[248]To assist the archæologist, I have marked on the map the sites of all the barrows of which I am aware. In the British Museum is a small urn, found in a barrow at Broughton, on the borders of Hampshire, about twelve miles north of the Forest, measuring three inches in height, and, though so much less, somewhat resembling, with its two small ears, as also in the general character and texture of its ware, those found in the Bratley barrow. The Rev. J. Compton also informs me that some years ago a plain urn was discovered in a barrow on his father’s property at Minestead, in the Forest. I hear, too, that other urns have been found in barrows near Burley on the west, and near Butt’s Ash Lane on the east side of the Forest, but they have long ago been lost or destroyed, and I am unable to learn even their general form. I trust, therefore, permission will not be granted to open the mounds which are unexplored, except to those who can produce some credentials that they are fitted for the task, and are doing it from no idle curiosity, but legitimate motives. Too much harm has been already done, and too many barrows have been already rifled, without any record being made of their contents. Nearly all that we know of Kelt or Old-English we learn from their deaths. Their history is buried in their graves. [249]In Mr. Birch’s _Ancient Pottery_, vol. ii. pp. 382, 383, will be found a list of the notices of the various discoveries of Keltic urns, scattered through the different Archæological Journals and Collections, which will save the student much time and labour. A most valuable paper on the subject, by Kemble, was published in the _Archæological Journal_ vol. xii. number 48, p. 309. [250]_Archæologia_, vol. xxxv. pp. 91-93. [251]See, too, Mr. Carrington’s “Account of a Romano-British Settlement near Wetton, Staffordshire,” in Bateman’s _Ten Years’ Diggings_, pp. 194-200. I have never found any stone floors, but this may be accounted for by the difficulty of procuring paving-stones in the district. The best guide which I know for discovering any ancient settlements is the presence of nettles and chickweed, which, like the American “Jersey-weed,” always accompany the footsteps of man. These plants are very conspicuous in the lower parts of Sloden, as also at the Crockle and Island Thorn potteries.