Part 2

The most important monuments left by the ancient Britons who inhabited this country previous to the Roman invasion are the several remains of villages. Cæsar, in describing what the Britons call a town, says:--"It is a tract of woody country surrounded by a vallum and a ditch for the security of themselves and cattle against the incursions of their enemies." Strabo confirms this, and says further:--"That within the inclosures formed of felled trees they build houses for themselves and hovels for their cattle: these buildings are slight, and not designed for long duration." The vallum is expressed in Welsh by _caer_ or _dinas_, the same with the Gaelic _dun_. Diodorus Siculus and Strabo tell us that the houses of the Gauls were wretched cottages, being constructed with poles and wattled work in the form of a circle with lofty tapering or pointed roof, and Cæsar also says that the houses of the Britons were similar. These it is true were of south Britain, but it is reasonable to infer that with little alteration those of the northern inhabitants would be similar. Some authors suppose the present Welsh pigsty to represent the form of the ancient British house. This is a circular building with a conical roof, and having a large circular enclosure attached.

In the district under consideration there are remains of earthworks which may be considered of this character. They generally consist of ridges of earth and stones varying in height from one to three feet, forming irregular squares, circles, passages, &c., covering a greater or less area of ground. In five of these are to be found small circular enclosures generally six yards in diameter, with a gap or opening on one side; each of the other larger enclosures have also an entrance and in some places a sort of street or passage communicates. The most extensive and distinct are the remains of Long Dale, which are skirted by the Roman road: in the middle part of these are seven or eight of the small circles. Another though much smaller is on Wickerslack Moor: this has five small circles, with two or three irregular squares and a large circle; a large area is also enclosed on the high side which is not cut up by any earthworks. In two of the small circles was found a rude pavement formed of large slabs of sandstone rudely laid down and fit together with smaller boulders of granite, &c., but no limestone; these stones bear evident marks of having been exposed to fire. The ground chosen for these enclosures without exception are upon the hard limestone rock, covered by a very thin layer of earth; this with the loose rock has been bared off and used to form the earthworks. They are also generally at a considerable distance from water.

Yow Locks, another of these villages, is on the open moor called Slack Randy; here only one or two small circles can be traced; but the ridges are very marked, many of them being formed of large boulders rolled together. These are very plentiful near; there are two peculiar oval enclosures formed solely by large boulders, the longer diameter of each being nine yards. Another village may be seen in a field near Gilts; though very irregular, yet it affords traces of eight or ten of the small circles.

How Arcles, a little above Wood Foot affords a large circle, but only one or two of the small ones; these may have been obliterated by the plough. Bellmouth, probably a corruption of Bermont, is another between Reagill and Sleagill; part of this is quarried away, and about twenty years ago a human skeleton was found behind one of the outer earthworks. Another on Wickerslack Moor has only one small circle attached to a larger one, and enclosed by a large irregular square. The new road cuts through it, and the plough will soon obliterate all trace of it, as it doubtless has done of many others in the now cultivated parts of the country. At Harberwain is another though in a great measure obliterated, yet still exhibits a few squares, &c.; connected with it is a rampart of earth; this seems to have been for some extraordinary defence.

Other entrenchments are still to be found more or less obliterated by the advance of agriculture; some of a strategic character which will be afterwards noticed, and others again that will forever puzzle enquiry for what purpose they were raised and by what people.

To the most ancient inhabitants many authors ascribe the origin of the various stone circles to be found in different parts of the country. There are two remarkable ones in this district, one in Gunnerskeld bottom, and another near Odindale Head. The former is situated on a level area elevated a little above the bed of the stream. It is a circle of large granite boulders eighteen in number, some of which are still standing upright seven feet high, while many have fallen one way or the other. The circle is thirty-eight yards in diameter; and within it is another formed by thirty-one stones much smaller in size and eighteen yards in diameter; within this has been apparently a mound, most of which is removed for the sake of the stones and the earth has been thrown into a heap outside; there are still some large stones left and three in the centre are situated as though they may have formed part of a cromlech. There is no record of anything having been found, and the word Gunnerskeld is of too modern a character to throw any light on the matter.

The one near Odindale Head is similar, at first sight inspires a truly Ossianic feeling. It is situated on a hill of "dark brown heath," it is formed of an outer circle of thirty stones not so large as those at Gunnerskeld, twenty-five yards in diameter, within which is another circle of twenty-one stones closely packed to each other seven yards in diameter; within this are a number of other stones irregularly laid, similar to Gunnerskeld. It was opened in presence of Rev. J. Simpson, but nothing was found excepting a small portion of black carbonaceous matter. A peculiar feature is that there is an upright stone placed outside the inner and within the outer circle on the south-east side. On the north side about seven yards distant is the remains of another circle, fourteen yards in diameter, having another within of four yards, but many of the stones have been removed.

