3. We observe the effect of the weather upon these works. This we are treating of, stands in a corner of the hedge of the inclosure, near the northern summit of the hill, “a great monument of antiquity,” says the excellent Mr. Camden, “a number of vastly great stones plac’d in a circular figure. They are of unequal height and shape, very much ragged, impair’d and decay’d by time.” Indeed as from hence we must form some judgment of their age, we may pronounce them not inferior to any in that respect; corroded like worm-eaten wood, by the harsh jaws of time, and that much more than Stonehenge, which is no mean argument of its being the work of the Druids.
4. We are led to this conclusion from the name. Mr. Camden calls them Rolle-rich stones. Dr. Holland in his note says, in a book in the Exchequer (perhaps he means doomsday book) the town adjacent, (whence its name) is Rollendrich, if it was wrote exactly, I suppose it would be Rholdrwyg, which means the Druids’ wheel or circle. Rhwyll likewise in the British, is cancelli, for these stones are set pretty near together, so as almost to become a continued wall, or cancellus. Further, the word Roilig in the old irish language, signifies a church; then it imports the Druids’ church, chancel, or temple, in the first acceptation of the word. We may call this place the Gilgal of Britain, to speak in the oriental manner, a word equivalent to the Celtic Rhol, a wheel or circle, which gave name to that famous camp or fortress where the host of Israel first pitch’d their tents in the land of Canaan; after they pass’d the river Jordan in a miraculous manner, dry-shod, as ’tis described in the sublimest manner, and equal to the dignity of the subject, in Joshua iv. There also we read, that Joshua caused twelve men, a man out of each tribe, to pitch twelve stones in the channel of the river Jordan, where the ark stood whilst the people pass’d over, when the stream was cut off; they were set there for a memorial. And they likewise took up twelve stones out of the bed of the river, and Joshua pitch’d them in Gilgal, in a circular form, which gave name to the place, meaning a rhowl or wheel. And to this he alludes in the next chapter, in that passage, which otherwise is difficult to be understood; for here Joshua circumcised the people, that rite having been omitted in the young race during their peregrination in the wilderness: “And the LORD said unto Joshua, this day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you; wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.”
TAB. VI.
P. 10.
View of the Kistvaen at Rowldrich from the East.
Stukeley del.
A. the Druid temple at a distance.
Commentators not apprehending this, run into many odd solutions, as not seeing a reason between name and thing. Some therefore suppose it so call’d, because from hence Joshua conquer’d all his enemies round about, and the like. But the truth is, Joshua set the stones in a circular form, like the ancient temples; but placed no altar there, because they had no need to use it as a temple, where the tabernacle was present, therefore call’d it simply the wheel. So I doubt not but the altar which Moses built under mount Sinai, with twelve pillars, was a circular work, as our Druid temples, Exod. xxiv. 4. The like we ought to think of the altar which Moses built, and called Jehovah Nissi, which the heathen perverted into Jupiter Nyseus, or Dionysus, Exod. xvii. 15. The like must be affirm’d of all the patriarchal altars of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These works of ours prove it, which are but little later in time, and made in imitation of theirs; and without a pun, or false logic, these matters may be said to prove each other in a circle; where ’tis absurd to demand any positive proof thro’ extreme distance of times and places. I apprehend nothing further ought to be expected from us than to lay together circumstantial evidence, a concurrence of numerous and strong verisimilitudes; as is now the case with us concerning Rowldrich.
5. We very justly infer this is a temple of the Druids, from the measure it is built upon. In a letter from Mr. Roger Gale to me, dated from Worcester, Aug. 19, 1719, having been to visit this antiquity at my request, he tells me, the diameter of the circle is 35 yards. So the bishop of London writes, the distance at Stonehenge from the entrance of the area to the temple itself is 35 yards; so the diameter of Stonehenge is 35 yards. We suppose this is not measur’d with a mathematical exactness; but when we look into the comparative scale of English feet and cubits, we discern 60 cubits of the Druids is the measure sought for. The diameter of the outer circle of Stonehenge, and this circle at Rowldrich, are exactly equal.
I have repeated the table of the Druid cubits collated with our English feet, which will be of service to us throughout this work, [plate II.]