202 THE BRIGANTES. 



name to beavers and lakes, is simply Pedwar-llech, the ancient 

 Petouaria, marked, as other British towns seem to have been, by 

 ' four stones ' in this instance stones of sanctuary, a privilege 

 of higher antiquity, it is probable, than Athelstane, by whom it 

 is said to have been granted after the victory of Brunanburgh. 



HOUSES. 



The manners and customs of the Brigantes are chiefly to be 

 gathered by interpreting what remains of their dwellings and 

 tombs, their towns and camps, their stones of memorial and 

 circles of assembly, their weapons and tools, ordinary earthen- 

 ware and principal ornaments. Most of these are but inci- 

 dentally noticed by the historians and poets of Greece and Rome, 

 and seldom referred to at all by the Welsh Bards and Saxon 

 Chroniclers. 



DWELLINGS. Caesar, speaking of the southern parts of Bri- 

 tain, which had been filled with Belgian settlers, says, that the 

 buildings were numerous and much like those of Gaul (v. 12). 

 The houses therefore were tapering huts, constructed of wood on 

 a circular basis. Of these humble structures we have only the 

 foundations, and of such there appear to be three varieties. In 

 the first example, which in Yorkshire occurs frequently in the 

 north-eastern and south-eastern districts, the ground is exca- 

 vated in a circular shape, so as to make a pit from 6 to 8, or 

 even 16 or 18 feet in diameter, with a raised border, and of the 

 depth of 3, 4 or 5 feet. Over this cavity we must suppose the 

 branches of trees placed to form a conical roof, which perhaps 

 might be made weather-proof by wattling, a covering of rushes, 

 or sods. The opening we may believe to have been placed on 

 the side removed from the prevalent wind. Fire in the centre 

 of the hut thus constructed has left traces in many of those ex- 

 amined at Egton Grange*. The Pits in Westerdale are called 

 ' Ref holes/ i. e. Roof holes, for our Saxon word Roof has the 

 meaning of the Icelandic raf and Swedish ref. 



* Young, Hist, of Whitby, vol. ii. p. 680. 



