ANCIENT BRITISH URNS. 183 



1871 a large number of sepulchral urns were discovered in a bed 

 of large flints ; there were, it is said, so many as 30 or 40 which 

 contained bones and ashes, all of which were destroyed with 

 the exception of two or three, two of which were of globular 

 form with band of indented lines round the upper part. 

 [See a communication from the late Canon Bingham, F.S.A., in 

 Proceed. Soc. Antiq. 2nd S., Vol. 5, p. 112.] 



In " The Barrow Diggers," Plate 8, are figures of two urns of 

 this form which were obtained from barrows on Charlton 

 and Littleton Downs.* A third urn from the same spot by 

 Mr. Durden is of the sub-cylindrical shape, 18in. in height and 

 10 Jin. in diameter of niouth, rudely impressed with the finger and 

 thumb. Urns of the globular form have been so often found in 

 the Dorset barrows, and so rarely elsewhere, that we are induced to 

 claim them as peculiar to this county. This suggestion was first 

 made to me by Mr. Moule, who was quoting the " Archaeological 

 Journal." It may not be easy to explain the origin of peculiarities 

 of style in an early period, but there can be no reasonable doubt of 

 the fact. We must bear in mind that at this period fictile vessels 

 were hand-made without the potter's wheel, and that consequently 

 much depended on the taste and skill of individual workmen. The 

 size of these globular urns varies a good deal. The specimens in our 

 Museum measure thus : 1. From Whitchurch S. Farm (Celt. Turn., 

 pi. iv.) ; height, II in. ; diameter of mouth, 7|in. ; girth, 2ft. 11 in. 

 2. Pokeswell (Celt. Turn., pi. 8) ; height, 8f in. ; diameter of mouth, 

 Tin. (?); girth, 2ft. Sin. (?). 3. Chesilborne; height, 8Jin.; diameter 

 of mouth, 7 Jin. ; girth, 2ft. l|in. In the last place I will draw 

 attention to a third description of cinerary urns, of which we 

 possess some striking examples, and which are more generally 



* This somewhat singular work is attributed to the pen of the late Rev. 

 Charles Woolls, curate of Sturminster Marshall. It is dedicated to the 

 Rev. Thomas Rackett, M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., rector of Spetisbury. It 

 gives an account of the excavation of a large barrow at Shapwick with 

 much expense, time, and labour, and very little profit. There are some 

 valuable notes in the book, and a few good plates of antiquities, &c. 

 Printed by Mr. Shipp, Blandford, 1839, p. 122. 



