OF PREHISTORIC REMAINS. I23 



in which nothing is done in tlie natnic of preservation ; and, on the other hand,, 

 agricultural operations, building, and the like, are doing a great deal in the way 

 of destruction." 



Mr. Read gave a very striking local Irish example of the 



destruction of an ancient cairn, known as the " Giant's Grave," 



in CO. Antrim, and pointed out that the protest of the Dartmoor 



Committee showed that the law (under the Highway Act, 5 and 



6, Wm. IV., c. 50) actually aids and abets public officials in the 



systematic destruction of our prehistoric remains if, by chance, 



sfotie be used in their construction ! Mr. Read asks, "is it 



possible to conceive of a situation more absurd than that shown 



by the existence in the same statute-book of two such Acts as 



the Ancient Monuments Act on one hand and this mischievous 



Act on the other ? The one rigidly protects the very same class 



of monuments that may be destroyed with impunity by virtue of 



the other."^ 



The writer continued : — 



" The danger to other remains, however, which may not be made of stones is 

 equally great, though from other causes. The burial-mounds, mere heaps of 

 earth that are s]:)read more or less over the whole country, are constantly being 

 destroyed, by accident or design, and their story is fully as important as that of 

 any other class of prehistoric remains. The operations of agriculture are daily 

 reducing such mounds to the general level of the surrounding land, and when the 

 burial is at last exposed by the plough the relics are, in almost every case, 

 scattered or destroyed, either in wanton mischief or from ignorance. It is a 

 common thing for odds and ends from such sites to be brought to me at the 

 British Museum, with the story that there was a great deal more found, but that 

 they were divided among the farm hands or given to chance visitors. 



"That such a state of things should be general in this country is not 

 creaiiable to our civilisation. Every modern state with any pretensions to 

 culture takes pains to preserve the memorials of its past, and takes a legitimate 

 pride in the preservation of its ancient monuments. In Britain we cannot claini 

 the same glories of architectu'e of early times that are to be found in the 

 Mediterranean area. Our modern history has its glories, architectural and of 

 other kinds, but these may safely be left to the guardianship of public opinion^ 

 Public opinion, however, can scarcely be said to exist with regard to such of our 

 monuments as are contemjiorary with the classical period of Greece. They are in 

 the main neither generally known nor understood, and it cannot be said that they 

 are immediately attractive. Nevertheless they are all we have to represent a page, 

 or perhaps a volume, of our country's progress, and as such are deserving of 

 attention and of preseivation." 



I At the discussion at the meeting of the Conference, the Rev. J. O. Bevan said that 

 *' it was monstrous, e.^., that on such an important area as Dartmoor the highway 

 authorities were permitted to appropriate valuable remains and brealc them up for the 

 metalling of roads ! Such an Act of Parliaiaent ought to be at once rescinded. Publia 

 opinion should be roused in reference to the entire subject, and Local Societies, such as 

 those they represented, could do a great deal." A resolution, asking the Government ta 

 consider this matter, was passed. See rage 123. 



