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
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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
The chambered tumulus, called the “Five Wells,” near Taddington, of
which an engraving is here given (fig. 64), has been a mound of large
size, and the chambers and passages, or gallery, have been extensive.
A plan of this tumulus is given in fig. 65. The “Five Wells” tumulus
consists of two vaults or chambers, situated near the centre of a
cairn (which is about thirty yards in diameter), each approached by
a separate gallery or avenue, formed by large limestones standing
edgeways, extending through the tumulus, respectively in a south-east
and north-west direction. These chambers are marked B and G on the
plan, G being the cist engraved on fig. 64. E E E are stones supposed
to be the capstones thrown down. Another five-chambered tumulus in the
same county is called Ringham-Low, which has many interesting remains.
Another extremely important mound of this description is the one at
Uley, in Gloucestershire, of which an able account has been written by
Dr. Thurnham.[24] The mound is about 120 feet in length, 85 feet in
its greatest breadth, and about 10 feet in height. It is higher and
broader at its east end than elsewhere. The entrance at the east end
is a trilithon, formed by a large flat stone upwards of eight feet in
length, and four and a half in depth, and supported by two upright
stones which face each other, so as to leave a space of about two and
a half feet between the lower edge of the large stone and the natural
ground. Entering this, a gallery appears, running from east to west,
about twenty-two feet in length, four and a half in average width,
and five in height; the sides formed of large slabs of stone, set
edgeways, the spaces between being filled in with smaller stones. The
roof is formed, as usual, of flat slabs, laid across and resting on
the side-slabs. There are two smaller chambers on one side, and there
is evidence of two others having existed on the other side. Several
skeletons were found in this fine tumulus when it was opened, many
years ago.
It will have been noticed that circles of stones surrounding
grave-mounds have frequently been named in this and the preceding
chapter. It will, therefore, be well to devote a few lines to these
interesting remains.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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