284 ARBOR LOW. 



stone quarries in the neighbourhood. These stones were probably thirty 

 in number, they average 6ft. to 8ft. in length, by 3ft. tc 4ft. in breadth, 

 and possibly stood upright* and equidistant from one another around the 

 edge of the central platform. Now they are all lying on the ground, and 

 because the narrow ends of some point inwards, it has been suggested 

 that they were so arranged to represent the rays of the sun, and that 

 they thus indicate sun or fire-worship. But, as Mr. Bateman points 

 out, they almost as frequently are directed towards the ditch. The 

 central platform, which is circular, and not oval in form, is about fifty 

 yards in diameter. The large stones in the middle (the largest 14ft. by 

 8ft.) probably formed a dolmen, or sepulchral chamber. Such chambers 

 are erected even at the present day by some hill tribes in India, among 

 whom, Dr. Hooker says, " the funeral ceremonies are the only ones of 

 any importance, and are often conducted with barbaric pomp and 

 expense." 



The platform is surrounded by a ditch about six yards wide, and 

 this again by a vallum or rampart, formed of the earth partly from the 

 ditch, partly from the outside, and not improbably augmented by more 

 earth, brought from a distance by friends and relatives out of compli- 

 ment to the departed one, as the Scotch Highlander of to-day does after 

 politely telling you, " I will add a stone to your cairn." 



The vallum measures 270 yards in circumference on the top, and 

 even now is from six yards to eight yards high, but varies in height all 

 round. Through this vallum are two entrances to the central 

 platform, each ten to twelve yards wide ; these are opposite to one 

 another, one leading to the north, the other to the south. 



On the eastern side of the southern entrance the vallum rises con- 

 siderably higher than anywhere else in its circumference, and formed a 

 tumulus or funeral mound. This was successfully examined by Mr. 

 Bateman in 1845. He cut it across from the south towards the centre, 

 and found a small six-sided cist or chest, " constructed by tenf limestones 

 placed on end, and having a floor of three similar stones neatly jointed," J 

 the whole being covered by a single flat stone about oft. in length, by 3ft. 

 in width. The surrounding earth being carefully removed, and the cover 

 taken off the cist, which was quite free from soil, was found to contain 

 " a quantity of calcined human bones," and amongst these two flint 

 implements, one somewhat triangular and having three sharp edges, the 

 other flat with one sharp edge, also a pin made from leg bone of a deer, 

 and a piece of iron pyrites. At the west end were two urns ; of these 

 the more elegant one is 4§in. high, 9^in. in diameter at its widest part, 

 and 3Jin. at the base. It is slightly ornamented on the top of the rim 

 by three lines, (as if a piece of string had been pressed on the soft clay,) 

 and on the body by sets of six lines, some placed obliquely, others vertically. 



* After writing the above, a gent'eman in the neighbourhood assured me that he 

 remembered seeing some of the stones erect when he was a boy. 



+ There were nine stones around the sides, one on the top, and three forming the 

 floor. 



J Bateman's " Vestiges of Derbyshire." 



