Opening of some Tumuli on the South Downs. 181 
opened when the members of the Club were there, when several 
undisturbed skeletons were found lying head to foot in trenches, 
with earth and flints piled over them; and in part of the mound 
which had previously been dug into I found a very large quantity 
of bones, heaped together in confusion, and have since ascer- 
tained that this was done about twenty years ago in digging out 
rabbits which had burrowed into the mound. All the skeletons 
found were remarkable for the splendid condition of the teeth, 
and the stature of the men indicated by the size of the bones. 
These lay with the heads to the south. 
Near the barrows, on a crest of the hill in a prominent position, 
is a pool of water shaded by a clump of aged hawthorn trees. 
This pool is stated to be never dry, and is called ‘“ Friday’s 
Church.” There is a tradition that an altar once stood there, 
dedicated to St. Friga, and it is supposed that this alludes to 
Freya or Friga, the Teutonic goddess who presided over springs 
of water. 
Close by is a very large tumulus, about 90 ft. in diameter, 
which showed no sign of ever having been disturbed, and I went 
down at the beginning of this month purposely to open it; but 
after three days’ hard digging, trenching it across and sinking 
down through 5 ft. of clay to the chalk, no trace of any inter- 
ment could be found; the mound itself consisted of flints and 
mould resting on the clay, which there forms the summit of the 
hill, and from its position it may have been a mound thrown up 
for religious purposes. 
I find recorded instances in that district of several similar 
mounds being excavated in the expectation of their being sepul- 
chral, but no traces of interments were found; and the Rev. E. 
Cartwright, the continuator of Dallaway’s ‘ History of Sussex,’ 
considers that such mounds were of religious import, and were 
places of sacrifice ; they were all similar in size, and agree in 
having a sort of platform of flints or puddled clay and chalk in 
the centre. 
Another mound, which I dug into last autumn, had a most 
carefully prepared floor of clay and chalk mixed, but the only 
finds were some fragments of coarse pottery resting on it. These 
fragments of pottery abound in the soil in the neighbourhood of 
the barrows. 
The pool called ‘Friday’s Church” is not a spring, but 
resembles the dew-ponds used on the downs to collect the rain- 
fall, and which are believed to maintain their level by the con- 
densation of dew ; certainly they only dry up in very hot sum- 
mers. In this case, from the clay soil there can be no leakage, 
and the shade of the surrounding bushes would prevent much 
loss from evaporation. 
Further along the ridge is a solitary hawthorn called ‘‘ Friday’s 
