three feet in depth and the same in its longest dimension. This cist had been loosely covered with large flat stones over which the mound had been raised. Above this, which was the

primary interment of the barrow, another interment, with the body lying in the usual contracted position on its left side, had

been made. (Of this barrow an excellent account is given in "Crania Britannica.")

Another excellent example of this very unusual mode of interment was discovered by some tufa-getters, and examined by Mr. Bateman, in Monsal Dale, and is shown on the preceding engraving, which exhibits a section of the rock, etc.; and shows the position of the skeleton, and the manner in which the cavity containing the body had been filled up with the river sand. The body in this case as in the last, had been placed in the cavity in a sitting position, and must have been so placed from an opening in front. The cavity was ten or twelve feet above the bed of the river Wye, and above it were some five feet in thickness of solid tufa rock, while, from the face of the rock, the cavity was about twelve feet. The body may therefore be said to have been entombed in the middle of the solid rock. The roof of the cavity when found was beautifully covered with stalactites. The skeleton was that of a young person, and near it was found a flint and some other matters. The cavity was filled to part way up the skull with sand.

When the interment has been by CREMATION, the remains of the burnt bones, etc., have been collected together and placed either in a small heap, or in a cinerary urn, which is sometimes found in an upright position, its mouth covered with a flat stone, and at others inverted over a flat stone or on the natural surface of the rock. This position, with the mouth downwards, is, perhaps, the most usual of the two. The place where the burning of the body has taken place is generally tolerably close to the spot on which the urn rests, or on which the heap of burnt bones has been piled up. Wherever the burning has taken place there is evidence of an immense amount of heat being used; the soil, for some distance below the surface being in many places burned to a redness almost like brick. Remains of charcoal, the refuse of the funeral pyre, are very abundant, and in some instances I have found the lead ore, which occurs in veins in the limestone formation so completely smelted with the heat that it has run into the crevices among the soil and loose stones, and looks, when dug out, precisely like straggling roots of trees.

Is it too much to suppose that the discovery of lead may be traced to the funeral pyre of our early forefathers? I think it not improbable that, finding the liquid metal ran from the fire as the ore which lay about became accidentally smelted, would give the people their first insight into the art of making lead-an art which we know was practised early in Derbyshire and other districts of this kingdom.*

* Lead mines there are in Derbyshire worked at the present day which were worked, at all events, in the Romano-British period. Roman coins, fibula, and other remains are occasionally found in them.

To resume. The positions I have spoken of in which the cinerary urns and heaps of burnt bones have been usually found, will be best understood by the accompanying engravings. The first represents a section of a barrow in which, at

a

a, is shown a sepulchral urn in an upright position, capped with a flat stone; and at b a heap of burnt bones piled up in the usual fashion, and first covered with earth and then with the loose stones of which the whole barrow was composed.

The next engraving again, shows, within a cist, in a barrow on Baslow Moor called tr Hob Hurst's House," two heaps of bones, the one simply collected together in a small heap, and the other guarded with a row of small sandstone "boulders," all of which had been subjected to fire.

The next illustration gives a section of

the Flax Dale barrow at Middleton by Youlgreave, which shows the inverted position of the sepulchral urn. This barrow was formed on a plan commonly adopted by the ancient Britons, and will therefore serve as an example of mode of construction as well of the inverted position of the urn. A circle of large rough stones was laid on the surface of the ground, marking the extent of the proposed mound. Within this, the inter

ments, whether in an urn or not, were placed, and the mound was then raised of stones to the required height, and afterwards covered to some thickness with earth, and thus the outer

circle of the barrow was considerably extended, as will be seen by the engraving.

Another excellent example of the inverted position of the sepulchral urns is here given, from one of the cists in RollyLow, near Wardlow. I have chosen it because when found by Mr. Bateman, it had received a considerable fracture on one side, and thus showed the burnt bones which it contained, through the aperture.* The urn was about sixteen inches in height, and twelve inches

in diameter, and was ornamented in the usual manner with indentations produced by a twisted thong. It was inverted over a deposit of calcined human bones, among which was a large red deer's horn, also calcined. The urn was so fragile, as to be broken to pieces on removal.

It is not unusual in the Derbyshire barrows for

the interments to be made

in stone cists, and these of course, vary both in size and in form, according to the nature of the spot chosen, and to the requirements of each particular case. The cists are usually formed of rough slabs of limestone or grit-stone, set up edgeways on the surface of the ground, so as to form a sort of irregular-square, rhomboidal, or other shaped compartment. In this the interment, whether of the body itself or of the urn containing the calcined bones, has been made, and then the cist has been covered with one or more flat stones, over which the cairn of stones has been raised. Some barrows contain several such cists, in each of which a single, or in some instances a double, interment has been made. An excellent example of this is afforded by the accompanying engraving, which shows the ground plan of a barrow opened by myself, and my friend Mr. Lucas,† on Hitter Hill. The shaded portions of the plan,

Although I am describing the position in which the urns have been placed, it must not for a moment be supposed that they are often found in a perfect state, or in the position in which they have originally been placed. On the contrary, the urns are usually very much crushed, and not unfrequently from pressure of the superincumbent mass of stones and earth, are found on their sides, and crushed

flat.

For an illustrated account of this barrow see "The Reliquary, Quarterly Archæological Journal and Review," vol iii. p. 159, et. seq., from which these engravings are borrowed; and "Crania Britannica."

show the extent of the openings we made in the barrow, and A, B, C, and D, show the stone cists containing interments of which

I have been speaking. Two of these cists (B and C) are also shown on the annexed vignette. With the skeleton in cist B, here shown, a beau

L.JEWITY

del

tiful and highly ornamental "food vessel" was found, to which I shall have. occasion later on to refer. Occasionally, when the natural surface of the ground was not sufficiently even or solid for the interment to be as conveniently made as might be

wished, a flooring of rough slabs of stone was laid for the body

to rest upon.

Chambered tumuli of somewhat similar construction to the one at New Grange, in Ireland, exist in Derbyshire, and are of the most interesting character. The principal of these megalithic structures remaining, are the one at Minning-Low, and the one known as the "Five Wells," near Taddington.