The vale of Lyvennet : $b its picturesque peeps and legendary loreBland, John Salkeld
History
The vale of Lyvennet : $b its picturesque peeps and legendary lore
Bland, John Salkeld
Cumbria (England) -- Description and travel
On Harberwain Rigg is a remarkable mound occupying a very elevated
position; its diameter is fourteen yards, and surrounded by eighteen
large boulders. It was carelessly opened a few years ago, and in the
south-west side was found a human skeleton of gigantic proportions;
but whether he had been in a cist or how laid was not noticed. Along
with the bones were found portions of the horns of the red deer. The
mound is called Iren Hill, doubtless a corruption. Half way between it
and the stone circle was found in a cleft of the rock a bronze dagger
blade, thirteen inches in length and four inches broad at the hilt.
It is of very good workmanship. Whether it is coeval with the mound
is doubtful; but it is a good specimen of the weapon which supplanted
those of the stone age, and in the hand of the Briton opposed the
advance of the Roman legions. Another relic of the same age is a small
bronze celt three inches in length, which was ploughed up in a field
near Blinbeck, and now in possession of Mr. Markham of Morland. Iren
Hill is the only mound now left in the neighbourhood having a circle of
stones round.
Orton Scar, an extensive tract of high ground, is a dreary wilderness
of rocks, extending for many miles, presenting little more than the
bare limestone cut up in its original formation by deep chasms into
blocks of various sizes. These again are carved and worn into most
fantastic shapes by the wearing power of winds and rains. The only form
of vegetable life flourishing in the crevices are of the fern species,
some of which are peculiarly rare in other localities. Here and there
are patches of earth affording a scanty herbage of bent and moss for
the few hardy mountain sheep. These rocks break off on the south-east
side forming bold escarpments overlooking the vale of Orton, while on
the other side they slope away in the opposite direction for a mile
or more, variously broken up into rocky valleys and ravines unadorned
by either bush or brake. The scenery is, of course, in the immediate
neighbourhood, of a wild and dreary character; but its high situation
affords a wide panoramic view of the surrounding country, bounded all
round by the more or less distant mountains, even to the blue line of
the Cheviots. Of archæologic interest there are a few mounds located in
different parts on the high elevations; but the observing eye cannot
but note that it has been more a place of refuge and safety in life to
the ancient inhabitants than a resting place after death; and in such
localities would we expect to find the fastnesses of the Celtic races
to which they would fly when the Roman armies made their appearance
through the gorge at Borough Bridge, and also the people of after ages
seeking safety from the marauding Scots or Danes up to the last Border
foray. Associated with the last-named times is the highest point: from
which often has blazed the beacon fire signalled from other heights,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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