Archaic England : $b an essay in deciphering prehistory from megalithic monuments, earthworks, customs, coins, place-names, and faerie superstitionsBayley, Harold
History
Archaic England : $b an essay in deciphering prehistory from megalithic monuments, earthworks, customs, coins, place-names, and faerie superstitions
Bayley, Harold
Archaeology; England -- Antiquities
From the typical ground plan of two brochs here given it will be seen
that their form was that of a wheel, and it is possible that the flanged
spokes of these essential _abris_ were based upon the svastika notion of
a rolling, running trinacria such as that of Hyperea and of the Isle of
Man. Brochs are in some directions known as _peels_, and at Peel Castle,
in the Isle of Man, legend points to a grave 30 yards long as being that
of Eubonia's first king: a curious tradition, says Squire, credits him
with three legs, and it is these limbs arranged like the spokes of a
wheel that appear on the arms of the Island.[364]
In connection with the giant's grave at Peel may be connoted the legend
in Rome that St. Paul was there beheaded "at the Three Fountains". The
exact spot is there shown where the milk spouted from his apostolic
arteries, and where moreover his head, after it had done preaching,
took three jumps to the honour of the Holy Trinity, and at each spot on
which it jumped there instantly sprang up a spring of living water which
retains to this day a plain and distinct taste of milk.[365] This story
of three jumps is paralleled in Leicester by a legend of Giant Bell who
took three mighty leaps and is said to be buried at Belgrave:[366] Bell
is the same word as Paul and Peel.
[Illustration: FIG. 185.--Iberian. From Akerman.]
[Illustration: FIG. 186.--From _An Essay on Ancient Coins, Medals, and
Gems_ (Walsh, R.).]
The Lord of the Isle of Man is said to have swept swift as the spring
wind over land and sea upon a horse named Splendid Mane: the Mahommedans
tell of a milk-white steed named _Al Borak_, each of whose strides were
equal to the furthest range of human vision: in Chaucer's time English
carmen addressed their steeds as _brok_, and in Arabic _el boraka_
means _the blessing_. _Broch_ is the same word as _brooch_, and upon
ancient brooches a _brok_, as in Fig. 187, was sometimes represented:
the magnificent ancestral brooches of the Highland families will be
found on investigation frequently to be replete with ancient symbolism,
the centre jewel representing the All-seeing Eye. _Broch_ or _broca_
means a pin or spike, and _prick_ means dot or speck: _prick_, like
_brok_, also meant horse, and every one is familiar with the gallant
knight who "pricks," _i.e._, rides on horseback o'er the plain. _Prick_
and _brok_ thus obviously stand in the same relation to each other as
Chil_peric_ and Al_beric_.
[Illustration: FIG. 187.--From the British Museum's _Guide to the
Antiquities of the Early Iron Age_.]
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