38 THE HELSTONE. 



The word Dolmen is derived from two Celtic words daul 

 a table and maen a stone, but the French nomenclature is I 

 think preferable. They define menhir as an unfashioned 

 upright stone; lech as a dressed menhir; cromlech as a group of 

 menhirs in a circle; and dolmen as a chamber formed by 

 menhirs covered by table stones, often approached by a gallery 

 and usually covered by earth. 



The Helstone, as we now see it, is therefore not in its' 

 original state ; but Dr. Colley March thought that its restoration 

 was satisfactory, as it is the only complete one in the county. 

 When such stones have become dislodged within recent times, 

 as in the case of Stonehenge, it has been considered per- 

 missible to re-instate them, otherwise it would be injudicious 

 to interfere with them. 



Dolmens were usually covered over with earth, constituting 

 a chambered long barrow, such as this and the one at Gorwell 

 two miles away ; but occasionally they were intended to stand 

 free or uncovered as in France. In our example the stones do 

 not occupy a prominent site, and I believe they were originally 

 covered. In that case the interstices between the uprights 

 were filled in with rough walling, to keep back the soil. The 

 numbers 9 and 3, often used for grouping the menhirs, have a 

 mystic meaning. Long barrows may be simple or chambered, 

 sometimes with an external dolmen, and enclosed by a 

 peristalith of menhirs. 



There are no circular chambered barrows in England, but 

 there are elsewhere. 



Dr. Thurnam estimated that there were 60 long barrows in 

 Wilts*; and as there were 2,000 barrows of all sorts, he 

 calculated that they averaged one long barrow to 35 round 

 ones. He stated that Dorset contained only 12 long ones, 

 mostly to the North towards Wilts. They were also found in 

 Gloucestershire, Somerset and Hants (13 examples, Dr. W. F.), 

 but very rarely in the rest of England. They were invariably 

 isolated, quite two or three miles apart, from 100ft. to 400ft. 



* ArchccQlogia, Vol. XLII. 



