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kistvaens or tombs, and a great number of hut-circles. The circle is composed of ten upright stones, unusually small for such purposes, none of them being above 18 inches in height. The diameter 67 feet. A pillarstone or maen, 12 feet high, is situated at a little distance. The avenues are 78 feet asunder, each three feet wide, running due East and West. The longer is about 300 yards in length; and the stones of which they are formed, are placed at irregular distances, which may average three feet and a half. At the mid-length is a small circle of ten upright stones. The eastern end of the avenue is pointed off by three stones, much higher than the others, and two such lie on the ground at the western termination.

Remains of kistvaens and small cairns are dispersed in various places, near the foregoing, but present no very remarkable specimens. On digging into one of them we procured a substance singularly interesting, as it was believed, by some scientific men who examined it, to closely resemble what might be supposed the remains of human, or at least animal ashes.

The hut-circles are numerous, formed of stones of all sizes laid together, and serving probably for the foundation and support of a superstructure of sod or wattles, as the case might prove-both perhaps being customary, according to convenience. Some of them are of large extent, and if really forming the inclosure of habitations, they must have been of commodious dimensions. The entrances nearly all face the south, and are denoted by two upright stones, higher than the adjacent layer. Some of these hut-circles have also an exterior inclosure, but less distinguishable, and often lost in the level of the surrounding sod.

At Stanlake, south of the prisons, are again found vestiges of the same description. The avenues here are forty feet apart; the most perfect of them com

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mences in a cairn, surrounded by fifteen upright stones. On the side of a neighboring hill are two "pounds " or great inclosures, walled with neaped stones, and having regular entrances, placed nearly north and south in the one, and east and west in the other. The diameter of the larger "pound" is about 280 feet, and it contains fourteen habitation circles. The smaller is 240 feet in diameter, and has within its inclosure also fourteen hut-circles; but the lower part of this "pound," being perhaps a sixth part of the whole, is destroyed by an old "stream-work" which occupies the valley.

The dilapidation of these remains by mining operations is important, as serving to refute the notion prevalent with many persons of small information on the subject of Celtic antiquity, that its relics are connected with the later era of "streaming" and mining on the moor. No doubt exists that many of the stream-works" themselves are of British origin; but the avenues, circles, &c. bear a distinct character, and belong, in all probability, to a much more ancient period.

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Various other remains, but more dispersed in their localities, are found in the neighborhood of the prisons— as kistvaens near the Black-brook, towards its junction with the Dart; a cairn in the direction of Eylesbarrow; and others not easily indicated except by means of

a map.

In the southern quarter of the moor are situated the largest cairns of which it can boast. They are placed on a height above the river Erme, known as Three-barrow tor, from the number of the heaps. These are composed entirely of loose small stones, thrown together in a vast pile; one of them is about three hundred yards in circuit. Two broad trackways, formed of flat stones, are connected with it.

From

the summits of these cairns is beheld one of the most extensive and magnificent prospects to be found on

Dartmoor; and the scenery in various spots in this portion of the hill-region, is of the grandest character.

Pursuing the subject of the principal Celtic remains, those in the northern and eastern quarters deserve to be particularized. The Druidical circles of "Grey Weathers" are situated on the northern side of Sittaford-tor, on an acclivity overlooking Lade-hill bottom, not far from the head-branches of the Teign. They are among the most noted of this kind of circles existing on the moor; their position adjoins, and the number of stones in each was originally twenty-five, from three to five feet high; but of these only nine remained upright in one circle, and seven in the other, when we visited it a few years since; the others having fallen in their places, while a few appear to have been removed to a "new-take" wall.

The other great circles in this direction are one near Venworthy, and another on Gidleigh Common, near the north bank of the Teign, and overlooking the stream. This latter consists of thirty-seven stones, of which ten are lying on the ground. Many of these reach from five to seven or eight feet high, and being nearly all of a pointed form, give the circle a very different appearance from the Grey Weathers, where the stones are rather square. The diameter of the circle is ninety feet.

On Teign-combe Down, south of the Teign, at some distance from the river itself, are several fine avenues, a pillar-stone, circles, &c.

One of the most celebrated of the Dartmoor relics, though in reality there are several of the same description existing in various spots throughout this mountainous district, but very little, if at all known beyond it, is an extensive "pound," situated on Hameldon-hill, north of Widdecombe, and distinguished by the name of Grimspound. It is 150 yards in diameter, and contains forty habitation circles. A stream, called

Grimslake, runs through the inclosed space, which thus seems provided for any contingency that might prevent egress to its inhabitants, as in the case of a warlike party defending their position on the hill. The wall, like that of all the other "pounds," is formed merely of rude blocks and smaller stones heaped together; but doubtless a large portion of them has, in the course of ages, been removed for buildings, walls, roads, &c. The breadth of the circular heap or wall is from fifteen to twenty feet in some instances it is even wider.

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Kistvaens, "the four grey stones where heroes rest," are in some places very numerous; at others a single one may be found standing on the wide heath, without any other relics near it, more ancient than the heathplant which has rooted in and around it. Although certainly tombs, these kistvaens are of a size not calculated to hold a human body in its natural state. Their construction is by the connection of four thin stones set up in the form of a chest, from two to five feet long, and from one and a half to three feet wide; some are nearly square. Over these was placed a flat stone as a lid: these cover-stones have, in all instances, been removed, and the interior exposed to view, exactly as left by the intruders, the lid lying on the ground by the side, or else half covering the chest. Within is frequently found a small pit or hollow, in which might have stood the jar or "urn," of rude earthenware, containing the ashes after the destruction of the body by fire. This is, at least, a prevalent opinion, borne out by the discovery of such vessels in similar situations in Cornwall, Scotland, and as we have been informed, here also. These tombs often stand on the mere ground, without any particular attention to site or preservation; but in perhaps a greater number of instances, they are surrounded by a circle of stones; sometimes even by a double circle; or they are raised on a mound or cairn.

In a single instance we discovered one sunk into a very compact mound of earth, so that the cover-stone lay even with the ground around it.

Rock-basins are found mostly on the summits of the tors: those where they are best preserved, or of the largest size, are Mystor; Black-tor; Sheepstor; Littleford-tor, near the West Dart, above Two-Bridges; Castor-rock; High-tor or Hey-tor, &c.

The trackways of Dartmoor are of themselves a subject for investigation and speculation: they consist of lines of stones heaped together, crossing the moor in all directions, and seemingly meant for boundaries or way-marks. Some of them may be traced, with small interruptions, for several miles, until they disappear in a bog, or terminate at a tor or river; although they often resume their course on the other side, and proceed until meeting with some similar hinderance or destination. Others of these trackways appear to have had a more local design, and merely connect the sites of two villages, or other particular spots, with one another. As might be expected, they can now scarcely be found uninterruptedly continuous, so that their object can only be conjectured; but wherever avenues, cairns, rock-basins, &c. exist, trackways are generally observed tending, as to a common destination or focus.

In the parish of Drewsteignton is the only specimen of a perfect cromlech to be found in the district of the moor. It is now surrounded by cultivated land, and stands within a field; no other remains of the same period are discoverable in the immediate vicinity. The dimensions equal, I believe, those of the principal cromlechs of either Cornwall or Wales, being in length, 15 feet; breadth, 10 feet; height, 8 feet to the upper surface of the super-incumbent stone; to the lower surface the height is 6 feet. No instance of logan or rocking-stones occur, although many suppositions to

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