406 NORTHUMBERLAND. 



surface ; it had an east and west direction, and was 2f ft. long by 

 2 ft. wide, having a rough covering of stones over it. Immediately 

 east of this hollow was a cist 1-Jft. square, formed of four stones set 

 on edge and with a single cover-stone. It was filled with sand, 

 amongst which were the scattered remains of the burnt body of an 

 adult, with some pieces of charcoal. In the material of the barrow 

 were discovered a single chipping of flint, and a flat kidney-shaped 

 stone, 6J in. long and 2| in. wide, worn quite smooth on the flatter 

 face, and showing signs of having been much used in rubbing some 

 (apparently) soft material ; it may possibly have served in the 

 dressing or preparation of skins. 



The contents of this barrow, so small in its dimensions, present a 

 large assemblage of burnt bodies in one sepulchral mound, and it 

 is very rare that such a number have been found in any Northum- 

 berland grave-hill. The burials contained within the oblong 

 hollow may perhaps be supposed to have all taken place at the 

 same time, and if so we have two, or more probably three, bodies 

 interred together. The ' drinking cup/ the upper plain urn, and 

 the cist may represent subsequent interments ; and it is not perhaps 

 unreasonable to regard the mound as the bury ing-place of a family, 

 where in the larger urn with its accompanying smaller one were 

 contained the remains of the principal person, who had been 

 consigned to the grave with one or more of his family or de- 

 pendents, the other and presumably later burials being those of 

 descendants or other relatives *. 



Upon Ford Common, lying on the slope of the hill and a little 

 to the east of the village, several cinerary urns and ' incense cups ' 

 have from time to time been accidentally discovered in the process 

 of enclosure or in winning stone for building walls. I examined 

 two small barrows which had been left until then undisturbed. 



CLXXXV. The first was placed upon a knoll on the highest 

 part of the common, in a field which had been taken off from it 

 and brought under cultivation a few years before. The traces of 

 the barrow, which must always have been a very small one, were 

 only slight, and the upper surface of the cover-stone of a cist had 

 been touched by the plough and lay partly exposed. On removing 

 this stone the cist, constructed of four slabs of sandstone set on 



1 An account of this barrow, with figures of some of the urns, has appeared in the 

 Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, vol. v. p. 195. 



