[313] Catalogue of Antiquities, &c., Soc. Antiquar. Lond. 1847, by Albert Way, Esq. p. 16. Mr. Way adds in a note, "The description of the shield found in Ayrshire, as given in the minutes, corresponds with the buckler now in the Society's possession in every particular, with the exception of the diameter, which is stated to have been about 15¼ inches, possibly an error of transcript."
[314] Portes, Coloniæ, &c., App. pp. 17, 18.
[315] Vol. iii. p. 48.
[316] Vol. ii. p. 186.
[317] No. 13, Plate X. fig. 4.
[318] Sinclair's Statist. Acco. vol. xvi. p. 206.
CHAPTER V.
DOMESTIC AND SEPULCHRAL VESSELS.
Along with the weapons and implements of this period there have also been found at various times drinking cups, culinary vessels, horns, and other similar relics calculated to throw some additional light on the manners and domestic habits of the people by whom they were wrought and used. There have not indeed been discovered, or at least preserved, among the sepulchral deposits or the chance disclosures of the Scottish bogs and alluvial strata, anything to be compared with the celebrated Danish golden horns, or the beautiful silver cups of a later era, such as that taken from the grave of Queen Thyre Danebod, at Jellinge in Denmark. There are not wanting, however, undefined but not the less certain traces of the like costly memorials of primitive native art, discovered only to be destroyed. On the lands of Garthland, Wigtownshire, two vessels made of gold, and described as lachrymatories, were discovered in 1783.[319] At the village of Lower Largo, Fifeshire, a treasure was found in a sepulchral deposit, sufficient it is believed to enrich the original finder. The only relics which escaped destruction are two armillæ of pure gold, and remarkable for their elegance and skilful workmanship.[320] In 1839 a tenant engaged in levelling and improving a field on the estate of Craigengelt, near Stirling, opened a large circular cairn, which bore the popular name of "The Ghost's Knowe." It measured exactly 300 feet in circumference, and nearly fifty feet in height, and around its base twelve large stones were disposed at regular intervals. Underneath this cairn a large cromlech or stone chamber was found, the upright stones of which were about five feet high, and within it lay a skeleton, imbedded in matter which emitted a strong resinous odour, but the bones rapidly crumbled to dust on exposure to the air. The gentleman on whose estate this remarkable cairn stood,[321] and to whom I am chiefly indebted for its description, had given strict orders to send for him if a cist or coffin was discovered; but while operations were delayed in expectation of his arrival, one of the labourers plundered the hoard and fled. Many valuable articles are reported to have been found; among which was a golden horn or cup, weighing fourteen ounces, and ornamented with chased or embossed figures. This interesting relic was purchased from one of the labourers by a gentleman in Stirling, and is believed to be still in existence, though I have failed, after repeated applications, in obtaining access to it. The exact nature or value of the whole contents of this cairn is not likely ever to be ascertained. The only articles secured by the proprietor, and now in his possession, are a highly polished stone axe or hammer, eight inches long, rounded at one end, and tapering at the other; a knife or dagger of the same material, eighteen inches long, which was broken by one of the stones falling on it when opening the cist; and a small gold finger ring, chased and apparently originally jewelled, though the settings have fallen out. Several other large cairns still remain unexplored at Craigengelt, some of them of much larger dimensions than the one which yielded such interesting results. English tumuli and primitive deposits have occasionally furnished still more valuable gold relics; such as the native gold corslet found in Wales, now in the British Museum.[322] Golden vessels have also been found under similar circumstances, as in a cairn near the Cheese Wring, in Linkenhorne parish, Cornwall, which was accidentally broken into in 1818, and a gold cup found lying beside the sepulchral remains. It was opened by some miners, who had selected the mound as an appropriate site on which to erect an engine-house. Within the cairn was a large cromlech, and underneath this lay a flat stone measuring nine feet long by about four broad, which covered the sepulchral deposit. In this chamber a thin slab, placed in a shelving direction against one of the sides, protected its valuable contents from injury. The remains of a skeleton lay extended on the floor of the cist, and about the position of the breast stood an earthen vessel, within which was placed the gold cup. It is bell-shaped and rounded below, like the Danish gold cups found under similar circumstances and engraved in the "Guide to Northern Archæology." The earthen vessel was unfortunately broken by the fall of the stone that covered it, but its fragments exhibited the usual incised ornamentation of the early British pottery. A bronze spear was likewise found with these remarkable relics. The gold cup was claimed for the Crown as Lord of the Duchy of Cornwall, and it is believed to be still at Windsor Castle.[323] It would find a more appropriate place in the long desiderated British department of the British Museum.