PHOENICIAN COLONIZATION. iig 



while below a circle of stones runs round the hill, which itself 

 stands within a square of Druidical stones. In another place, 

 page 35, a similar hill similarly enclosed has two circles of stones, 

 one around the base and the other about one-third below the 

 summit. Our Agglestone, in the Isle of Purbeck, may be 

 regarded as a remarkable monument of this class. Of the 

 Agglestone a figure is given in reference. Agglestone is from 

 the Saxon " Halig-hon" viz., Holy home. 



In 1849 excavations were made into the centre of Silbury Hill, 

 in Wiltshire, on the ground level. The tunnel was excavated on 

 the original turf, which was plainly visible to the centre. This I 

 had the pleasure of seeing at the time. Dean Mere wether, in 

 his " Diary of a Dean," says " That so far as is yet known 

 Silbury Hill was not a sepulchral tumulus." Was it one of the 

 high places for sacrificing to Baal ? Marlborough Mount is a 

 similar erection. Both, I believe, have been well searched for 

 remains of burials, but in vain. What were those artificial 

 mounds made for ? 'I he Rev. W. Barnes, in Vol. IV., page 125, 

 of the Dorset Field Club, suggests that the two mounds were for 

 British Cor. or Court Mounds, or court of common law. But he 

 seems to forget that on these originally sharp-pointed cones 

 would have been space for very few except the judge or chairman. 

 Now sacrificial fires lighted here could be seen for many miles 

 round from the surrounding country. The temple of Hercules 

 at Gades, or Cadiz, is mentioned by Strabo. He says that an 

 unextir.guished fire had burnt upon its altar for thirteen hundred 

 years. Silbury Hill is only three-quarters of a mile from 

 Amesbury, where is situated the largest megalithic structure in 

 Britain, consisting originally of a circle of 100 large blocks of 

 stone placed on end, with two smaller circles within. These 

 stones vary from 5 to 20 feet in height. Dr. Stukely, in 1740, 

 published his " Stonehenge and Abury, two Temples restored to 

 the British Druids." If he had said restored to the British 

 Phoenicians, he would, I think, have been nearer the mark. 



Solomon looked for " the artist aid of friendly Tyre to make 

 the noiseless fabric of the temple spring" nearly 3,000 years ago, 



