TURBARIES. 55 
I shall now endeavour to prove that the turbaries 
of Huntspill, Chilton Polden, Edington, Catcott, 
and Shapwick were occupied by the Romans, at 
least through the summer months, soon after their 
settlement in this country —When a boy I was 
often taken to the Burtles by my late revered relative, 
Robert Anstice, and he often pointed out to me a 
number of mounds or barrows, as they were con- 
sidered by many. They were of various sizes, many 
of them containing several hundred loads of the 
fragments of Roman pottery. Antiquarians were 
greatly divided in opinion as to the origin or uses 
of these earthworks. Some thought they contained 
the bones of the illustrious dead ; others that they 
were heaps of ballast thrown from ships, when the 
bog formed the bottom of the immense lake ; others 
thought they were rubbish from the numerous 
Roman buildings in the neighbourhood. 
In the year 1833, when I changed my residence 
from Chedzoy,— almost adjoining that battle-field so 
fatal to the Duke of Monmouth, (the favorite and 
almost adored of the west,) as well asto his poor fol- 
lowers,andin which fornearly thirty yearsIhad taken 
so exciting an interest as to its traditions, legends, 
antiquities, records, and other interesting matter,* 
—I found that wherever my guardian angel was 
* The reader of Macaulay’s History of this period, will not fail to call 
to mind his acknowledgments of the valuable information communicated 
to him by Mr. Stradling, in reference to this memorable spot.—Note by 
the Committee. 
