?0 THE BRIGANTES. 



gives an example of a small circular hill-fort, at Wood Castle 

 near Lochmaben, with a double bank and two opposite gates, 

 which he regards as Roman. The circumference on the outer 

 bank is about 1000 feet. We may compare with this the cir- 

 cular camp near Penistone, whose circumference is above 900 

 feet ; the larger enclosures of Nosterfield (p. 63), whose circum- 

 ference is about twice as great ; and the circle of Arbelow, which 

 measures about 730 feet. In each of the last two examples, and 

 perhaps in the first, the line passing through the gates points to 

 the N.N.W., and in each the great fossa is internal, an arrange- 

 ment quite opposite to the Roman plan of defence. 



POTTERY. 



So far as we know it, the pottery of our ancient grave-mounds 

 is peculiar, distinguishable from Scandinavian, Anglian, and 

 Roman work (see PI. 33). 



The most frequent examples of British pottery in Yorkshire 

 are the cinerary and other urns found in the tumuli. These are 

 of various magnitude, from one, two, or three inches, to two feet 

 in height. They are composed of clay, dried in the sun, or 

 slightly reddened by fire on the outside ; never thoroughly 

 baked. On this account the largest of them are generally a 

 good deal crushed, so that an entire specimen, such as one in 

 the Yorkshire Museum from near Beverley, is unusual. 



These vessels were moulded by the hand, without the assist- 

 ance of the potter's wheel. On this account they are somewhat 

 clumsy and unsymmetrical, and their thickness is often dispro- 

 portionately great. Their figure is formed on no classical model, 

 but, if I rightly conjecture, contains the idea of the wicker 

 basket, or bascauda, for which Britain was celebrated. Thus 

 viewed the encircling ornaments assume the character of hoops, 

 and the short linear markings made with some hard point, and 

 set in the herring-bone fashion, may be regarded as imitations 

 of interlacing twigs. 



