364 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[Nov. 10. 1855. 



TOMULUS AT LASGBURY HILL. 



Having recently been engaged with several 

 other gentlemen in opening a barrow or tumulus 

 in the parish of Gillingham, Dorset, and known as 

 Langbury Hill, I am desirous to lay the results 

 before your readers, and to ask their opinion re- 

 lative to the appearances presented. The barrow 

 in question is a long low mound of earth, mea- 

 suring, in its present state, about one hundred 

 feet from its eastern to its western extremity, by 

 about thirty feet wide, while the highest part is 

 some six feet above the level of the surrounding 

 field. Tradition states that it was the burial- 

 place of those who were slain in a battle between 

 the Saxons and Danes ; doubtless referring to the 

 battle of Penn, fought in 1016 between Edmund 

 Ironside and Canute, the village of Penn being 

 only a few miles distant, in a northerly direction. 

 The tradition proceeds to inform us that the 

 blood shed on this occasion flowed as f\ir as to a 

 place still called Slaughter's Gate, and which is 

 distant about a quarter of a mile from the barrow. 

 The central portion of the mound having been 

 dug into about fifty years since, we commenced 

 our operations by cutting a trench across the 

 eastern part, where the soil appeared to be in its 

 original state. On removing the turf we came on 

 a mass of loose stones and earth, the former about 

 the size of one's hand, and very generally placed 

 flat, as if to form a covering to the mound. Many 

 of these stones presented a remarkable appearance, 

 being coated, especially on their under surfaces, 

 with a white substance resembling lime, but which 

 was pronounced by some of our party to be a 

 species of mildew. The same appearance is said 

 to be sometimes noticed in churciiyards on re- 

 moving the earth above old graves. We con- 

 tinued our trench, in a straight direction, com- 

 pletely through the mound, from north to south, 

 and in the centre we excavated the earth to the 

 depth of nearly three feet below the level of the 

 field — in fact, until we were stopped by the bed 

 of loose oolitic stones which occurs in that part of 

 the district. A little more than a foot above the 

 surrounding surface the mass of stones and earth 

 entirely ceased, as also the white substance before 

 mentioned, and we came on a bed of soil like that 

 in the field, only much freer from stones, and 

 which continued till we reached the natural 

 stratum. Finding these deep " diggins " alto- 

 gether without result, either of bones or of im- 

 plements of any kind, we removed a little earth 

 at the top of the mound to the right and left of 

 our trench, and there at length we came on the 

 remains of several skeletons in a very imperfect 

 state, and not more than about eighteen inches 

 below the actual surface. The relative positions 

 of the mouldering fragments which we discovered 

 were such as to show that the bodies had not been 



No. 315.] 



interred with much care, and to lead to the belief 

 that the combatants were buried in the very atti- 

 tude in which they met their death ; and although 

 the skeletons were certainly lying east and west, 

 we could not ascertain that any rule had been ob- 

 served as to the direction of the heads. It should 

 be added that these remains were all placed above 

 the mass of stones, which would thus seem to have 

 been laid there without any reference to them, 

 and yet we found no bones elsewhere. As pre- 

 viously mentioned, no traces whatever of any kind 

 of metal or imy)lements were found, but one or 

 two small shapeless fragments that were picked up, 

 we are willing to hope, may belong to some very 

 rude earthen vessel. In conclusion, I would ask, 



1. Whether our experience agrees with that of 

 any other explorers of Saxon barrows ? And 



2. Whether there is any probability that further 

 researches would produce better results ? 



Q.UIDAM. 



:^tnar tkutvit^. 



Bible Woodcuts. — Is it known who was the 

 artist that engraved the woodcuts in Biblia Sacra 

 ex posiremis Doctonim omnium Vigiliis, published 

 "Lugduni, apud Guillelmum BouUe, 1542"? 



J. C. J. 



Butler's " Hudibras." — In part ii. canto ii. 

 V. 1110. occurs the following couplet in reference 

 to the Presbyterians, who, amongst other accusa- 

 tions, Cooper says — 



" Fill'd Bedlam with predestination, 

 And Knightsbridge with illuinination." 



What is the real allusion conveyed in the latter 

 line ? Mr. Bell is not satisfied with Nash's note, 

 and although the Lazar House at Knightsbridge 

 was in being long before the date of Butler's 

 poem, I do not think the line alludes to any Pres- 

 byterian illuminati there. 



Query, Did Lilly ever live at Knightsbridge ? 

 I do not possess his Autobiography, but I have 

 read somewhere, I think, that he did. If so, 

 perhaps the explanation may be found in his 

 illumhiatioTVt of his visitors as to their future ? 



II. G. D. 



Knightsbridge. 



Quotation. — Who was the author of — 



" A Saviour, or I die ; 

 A Redeemer, or I perish for ever I " 



It is the conclusion of a paragraph in a letter ad- 

 dressed to a friend on Christianity. H. B. 

 Waterford. 



" Discourse of Humane Reason." — Who was 

 the author of an ingenious and erudite little work, 

 entitled A Discourse of Humane Reason ivith re- 

 lation to Matters of Religion, published in 1690 ? 



