74 Stonehenge and its Barrows. 



" But the most important consideration connected with the smaller 

 stoneSj and one which in its archEeological bearing has been too much 

 overlooked, is the fact of their having been brought from a great 

 distance. I expressed an opinion on this subject in a lecture dehvered 

 at Devizes more than eighteen years ago, and I have been in- 

 creasingly impressed with it since. I beheve that these stones would 

 not have been brought from such a distance to a spot where an 

 abundance of building stones equally suitable in every respect already 

 existed, unless some special or religious value had been attached to 

 them. This goes far to prove that Stonehenge was originally a 

 temple, and neither a monument raised to the memory of the dead, 

 nor an astronomical calendar or almanac. In either of these latter 

 cases there would have been no motive for seeking the materials 

 elsewhere. The sarsens would have answered every purpose, with 

 less labour, and with better effect. But, if these were the sacred 

 stones of some early colonists, a superstitious value would have been 

 attached to them, and great care and labour bestowed on their pre- 

 servation. Thus the ancient so-called ' Stone of Destiny,' on which 

 our sovereigns are crowned, was preserved with pious care for cen- 

 turies in the Abbey of Scone, and has, to this day, its place in the 

 Coronation Chair at "Westminster Abbey. 



" It has been suggested that they were Danams, or the offerings 

 of successive votaries. Would there in such case have been such 

 uniformity of design or would they have been all alike of foreign 

 materials ? I would make one remark about the small impost of a 

 trilithon of syenite, now lying prostrate within the circle. One 

 writer has followed another in taking it for granted that there must 

 have been a second, corresponding with it, on the opposite side. Of 

 this there is neither proof nor record, not a trace of one having been 

 seen by ani/ person who has written on the subject. This small im- 

 post, not being of sarsen, but syenite, must have belonged to the 

 orio<inal old circle, and it may even have suggested to the builders 

 of the present Stonehenge the idea of the large imposts and trilithons, 

 with their tenons and mortices. 



" It is important to mention that no iron implements have been 

 found in the numerous barrows around Stonehenge." 



