STONEHEXGE. 125 



sion on our minds was that the Roman engineer, in con- 

 structing the road from Morgan's Hill, had taken Silbury 

 Hill as a point to steer for, swerving only just before reaching 

 it. Moreover, the map will show that not only this Roman 

 road, but some others, in the same part of England, are less 

 straight than is usually the case. 



In order to set the point at rest, I caused excavations 

 to be made, under the auspices of the Wiltshire Archaeo- 

 logical Society, at the side of Silbury Hill, and the ditches 

 running along the Roman road were clearly traced. Mr. 

 Fergusson himself admits, in the passage just cited, that the 

 pieces of the road on the two sides of Silbury Hill are not 

 in the same straight line, so that there must have been a bend 

 somewhere. I quite agree, therefore, with old Stukely, that 

 the Roman road curved abruptly southward to avoid Silbury 

 Hill, and that "this shows Silbury Hill was ancienter than 

 the Roman road."* How much more ancient it is impos- 

 sible to say.-f- 



As regards Stonehenge, we have, I think, satisfactory reasons 

 for attributing it to the Bronze Age. 



The historical account, if I may use such an expression, of 

 Stonehenge is, that it was erected by Aurelius Ainbrosius in 

 memory of the British chieftains, treacherously murdered by 

 Hengist and the Saxons, about the year 460. Giraldus 

 Cambrensis, writing at the close of the 12th century, says, 

 " that there was in Ireland, in ancient times, a pile of stones 

 worthy of admiration, called the Giant's Dance, because 

 giants, from the remotest part of Africa, brought them into 

 Ireland ; and in the plains of Kildare, not far from the 

 Castle of Naas, as well by force of art as strength, miracu- 



* Mr. Blandford, who superin- memoir in tlie same volume, by the 



tended the opening of the Hill in Rev. A. C. Smith. 

 1849, came also to the same con- t Stukely thinks it was founded 



elusion. Proc. Arehaeol. Inst. 1849, in 1859 B.C., the year of the death 



p. 303. See also the interesting of Sarah, Abraham's wife. 