Respecting the origin of these circles authors differ considerably, some considering them to be the temples of the Druids, within whose mystic bounds sacrificial rites were performed; while others attribute them to a later people, the Pagan Saxons, Angles or Danes.

Odindale, like Gunnerskeld, is a name significant of the latter people. Odin was the one great god of the Gothic nations, from whom they all claimed descent, and to whom, of course, their greatest honours were paid.

There are also other circles much smaller in size and each on elevated ground, one near Threaplands is formed of seven granite boulders, and is five yards in diameter; some of the stones are six feet in length. Another on Harbyrn Rigg is six yards in diameter and formed of eight stones and another outside. On Wicker Street is another formed by eleven stones five yards in diameter, and near to it is a small one of four stones, three yards in diameter. Another on Harkeld is formed by ten stones, and is six yards in diameter; in digging in this one, a few inches deep was found a stratum of charred bones. The one on Harbyrn Rigg has three stones in the centre, but no trace of ashes: some of the stones are six or seven feet long, and have all originally been placed upright. These we may also attribute to the ancient Britons, probably the monuments erected around the funeral pile of important personages whose names and fame they have failed to record, but yet, in the words of the poet, "have spoken to other years."

The Druids in their temples had generally a spring or stream of water near. This is the case with the one at Gunnerskeld, but not so with the other, unless we can associate Anna's Keld with it; which is, however, half a mile distant. This well is mentioned by Camden, who says that like Euripus of old it ebbs and flows with the tide.[3] However it may have been then, it is not the case now; but devoid of this interest its position is one of dreary grandeur, being situated in the midst of the dark brown heath. To what people we may attribute the saintly name of Anna is doubtful, but it has at some time been an important spot, from the fact that it is the source of Crook Syke, whose waters have run through the gigantic temple at Shap, now known as Carl Lofts; a temple like Avebury in the south dedicated to the dread worship of the serpent.[4] It is now almost destroyed, but it is considered to have been one of the most important monuments of antiquity in the north of England.

As Mr. Bland arouses our curiosity as to the origin of remains of this kind, it may interest readers to have a short account of the various opinions which have been expressed on the subject. These have been based mainly upon researches in Wiltshire, more particularly at Stonehenge and Avebury; and if these relics prove their founders to have possessed much knowledge and ingenuity, it can hardly have been more marvellous than that embodied in some of the theories formed about them.

The first scientific report on Stonehenge was made by Inigo Jones, at the wish of James I.; he thought it was a temple erected by the Romans, after the Tuscan order. Charleton, physician to Charles II., held that it was a monument of the Danish period. Aubrey, about the same time, attributed it to the Druids. Next came Stukeley's famous theory. Stukeley, a man of great learning, had read of the Druids, and had seen the circles; then he found a grotesque story in Pliny about an egg, miraculously produced from the saliva of serpents, and regarded as a charm by the Druids. So, he reasoned, the Druids made the circles for serpent worship; and, according to his argument, the complete temple consisted of a diagram of a snake, miles long, done in boulders, the circles being the reptile's coils! To demonstrate this, Stukeley made a plan of the Avebury remains. The result was not very convincing; essential parts of the creature's anatomy were wanting; and a snake is nothing if not continuous. But he sketched in these missing parts out of his own head, and the thing was done. Somewhat similar results were got from a hurried survey of Shap, about 1725. Such is the groundwork of the popular belief in "Druids' Circles," and yet, at the time, it was received almost as a revelation. John Wood, of Bath, about 1747, introduced the idea that the numbers of the stones corresponded to certain astronomical cycles or periods of time. Rev. Edward Duke, writing in 1846, saw in the Wiltshire remains a vast plan of the solar system as known to the ancients; the small circles at Avebury were the sun and moon at the summer solstice; the avenue of stones on either side was the northern portion of the ecliptic; Silbury Hill, a mile south, the Earth. Four miles north of Silbury, Winterbourne Basset circle stood for the planet Venus; south of it were Mercury; Mars; Jupiter, represented by Casterly Camp, nine miles from Silbury; and Saturn by Stonehenge, sixteen miles off. The vastness of the scheme will be appreciated by saying that an equivalent of this in Westmorland would place Saturn at Tebay, Jupiter at Shap, and the Earth at Eamont Bridge; or, following the railway, the viaduct crossing the Eamont. Mr. Duke notices that all the points are in almost exact line due north and south; and that Stonehenge points directly towards the sunrise at the summer solstice. About twenty years later, a good deal was made of practically the same fact, that from the so-called Altar Stone within Stonehenge, the sun on Midsummer Day appears to rise immediately over a distant stone called the Friar's Heel; hence it is argued that Stonehenge was an observatory. This is the modern popular theory, possibly because of its simplicity. Fergusson, about 1870, published a most interesting argument that these circles were set up after the Romans left; his conclusion is not generally accepted, though his views are treated with respect. Those who think that archæology must be dull, should read his racy satire at the expense of poor Stukeley. One of his suggestions is that Long Meg, or perhaps the Grey Yauds circle, may be a memorial of King Arthur's battle in the Caledonian Forest. The best opinion is that of Mr. W. C. Lukis, who thinks that the object, in the first instance, was that of burial-places; that they were formed before the Roman invasion; while Mr. Arthur Evans assigned to Stonehenge an approximate date of 450 B.C.

