86 Stnneheiiije and its Barrums. 



The following extract is from a letter by Mr. Cunnington, F.S.A.. 

 of Heytesbury, dated November^ lSO:i, with which his grandson^ Mr 

 Cuunington^ F.G.S., has kindly favoured the writer : " I have durin;. 

 the summer dug in several places in the area i and neighbourhood o< 

 Stonehenge and particularly at the front of the altar, where I dug 

 to the depth of 5 feet or more, and found charred wood, animal boner 

 and pottery. Of the latter there were several pieces similar to the 

 rude urns found in the barrows, also some pieces of Roman pottery. 

 In several places I found stags^ horns. The altar-stone is 16 feet 

 2 inches long, 3 feet 2 inches wide, and 1 foot 9 inches thick. It 

 was completely broken in two by the fall of the impost of the great 

 trilithon. It was neatly chiseled as you may see by digging the 

 earth from the side." 



Mr. Joseph Browne gave to Dr. Thurnam the following account 

 of a digging in front of what is called the altar-stone by Captain 

 Beamish, who undertook the exploration in order to satisfy a society 

 in Sweden that there was no interment in the centre of Stonehenge : 



Eichard Hayns, an old man of Ambresbury, whom I employed to dig for me in 

 ■^he barrows, found some little worn-out Roman coins at Stonehenge, amonfj the 

 earth rooted up by the rabbets. He sold one of them for half-a-crown to Mr. 

 Merril, of Goldeti Square, who came thither whilst I was at the place. The 

 year before, Hayns was one of the workmen employ'd by Lord Carlton to dig 

 clay on Harradon hill, east of Ambresbury, where they found many Koman coins, 

 which I saw. 1 suspect he pretended to find those at Stonehenfje, only for the 

 sake of the reward. My friend the late Dr. Harwood of Doctors Commons, told 

 me he was once at Stonehenge with such sort of Koman coins in his pockets, 

 and that one of his companions would have persuaded him to throw some of them 

 into the rabbit-holes : but the Doctor was more ingenuous. Nevertheless were 

 never so many such coins found in Stonehenge, they would prove nothing more, 

 than that the work was in being, when the Romans were here ; and which we 

 are assured of already. I have a brass coin given me by John Collins, Esq., 

 collector of the excise at Stanford. The heads of Julius and Augustus averse : 

 the reverse a crocodile, palm branch and garland, col. nem., the colony of 

 IS'ernansiis in France. It was found upon Salisbury plain : and might be lost 

 there before the Koman conquest of Britain under Claudius, by people of France 

 coming hither ; or in after ages ; no matter which " (p. 32). It thus appears 

 that there were Coiw- Jacks in Stukeley's tirce, for the distribution in convenient 

 places, if not for the forgery, of these Roman pieces of money. 



' " Taking care not to go too near the stones," 



