94 SOME A^'CIENT BEITISH KEMAINS. 



Geologically, most of this area is monntain limestone, 

 rising to near]}' 340 ft. by the Observatory, and about 320 ft. 

 in front of Upper Belgrave Road. In the intervening de- 

 pression, near the Fonntain and Bridge Valley Road, there 

 is dolomitic conglomerate; and between this and the Obser- 

 vatorj' Hill is more monntain limestone, and a wedge-edged 

 area of millstone grit. 



Before describing the special antiquities which suggested 

 this jmper, it will be well to mention briefly the various 

 kinds of stone remains, which may reasonably be attributed 

 to our ancestors in pre-Roman times. Seeing that we are 

 ignorant of the exact purposes for which several of these 

 antiquities were intended, the classification given is one 

 based upon form, or shape, mainly : — 



I. Cha^ibers : — (1) Kistvaens ; (2) Cromlechs; (3) Bee- 

 hive Huts. 



II. Circles: — (4) Hut-circles and Pit-dwellings; (5) 

 Tumulus-rings ; (6) " Sacred " circles. 



III. Irregular Enclosures : — (7) Village Enclosures and 

 Pounds : (8) Hut-clusters ; (9) Forts and entrenched Camps. 



IV. Linear Groups : — (10) Tracklines and Boundary- 

 banks ; (11) Trackways or Roads ; (12) Stone Avenues or 

 Parallelithons. 



V. Mounds and Pillars : — (13) Barrows and Cairns ; (14) 

 Mining-heaps ; (15) Menhirs or Monoliths. 



VI. Weapons and Tools : — e.g. Celts, Arrowheads, Flint 

 Scrapers, etc. 



There are four other objects which have been classed as 

 the work of man in pre-historic times ; viz.. Rock-basins, 

 Logan stones, Tolmens, and Rock-idols (so-called). The 

 three last of these are undoubtedly of natural formation, 

 though they may have been utilised as objects of worship, or 

 for purposes of divination in some cases. As to Rock-basins, 



