A HISTORY OF CORNWALL 



Bronze Age or later periods, was pointed out by Mr. W. C. Borlase, F.S.A., 

 in Naenia Cornubiae. It is an undoubted fact that the barrows and other 

 sepulchral deposits of Cornwall present features which, compared with those 

 in other parts of the kingdom, may be regarded as abnormal, but the character 

 of the objects contained in or accompanying them is sufficiently well- 

 pronounced to indicate the relative positions to which the burials may be 

 assigned. 



The following particulars of Cornish barrows include those both of the 

 Stone Age and of the Bronze Age, and as it is not possible in every case to 

 differentiate them it has been deemed best to treat them together under the 

 genera] head of barrows : 



Although many barrows have been removed from time to time for the 

 purpose of agricultural improvements, there still remains a very large number 

 on the hills, the moors, and the cliffs throughout Cornwall. The author of 

 Naenia Cornubiae mentions that five kinds of barrows, known respectively as 

 the cone-shaped barrow, the bowl barrow, the bell barrow, the flat barrow, 

 and the ring barrow, are found. But these distinctions are perhaps little 

 more than differences in height, the Cornish barrows varying in height 

 almost as much as in diameter. The dimensions range from 1 8 in. in 

 height 1 and 9 ft. diameter, 2 to 28ft. in height and ii6ft. in diameter. 3 It 

 seems probable that these differences are due to the amount of time and 

 material which the builders had for the work rather than to any deliberate 

 plan of construction. If they be arranged according to their contents 

 they show two marked classes, viz., (a) the chambered barrow, which 

 is sometimes long * and sometimes round ; * and (b) the more usual 

 round barrow, containing one or more small kist vaens or urns. The 

 distinction between these two types is very noticeable, and as at Chapel 

 Carn Brea * a kist vaen was found in the mound covering a chambered 

 barrow, it is just possible that the one may be of an earlier date than the 

 other. 



In the round chambered-barrows the chamber is nearly square, while 

 in the long specimens it is oblong. In every case it occupies the greater 

 portion of the whole bulk of the mound ; the sides and one end are built of 

 stone, and the roof composed of long stones laid across, and the whole covered 

 by a mound. In one of the ' Giants Caves ' at Scilly 7 the chamber was 

 aaft. long, 4ft. Sin. wide, and 4ft. 10 in. high ; and in the other i4ft. 

 long, 2 ft. high, and 4 ft. wide in the middle ; while that of the Pennance 8 

 barrow is 9 ft. 6 in. in length, 4 ft. in width, and 4 ft. 4 in. in height. The 



1 Botrea Hill, Sancreed, Trans. Penz. Nat. Hist, and Antlq. Soc. i, 234 ; Edmonds, The Land's End District, 

 33 ; Borlase, Naen. Corn. 134. 



' Trannack, Madron, Trans. Penz. Nat. Hist, and Antlq. Soc. i, 234 ; Edmonds, op. cit. 32 ; Borlase, Naen. 

 Corn. 208. 



1 Veryan Beacon, Journ. Roy. Inst. Cornw. (1855), 23 ; Drew, Hist, of Cornw. ii, 289 and 664; 

 Borlase, Naen. Carn. 204. 



' Scilly, Borlase, Observations, 30 ; Borlase, Naen. Corn. 72 ; Pennance, Trout. Penz. Nat. Hist, and Antlq. 

 Soc. (1862-5), 44. Ibid - (1883-4), 3'; Gent. Mag. 1865 (and plan); Borlase, Naen. Com. 74; 

 Tregiffian, Journ. Roy. Inst. Corntv. (1879), 211 (and plan). 



5 Treen in Zennor, Borlase, Naen. Corn. 73 ; Brane, Sancreed (as Chapel Euny), Journ. Roy. Inst. Corntv. 

 (1865), 19 (and plan) ; Borlase, Naen. Corn. 75 (fig. and plan). 



" Borlase, The Age of the Saints, Introd. viii. 



' Scilly, Borlase, Observations, 30. 



8 Pennance, Trans. Penz. Nat. Hist, and Antlq. Soc. (1862-5), 44 5 Ibid - ( l88 3~4)> 310. 



358 



