Ixxiv. PORTESHAM AND BRIDEHEAD DISTRICT. 



here, mention will be made of the geological nature of the megaliths that from 

 this point will everywhere he met with. 



But the fate of " Jeffery and Joan, and their little dog Denty, with Eddy 

 alone," is a sad one. Warne says that they have been built into an adjacent 

 wall : but a man who was present at the ceremony stated that, by the spot where 

 they once stood, a hole was made for them, and they were decently interred. The 

 place where they are said to lie can be pointed out, as well as a wall which 

 contains four large stones. 



Hence, footsteps will be bent towards Hampton Barn, where the carriages will 

 assemble, and a stone circle, a quarter of a mile further, will be visited, and then 

 the " collapsed dolmen." Beyond this, a good point of view will be taken for a 

 sight of the Valley of Stones, with its nearly complete circle. 



"The Grey Mare and her Colts" will next be approached, and the thorns of 

 life will be encountered. It is a " long" barrow, and at its east end two 

 megaliths stand up as if to mark the entrance. Afterwards comes the Gorwell 

 Stone Circle. Why are its constituent stones so small ? Here mention will be 

 made of the subject of " Orientation" in general, and of the orientation of stone 

 circles in particular, and their relation to * olar worship. 



On Tennant's Hill, a quarter of a mile farther, is a fine barrow, gloriously 

 situated. The spirits of the dead, who here revisit the glimpses of the moon, can 

 rejoice in one of the widest and most pleasing views in Dorset. For our part, we 

 shall see Blackdown, Abbotsbury Rings, Puncknowle, Shipton, Pillesdon, and 

 Lewesdon, Long Bredy, and Litton Cheney ; while the abandoned Kingston 

 Russell House, the birthplace of Nelson's Hardy, will lie, as it were, at our feet. 



The carriages, waiting at Gorwell Farm, will be reached by a footpath, and 

 will proceed to a spot on the Bridport Road, nine miles from Dorchester, where 

 are the tablestone of a cromlech, some barrows and earthworks, and, perhaps the 

 most interesting object of all, a perfect earth circle. 



Then homewards, passing on the left a large monolith that stands in the middle 

 of a low-lying field, and up to the top of Martin's Down, by a road that leads 

 straight to Bridehead. What is the long, divided, earthmound that shuts off from 

 the west a crowd of tumuli of all kinds 5* To suggest that it is a double barrow, 

 the two portions placed end to end, is to suppose that a whole army of men must 

 lie buried there. Or can it have served some ritual purpose as regards the 

 tumular interments beyond ? As we pass on, some of the barrows, and especially 

 a fine long barrow, will be worth crossing on foot. 



On the way from Bridehead to Dorchester time may remain to visit an earth 

 circle called the Saucer barrow, and the " Nine Ladies," who stand by the 

 roadside. 



A FINE RINGED BARROW. 



On reaching the cross-roads the ringed or dished barrow was 

 pointed out. 



