EARLY MAN 



Celtic influence is afforded by the dotted or punctured ornament which 

 is carried round the whole of the penannular armlets, a species of deco- 

 ration which is found on enamelled horse-trappings of undoubtedly late 

 Celtic character. 



A gold bracelet or armlet with a snake-like termination, found at 

 Newport Pagnel, 1 and now in the British Museum, is unquestionably 

 of Roman workmanship. 



WHITE CROSSES AT MONKS RISBOROUGH AND BLEDLOW 



These two gigantic cruciform figures cut in the turf on the steep 

 sides of the Chiltern Hills in the neighbourhood of Monks Risborough 

 and Bledlow are of great antiquity, and may perhaps belong to pre- 

 historic times. 



These crosses cut in the chalk present certain features which offer 

 striking parallels to the White Horses and Long Men in other parts of 

 the kingdom. That all these hill-side figures are of great antiquity 

 may be inferred from the fact that popular tradition assigns them to the 

 Saxons, and in some cases associates them with battles fought by that 

 race. An examination of the forms both of the animals and men tends, 

 however, to show that they belong to an earlier period. The horses, 

 especially in the case of the famous example at Uffington, display a 

 remarkable resemblance to the animals portrayed on ancient British coins. 2 



Whether the Buckinghamshire crosses may be regarded as still 

 retaining their original forms, or as having been modified in order to 

 conform to Christian ideas, must, in the present imperfect state of our 

 knowledge, be pronounced uncertain ; but having regard to the unques- 

 tionably symbolic character of the Long Man of Cerne Abbas, Dorset, 

 and probably too that of Wilmington, Sussex, the evidence seems to be 

 in favour of the theory that the Buckinghamshire crosses are modifica- 

 tions of purely phallic forms. 



Apart from any specially symbolic meaning, these crosses resemble 

 the other hill-side figures in (i) their colossal forms, in (2) being situated 

 on a steep hill-side visible over a large area of country, and in (3) facing 

 generally in a western or north-western direction. 



The cross at Whiteleaf, to the east of Monks Risborough, which 

 stands out on the hill-side so prominently that it is said to be visible 

 from a distance of thirty miles, is shown in the accompanying plans. 

 The perpendicular stem or shaft of the cross, apart from the triangular 

 base, is over 80 ft. in height, and 80 ft. across. Its stem and cross-limbs 

 are a little over 20 ft. in breadth. 



The cross near Bledlow, which has been cut on a prominent spur 

 of the Chiltern Hills, is less striking from its somewhat smaller size and 

 more grass-covered condition. Its form, apparently, has been somewhat 



1 The Archaeological Journal, vol. viii. p. 39. 



'Particulars of the hill-side monuments of Buckinghamshire and Berkshire may be found in (l) A 

 letter to Dr. Mead, by Francis Wise, 1738; (2) Further observations upon the White Horse, by 

 Francis Wise, 1742; and (3) in Lipscomb's History of the County of Buckingham, vol. ii. 



189 



