SOME ANCIENT BRITISH REMAINS. 97 



nallyin the centre of the barrow; for in some co,sqs the ashes 

 or cremated remains were simply deposited in a little hollow 

 scooped in the ground, and then earth or stones piled up to 

 form a tumulus. These circles vary from 20 feet in diameter 

 to doable, treble, or even a greater size. 



(6) "Sacked" circles are quite distinct from the last 

 mentioned. The number of stones composing them is fewer, 

 and they are as a rule much larger — often several feet high, 

 — and there is an interval of some yards between neighbour- 

 ing stones. The diameter of these circles often exceeds 

 100 feet. 



(7) Village Enclosures and Pounds are irregular in 

 shape,^ — often oval, ovoid, or pyriform,— and the boundary is 

 composed of a bank of stones and turf, which is more or less 

 massive according to the character and abundance of the 

 materials near at hand for use. They are usually placed on 

 hill-sides gently sloping to the S.E., S., or S.W., but occur 

 also on slopes facing other points of the compass. The size 

 is very variable. The best known, perhaps, of all on Dart- 

 moor, called Grimspound, one with a very massive stone 

 boundary, has an area of four acres ; but the largest there^, 

 with which I am acquainted, is more than three times this 

 area. Its length is 340 yards, and its breadth 290. Within 

 the space are about forty hut-circles. The term '' village 

 enclosure "is in such cases very appropriate for descriptive 

 purposes ; but when these enclosures contain no hut-circles, 

 "pound" is the better term to use. The boundary-banks 

 were formerly, of course, higher and more wall-like than 

 nov%' ; and were probably in maiiy cases surmounted by 

 brushwood and gorse, to form a further protection to the 

 inhabitants and their herds from wild animals and other 

 danecers. When there are no remains of huts within the 

 enclosures, there are almost always one or two close by for 



