Grave-mounds and Their Contents: A Manual of Archæology, as Exemplified in the Burials of the Celtic, the Romano-British, and the Anglo-Saxon PeriodsJewitt, Llewellynn Frederick William
History
Grave-mounds and Their Contents: A Manual of Archæology, as Exemplified in the Burials of the Celtic, the Romano-British, and the Anglo-Saxon Periods
Jewitt, Llewellynn Frederick William
Great Britain -- Antiquities; Megalithic monuments -- Great Britain; Mounds -- Great Britain
As there are some singular features connected with this barrow, a
detailed account of the mode of its construction becomes necessary.
This very peculiar barrow had been thought, time out of mind, to be
a “mine rake,” and attempts have from time to time been made by lead
miners to find a shaft, by removing certain portions of the mound--a
shaft had, in fact, been sunk very nearly in the centre of the barrow.
This rendered the operations of opening both difficult and laborious.
Long-Low is what is usually denominated a “twin barrow,” consisting
of two circular mounds, connected by a bank, which altogether are 220
yards long. A plan of this barrow, drawn to scale, is shown on the
accompanying engraving (fig. 23). The circular mound at the north-east
end is thirty yards across and seven feet high in the centre, that
at the south-west end not so large; the connecting bank at its base
is fifteen yards wide, and where entire about six feet in height,
with regular sloping sides where not mutilated. “The barrow runs in
a straight line along the highest part of the land, a strong wall,
separating the fields, is built over it lengthways, the stone for
which, like other field walls in the vicinity, appears to have been
procured from the bank of the tumulus, which, with the exception of
some parts of the surface, is formed of large flat stones, which have
evidently been procured in the immediate neighbourhood, where the
surface of the land is lowered to a considerable extent. This is the
only instance (as far as my experience goes) of a barrow being formed
of stones got by quarrying, they being generally composed of such
stones as are found on the surface of uncultivated land, which, owing
to exposure to the atmosphere, have their angular points rounded.
The strata in the neighbourhood of this barrow are but slightly
consolidated, and are separated from each other by a thin seam of
earthy matter, and abound with vertical cracks, so that it would not be
a difficult task to dig out stones with sharpened stakes--the principal
instruments, I presume, for such purposes in primitive times.”
The internal construction of this cairn is singular. By making holes
in various places along the bank, was found a low wall in the centre,
built with large stones, which appears to be carried the whole length
of the bank. Against this, large flat stones, with their tops reclining
against the wall, are placed, thus leaving many vacancies, and showing
an economical way of raising the mound at less expenditure both of
labour and materials. The portions of this which have been laid bare
are, with remains of interments, shown on the plan (fig. 23) at C, D,
E, and F.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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