Some now stand on edge. In a half circle from the rubble which originally composed the mound are groups of uprooted bushes and trees.

Mr. Thomas said to-day: "Mr. Grinsell and I are reporting the matter to the chief inspector of monuments at the Ministry of Works." The title of the barrow, he said, was something of a misnomer. It was, in fact, one of the shortest of the barrows, of which there are several in the locality. He put its length at about 80ft., and it would, he thought, have been about 3 ft. to 4ft. high. It was scheduled as an ancient monument.

The Longhouse Cromlech, Pembrokeshire.

Mr. E. Owen Phillips, of the Cathedral Close, St. David's, writes thus to the Times:- I have just returned from visiting the celebrated Longhouse cromlech, which, I am glad to say, remains in its integrity, untouched by the rude had of the destroyer, and I am thankful to believe likely to remain so.

Mr. Griffiths, the owner of the farm on which the Cromlech stands, accompanied me to the spot, and I have his authority for stating that he takes the greatest interet in this magnificent monument of prehistoric archaeology and in its preservation. His father-in-law, a former tenant of the farm, spent much time and labour, in clearing away obstructing rubbish, in order to bring the cromlech into bolder relief and afford a better view of it all round - a great improvement, as it certainly presents a more grand and striking appeance at present than it did when I saw it some years since.

On my asking Mr. Griffiths for an explanation of the statement which appeared in a letter to The Times of September 6, that a labourer who was engaged in grubbing up stones near the monument to fill in a gap in a fence, said that he, the owner, "threatened to overthrow and demolish the monument altogether in order to construct a new bank across an adjacent field!" Mr Griffiths replied that "there was not a word of truth in it, nor any foundation for the statement, and that very probably the man was hoaxing the stranger."

Mr. Griffiths complains and feels aggrieved that, assuming the statement to have been made, Mr. Greville Chester did not call on him to ascertain the truth or otherwise of it; the more so as Mr. Chester must have passed within a few yards of his house on returning from the cromlech. The disturbance caused by the stones, which are now to be seen filling up a gap in a fence, does not in the slightest degree interfere with the stability of the cromlech, which the public will be interested to know the present landlord is as anxious to preserve as carefully as it has been in the past.

At the same time, I agree with Mr. Greville Chester that it was an oversight, at least, on the part of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners "not to insert a proviso in the deed of sale for the preservation of so important a monument of prehistoric archaeology;" since the farm might have found a purchaser in one whose conservative interest in this grand old monument was less than that of the present owner.

At a distance of somewhat more than a mile from Clun, in a field to the right, near the hamlet of Whitcott Keysett, stands one of those extraordinary stones which are usually classed under the title of Druldical monuments. It is a flat, broad stone, of very irregular shape, placed upright in the ground, in which it is evidently inserted to a considerable depth. Above ground it measures eight feet three inches in height by seven feet broad.

The dolmen at PERTHI DUON, in the parish of Llanidan, three-quarters of a mile S.W. by S. of the (New) Church, is first mentioned by Rowlands. He says: "There is a shapely cromlech on the lands of Blochty... now thrown down and lying flat on its supporters". This was in 1723. From a sketch which he gives we see that it was called "Maen Llwyd".

[..] In the Arch. Camb. of 1846 a correspondent writes of this monument: "About twenty years ago (1826) brass or copper chisels were found in digging under it, when it fell down... there are still three uprights under it".