170 Stonehenge and its Barrows, 



East Somerset. " This part of Somersetshire must have been within 

 the districts of the Belgse, beyond whose limits no such cups have 

 been found/'' Of the " basket cup," the sides of which are open 

 and resemble basket-work, the best example was obtained by Mr. 

 Albert Way, from a tumulus at Bulford, four miles from Stonehenge. 

 An engraving of it is to be seen on page 366 of " Archseologia,'' 

 vol. xliii. Of the slashed cup, the sides of which are slashed with 

 vertical openings, distinct from those of basket-work, the best ex- 

 ample is from a Wiltshire barrow near Stonehenge, and is figured 

 on plate xxv. of " Ancient Wilts,''^ vol. i. Of the strainer cup from 

 Lake, within sight of Stonehenge, and which is perforated at the 

 bottom with twenty-four holes, like a colander, and with two holes 

 at one side, an engraving is given in plate xxx. of " Ancient Wilts," 

 vol. i. A very large proportion of these little vessels are pierced on 

 one side with two holes, from half-an-inch to two inches apart. 

 There are exceptions with a large number of holes, but the rule is 

 to have two holes on one side only. It would have been diflBcult to 

 suspend these cups with holes so made. If they were used as lamps 

 the side holes might be intended for fastening them by wooden pegs 

 in some safe corner of the building. Embers may have been placed 

 in them, and on these embers incense, as in vessels found in France, 

 with Christian interments of the middle age ; which to complete the 

 analogy with these cups, have holes in the side. " On the whole, 

 the view expressed by the designation of incense cup, given to these 

 vessels by Hoare, carries with it much probability ; and the name 

 can scarcely now be changed without clear proof of some different 

 intention." 



Food vessels are rare in the barrows of Wiltshire and the south of 

 England. They are usually from four to five inches in height, and 

 of an urn, flowerpot, or bowl-shape, with wide mouth, narrow foot, 

 the shoulders moulded, as also the lip without and within. They 

 are often scarcely to be discriminated from cinerary urns of the second 

 type, except by their size, and by being found empty, or at the most 

 containing traces of organic matters. Dr. Thurnam found four 

 varieties or types of them : a. undecorated urn-shaped; b. partially 

 decorated urn-shaped; c, decorated bowl-shaped; d. decorated shallow 



