38 
lapse of time was astonishing, and shewed the very slow process 
of aerial denudation. At present Sussex did not seem to possess 
any early structure analagous to Stonehenge, or allied to the 
solitary one in Kent called Kit’s Coty House. But on the 
Downs at one time were many of the sarsen stones, derived from 
the strata above the chalk, and stranded at various parts. Many 
of these sarsen stones might be seen at Stanmer and Falmer, 
collected from their original sites. He had often wondered if 
any archaic inscription could be found upon them, such as the 
well-known cup and ball markings. 
Having referred to ancient figures cut in the Downs, like the 
Wilmington Giant, which figures had always been a puzzle, he 
said there was, on the steep slope of the Cuckmere Valley, below 
Hineover, a very rough cutting resembling a horse, which is not 
recorded in books on the subject, but which was kept clean by 
youths of the past generation, shewing that there must have been 
some tradition carried down about these things. For himself, he 
attributed these things to a very early stage of religious culture, 
but, as a fact, these hill carvings were mysteries, and they occurred 
nowhere else in Europe. There was a cross cut on the hill side 
above Plumpton, near Lewes. Some thought it was a record 
of the Battle of Lewes, but he saw no reason to think so. He 
must not omit to say that on the Downs we had remains of the 
burial places of the early peoples who lived in the neighbour- 
hood. Most persons who had walked the Downs had come 
across circular mounds (generally, unfortunately, with a de- 
pression in the centre). These tumuli, probably all of the 
Neolithic age, enclosing the remains of some chieftain, were 
opened with very little scientific accuracy early in the last 
century. Urns and other things were found in them, but if 
more care had been taken we should have learnt more of these 
early people. There were not many “long barrows” on the 
Southdowns, but there was one above the Coombe, at Lewes, and 
one above the Wilmington Giant. These were usually supposed 
to be of the Bronze age. He could not discover that anything 
allied to the dene holes of Kent had been found on the South- 
downs, unless the filled up pits at Cissbury are of the same 
character; but, as the Society noticed a year or two ago, 
workings very similar were used for raising stone in the Weald 
of Sussex. 
Succeeding the Bronze age came the Iron age, and iron was 
in use when the Romans landed in Britain and captured the 
Downs. Boadicea, we were told, had a chariot with iron scythes 
on the wheels. When the Romans arrived,— those tactical 
Japanese-like adventurers,—they seized the camps and _ best 
vantage grounds of the Downs. They ate oysters on Cissbury. 
The eating of oysters was a peculiarly Roman trait, and from the 
size Of the shells they were not inferior. Traces of their 
7 Apia # 
