VOL. XXVIII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 6ft 



ward of these circles, we found the altar on which they used to burn their dead, 

 overgrown with earth and green sod, which we caused to be uncovered: it was 

 made of dry stone, 8 feet long, and 4 feet broad ; the coals and bones were 

 fresh among the stones, and the stones burned with fire. At the east end of 

 this altar there was a pit, which was likewise overgrown with earth and green 

 sod ; which we opened, and found it to be the receiver, where they swept in all 

 that remained on the altar after burning. We searched deep, and the substance 

 was all alike, black and greasy : it had tinged the hill in a straight line from the 

 pit to the bottom of the hill ; and discovered itself to our view, the land being 

 then ploughed. 



I shall add only one more that I have seen, besides the many that are yearly 

 discovered ; to shew that this was the way the Irish had of burying, in heathen 

 times, though the people know nothing of it by history or tradition. In the 

 county of Farmanagh, on a hill over Wattle-bridge, there has been a vast heap 

 of stones, the basis encircled with very large stones, standing on end. This 

 heap has been removed, to pave our roads, and build that bridge ; under which 

 there were some urns in stone coffins, and I believe there are some remaining. 

 These I suppose were the urns of some great personages. The heap was so 

 vast, and the stones about it so large and so many, that it must have cost great 

 pains to bring them there : or perhaps there might have been a battle, and some 

 of the great officers might have their bones interred there, and the army made 

 that great work over them ; for it seemed to be a work done by many. I have 

 seen several such heaps in this kingdom, and I doubt not but they are all 

 monuments for the dead. 



An Account of a great number of Urns dug up at North Elmham, in Norfolk. 

 Communicated by Peter Le Neve, Esq. Norroy, F. R. S. N" 337, art. 28, 

 p. 257. 



In the parish of Elmham, about half a mile from the town, there is a field 

 called the Broom Close, lying on the west-side of the road from- Elmham to 

 Beetly. Some labourers repairing the fence on the south-side of the close, in 

 the bottom of the ditch accidently pitched on a pot, which they expected to 

 have been full of money, and fell to ransacking ; but finding nothing but dust 

 and ashes, went to their work again ; and digging on, they found two or three 

 more; but the contents the same. On a further search, and digging first under 

 the hedge, afterwards further into the close, there were found great quantities 

 of such urns, and several very near together. . There is One man in the parish 

 who. has been chiefly employed in this search for several people, and the num- 



VOL. VI. K 



