Itinerarium curiosum (centuria II) : $b or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great Britain. To which is added, the Itinerary of Richard of Cirencester, monk of Westminster. With an account of that author and his workStukeley, William
History
Itinerarium curiosum (centuria II) : $b or, an account of the antiquities, and remarkable curiosities in nature or art, observed in travels through Great Britain. To which is added, the Itinerary of Richard of Cirencester, monk of Westminster. With an account of that author and his work
Stukeley, William
Great Britain -- Antiquities -- Early works to 1800; Great Britain -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
like lord Winchelsea’s Sark antiquities. A figure of Pan in the
vestry-wall of Aldborough: an intagliate cornelian was found there; an
eagle, a _signum militare_, a _cornucopia_ cut on it.
Rippon monastery was founded by Wilfrid, the Saxon bishop, about anno
Dom. 670, the same who founded St. Leonard’s priory by Stamford; and
likewise that at Hexam, which afterwards became a bishoprick. Wilfrid
died at Oundle, and was buried at Rippon.
[Sidenote: TAB. XC.]
The stones, as much famed by the name of the Devil’s Arrows, as
misrepresented by writers, stand in some fields, half a mile west
of the Roman road south of Boroughbridge. Some think them Roman,
though they regard not any Roman work hereabouts: some say they are
factitious, though plain stone as possible. They are stones of very
large dimensions, and have been hewn pretty square, much as those at
Stonehenge; but silly people have knocked off the edges: their height
is very great: they were very taper and well-shaped, and much of an
obelisk form; but the tops are decayed, and long furrows worn down
on all sides along the tenderest part of the grain of the stone. I
remarked, that they all lean somewhat southward. The stone is entirely
composed of small white crystals, unperishable by weather: they are
certainly natural, and brought about ten miles off, from the west,
where more such lie above ground in great plenty. Three now stand; one
was taken away, as all report, to make a bridge over the bec a little
eastward. The cross near the church is of the same stone. These stones
stood 200 foot asunder, pretty near in a line north and south: the
first stone westward is not so high as the other, but broader much,
and stands square, or perpendicular to the line of direction; it is 8½
foot broad, 4½ thick, 23 foot about: the second in the next pasture is
square each side, but not precisely; it is 5 foot broad, 4 foot thick,
18 foot square: the next is twice as far distant, and beyond the road,
of a figure much like the former, but rather higher, as that is higher
than the first; this is 5 foot by 4: the two last are very beautiful
obelisks, and their height about 25 foot, as I guess. The ground this
fine monument stands on is high, and declines every way a little from
it: the great river, the brook, and some low ground to the south, hem
it in as it were. Mr. Gale, and the beforementioned clergyman, some
time since dug under one to the foundation, and found that it was about
five foot under ground, and fastened into its seat by stones laid in
clay, quite around it, as a wall: they put four half-pence, in a leaden
box underneath, of queen _Anne_, _Vigo_, &c. and filled it up again.
I could not commend them for it, as it could only tend to mislead the
curious of future times.
IMP. CÆS. DOMITIANO. AVG. COS. VII.
Two of these found on lead; BRIG. on the side. AVG. 833, the year of
Jul. Agricola coming hither.
EBORACVM. +York.+
[Sidenote: TAB. XCVIII.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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