[3] The exact wording is:--"Near the head of which (the Lowther) is a well which, like Euripus, ebbs and flows several times in a day," a much less remarkable thing. Apparently Mr. Bland's informant has misquoted in conversation. The second edition of Camden's _Britannia_ (1723) comments that this phenomenon is not infrequent in rocky country, and not usually lasting; and that there was then no ebbing fountain to be heard of near Shap.

[4] This idea is that of Stukeley; it had, at the time, a very large following, but is now rejected.

ANCIENT BURYING PLACES.

The remains next under consideration are the cairns or burial mounds. These have been very numerous on the high grounds and unenclosed moors around the source of the Lyvennet. Thirty or forty may still be found perched upon the highest peaks, or otherwise on commanding situations, others on the overhanging banks of the streams, while some have been placed without any characteristic choice of site. Some of these bear significant names or more often the name is applied to an extended area of the hill or plain on which they are found; and others there are with which no name can be connected. The word _How_, Danish--a hill, is generally significant of a mound, but is often applied to the whole, as Sill _How_, Raise _How_, Bousfield _How_, _How_ Arcles, _How_ Neuk and _How_ Robin; on each of which are mounds. _Raise_ is an older word of similar meaning, and is applied more directly to a mound, as _Raise_ How on Bank Moor. This name is more common in the neighbourhood of Shap. _Pen_, of Cambro-Celtic origin, having the same meaning, is found in _Pen_hurrock. Others again bear the ordinary name of _Hill_, as Iren _Hill_, Round _Hill_, &c. Though these mounds have been raised by different people each in their day, yet they are often found to have been named or rather called _Hills_ by whatever word in the language or dialect of the succeeding races expressed the same. Others again there are bearing names peculiar to themselves, as _Iren_ Hill, _Sill_ How, _Hollinstump_, Pen_hurrock_, Robin Hood's Grave, Lady's Mound, &c. Though they are numerous, yet many of them have been opened by the hill-breakers of the last century, or been more or less ravaged for the sake of stones, earth, &c.; for this reason it is difficult to distinguish those belonging to different ages, though it is highly probable the great majority are British.

On Gaythorn Plains--an extensive tract of comparatively level moor on the north side of Orton Scar, are two mounds 100 yards apart, respectively fourteen and [ ] yards in diameter; the larger of these, on being opened by Rev. J. Holmes, was found to contain in the centre an urn of baked clay, ornamented with rude zig-zag work on the outside; this was broken but had contained ashes; besides this the mound contained remains of five different skeletons which, from the wear of the teeth, had been of different ages; some being sharp and pointed, while others were worn quite flat. It is a remarkable fact that no teeth found in any mounds show the slightest symptoms of decay.

At the extreme edge of the Plains on the brow of a cliff overlooking Sale Bottom is another mound composed solely of stones; it is twenty-six yards in diameter, and has originally been about seven or eight feet high. It is known as Hollinstump, a corruption, as some think, of Llewellen's Tomb. Llewellen was the last of the Welsh Kings, and was beheaded about 1280 in the reign of Edward I., but it is improbable the King would trouble to send his mangled remains for interment to such a distant part. It was opened by some gainseeking hill-breakers, who say they found a large slab of sandstone, under which was a full length skeleton and a small implement--in the words of the finder:--"He seemed t'eve been buried in his cleayse wid a jack-a-legs knife in his waistcwoat pocket." Of the sandstone slab:--"They brak it up an' gat three carfull o't finest sand et iver was carried to Appleby Low Brewery." Bone dust was not then come into fashion, or else we may be certain his bones would have been sold to the crushing mill. This place is said to be haunted, the apparition being a headless horseman who dashes along at a furious yet noiseless speed. Those who have seen him describe him as having in place of a head something like a blaze of fire, and others like a backboard laid upon his shoulders--perhaps the distinguished spirit of the wronged and headless Welsh King, whose sole revenge is to dash on the midnight wind around his tomb, to the terror and dismay of each benighted wanderer.

