450 ANTIQUITIES ON THE MOORS. 



These pits are very numerous in some places, 

 and are found in a variety of situations, as on the 

 hills of Cleveland, facing the plain : on Rosebury 

 Topping, in Troutsdale, on the side next to Basin 

 houe, and Scamridge, in Egtongrange, ten mile* 

 from Whitby, about a furlong to the right of the 

 road, on a rising ground near the edge of the moor. 

 Some upright stones are seen on the s. E., probably 

 the fragments of a druidical temple ; and several 

 houes are near. Others are seen about a mile to the 

 south of Godeland chapel : they are known by 

 the name of Killing pits, from a tradition that a 

 battle was fought there. Another in Harewood 

 dale, about half a mile north from the chapel, the 

 spot is termed the Dryheads. There is another 

 large collection of circular cavities, termed the 

 Hole pits in Westerdale : a few yards s. w. of the 

 chapel, in the centre of them, has been an open area. 

 There is another cluster within the rabbit warren of 

 Mr. Herbert, at Scamridge, near Ebberston. 



. fr ' ' >t p.t ; 



HOUES. 



The houes were the ancient repositories of thp 

 dead. It is well known by those who are acquainted 

 \vith ancient history that before the introduction of 

 Christianity, there were no places for the dead like 

 our church-yards ; but they were interred in 

 places most convenient for the purpose, and respect 

 for deceased friends and relatives, induced the sur- 

 vivors to raise over the remains of their departed 

 friends, heaps of earth, which by us are called houes, 

 and which differ in size and form, according to 

 the rank of the deceased, or the fashion of different 

 ages or tribes. The bodies were sometimes burnt 

 to ashes, and their ashes put into an urn, were 

 placed upon the earth, and the houe was raised up- 

 on them. Some houes contain one each and others 

 many. The urns are made of clay slightly baked, so 

 that they fall to pieces by the slightest touch. Some- 

 times one urn is found within another, perhaps 



containing the ashes of the heart* The rule of 



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