[26] This barrow has been admirably described in that magnificent work, “Crania Britannica,”—a work which every ethnologist and antiquary ought to possess, and which contains far more information than any other book extant. The following extract from the work explains the section:—
“Above this cist a cairn of fragments of sandstone had been raised
most likely before interments by cremation were practised on the spot. The dark horizontal line of our woodcut indicates the situation of a stratum of burnt earth traversing the barrow at this height. Funereal rites, by incineration, had evidently been celebrated on this surface; which was scattered over with a thin layer of wood-charcoal. In the centre of the barrow, and resting upon this carbonaceous deposit, stood a fine urn of dark British pottery, 11 inches high, and 9 at its greatest diameter at the top; not in the more commonly inverted, but in an upright position. It is ornamented in the usual style of lineal impressions, most probably made by a twisted thong of untanned leather, with rows of lines, alternately upright and horizontal, around the upper division; and in the middle the lines are varied into the zigzag, having distinct crosses and other impressions in the intervals. It contained calcined bones in a clean state, and mingled with them a portion of the jaw of some animal; bones of the water-vole (Arvicola amphibius, Desmar.), so common in the Derbyshire barrows; a bone pin, 4 inches in length, and finely pointed; and a flint arrow-head; all calcined. The urn was closed by a large flat stone, the two ends of which rested upon side walls, so as to protect the deposit, and secure it from superincumbent pressure. Did this urn contain the inconsiderable yet sacred remains of one whose devotion in life the distinguished dead below had oft experienced—one who held life itself subordinate to his fate? The fearful conjecture seems not by any means improbable.
“Interred in the soil above this portion of the barrow, and lying amongst loose stones, the remains of four other skeletons occurred, placed in the primitive flexed position. One of these had apparently been disturbed at no long period subsequent to interment, and the bones laid in order before they had become decayed—a practice adopted by some uncivilized people in more modern times.
“This barrow of the British period presents unquestionable evidences of very primeval times, and contained the relics of a true aboriginal inhabitant of these islands, piously laid in his last resting-place with great care, but in all rude simplicity. It is rich in instruction, and marked by precise phases of information. It shows almost certainly the contemporaneous adoption of inhumation and cremation—the latter, perhaps, yielding to the first a short precedency; or possibly, in this instance, a rite of the nature of a “Suttee,” and subordinate to the former.”
[27] Warne’s “Celtic Tumuli of Dorsetshire.”
[28] Celt, from Celtis, a chisel.
[29] This is one of the largest examples which have been found. It is in my own collection, having been most kindly presented to me by the Hon. and Rev. C. Willoughby.
[30] For a lengthened description and classification of the various forms of stone implements, the reader is referred to a new work, “The Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain,” by that able antiquary, Mr. John Evans, the author of the admirable volume on “Ancient British Coins,” by which his name is so well known.
[31] For a memoir, with portrait, of this remarkable character, and an account of his doings, see the Reliquary, vol, viii., p. 65, et seq.
[32] “Ten Years’ Diggings.”