Round Hill near Towcett, was opened by a similar class, out of which was got a sandstone slab of large size, afterwards made into a chimney-piece; under it were also found human bones. A like one existed at Flatt Neuk on Bank Moor, but is now removed; within it was a cist formed of rude stones set up edgewise, in which was the skeleton, and alongside a bronze spear-head; this cist was covered by a large sandstone slab, over which had been heaped, as in the others mentioned, earth and stones even to hundreds of cartloads in quantity; in some cases brought from a large distance.

Penhurrock, the highest point by the road leading from Crosby to Orton, was a large mound of stones, but it has been removed and broken up for road metal, with the exception of a few boulders of granite. Its diameter was about twenty yards, having in the centre a cist surrounded by an irregular circle of stones about eleven yards across; the boulders are only very small, and have been covered up in the mound. A quantity of bones was found, some of them of gigantic proportions: and what is rather curious, in a small cavity on one side were found a quantity of ashes, remains of the fire by which the bodies had been consumed. As no account was kept of the deposition of its contents, in what position the entire skeletons were found, or where the ashes of those consumed had been placed, we can form no decided opinion respecting its age; but from its mixed contents it was probably used as a burial place by different succeeding races.

On Long Scar Pike is a large mound of stones twenty yards in diameter, and eight or nine feet high. It has been opened, but no account kept. There is another on How Nook Pike, a little further south; these are the highest points in the parish of Crosby Ravensworth, and are positions truly worthy as the resting-places of some ancient chieftains or warriors, overlooking as they do the vale of Orton, the Lune and their tributary dales of Bretherdale, Langdale, Wasdale, and the vale of Birkbeck with its far-famed medicinal spa, backed by the bleak and rugged peaks of Shap Fells.

On Wicker Street, near the stone circle, is a large irregular oblong mound, twenty-four yards in length, and another at no great distance, but small and circular, on the east side of the Roman road. A more remarkable one is on a limestone cliff overhanging the Lyvennet, in Crosby Gill; it is an oval, or keel-shaped, ten yards the longer diameter, and six the less, and about seven feet high.

Robin Hood's Grave is an oblong mound, seven yards by three. It is situated at the bottom of a narrow rocky dell at the head of Crosby Gill, where the footpath from Orton to Crosby enters the woods, once the chase of Sir Lancelot Threlkeld. It is noticed by Mr. Sullivan in his "Cumberland and Westmorland," but he speaks of two heaps: this is, however, a mistake, there being only one. Of this mound he says "It was once customary for every person who went a-nutting in the wood, at the south end of which this heap is situated, to throw a stone on Robin's grave, repeating the following rhyme:--

Robin Hood, Robin Hood, here lie thy bones; Load me with nuts as I load thee with stones."

Whoever was the original of the famous outlaw, and whether he was properly Robin of the Wood or Robin with the Hood, his name is now connected with mounds and stones innumerable in various parts of England. On Ploverigg Edge are two large stones, known as Robin Hood's Chair and Punch Bowl; in short, too much popularity has converted him, according to the view of critical investigation, into a myth. Probably the well-known rhyme of schoolboy notoriety may be in allusion also to the famed outlaw of Sherwood Forest:--

Robin a Ree, Robin a Ree, if I let thee dee Many sticks, many steanes be heaped o' my weary beanes If I sud set Robin a Ree to dee:

This game is usually attendant on bonfires, near which, those joining the game stand in a row; the first then takes a fiery stick, and whirling it round and round repeats the rhyme, then handing it to the next, who repeats it, and so on till the stick dies out; the unfortunate individual, in whose hand this happens, is then at the mercy of the grimy sticks and wet sods of his companions.

Not far from Robin Hood's Grave is a spring known as "King's Well," which is supposed to bear its royal title from being visited by King Henry VII.; but of this we have no more reliable proof than we have that Robin Hood's remains lie beneath the mound, which, on being opened, was found to contain only an old sheep's skull.

There are three mounds near to each other on the east bank of the stream near Gilts; they are about seven or eight yards in diameter each. None of these have been opened. Between Gilts and Lodge is one; below it are a number of parallel and other earthworks, suggesting to the mind of some antiquaries the idea of its having been a maze; a dilemma in which antiquarians are often found.

A little south of How Arcles is a mound near which are circular and square entrenchments.

Lady's Mound is near the high road over Meaburn Moor, from which it is said the Countess of Pembroke once stood and remarked that she could see from that point three of her ancient castles, namely, Brough, Appleby and Brougham.