THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1873, 
THE PRESERVATION OF OUR NATIONAL 
MONUMENTS 
pp BE necessity of some measures being taken for the 
preservation of our national pre-historic monu- 
ments is constantly being forced upon public attention by 
the acts of destruction so frequently reported in the 
newspapers, and which, it would appear, the power of 
public opinion is by itself unable to prevent. 
We have only to refer to any archeological work which 
treats of our cromlechs and dolmens, and other megalithic 
monuments, to see at once how fearfully many of them 
_ have been mutilated, if they have not been absolutely de- 
stroyed within the last century or two, The disappear- 
ance of the monolith near Kit’s Coty House, which, 
though fallen in Stukeley’s time, was still there to mark 
what was then known as “the general’s grave;” the 
hopeless confusion into which the “ Countless Stones,” 
also near Aylesford, have been thrown ; the cairns within 
the circle, known as Long Meg and her Daughters, which, 
since Camden’s time, have vanished, while the Daughters 
appear to have been reduced in number from 77 to 68 ; the 
double row of immense stones near Shap, the destruction of 
which has been so great that a village has been almost 
entirely built out of their remains ;—these are but a few 
examples of this kind culled at random from Fergusson’s 
“ Rude Stone Monuments.” 
It was, moreover, only last year that a portion of Ave- 
bury, a monument perhaps only second in importance to 
Stonehenge, was threatened, and was only saved for pos- 
terity by the public-spirited liberality of Sir John Lubbock, 
who purchased the site. 
With barrows and earthworks the destruction has been 
equally rapid, though less noticed. We have, however, 
seen an expostulation in the Z7zzzes on the subject of the 
_vallum of an ancient circular camp being converted into 
‘bricks, and the threatened destruction of Casar’s Camp 
at Wimbledon is still a matter of public interest. 
_ It is, perhaps, rarely the case that these monuments are 
destroyed in a merely wilful manner; it is usually from 
economical motives. The barrows offer a mound of soil 
well adapted for being carted away to give a top dress. 
ing to some neighbouring field, and there is also the 
secondary advantage, that their site, after the removal 
_ of the mound, offers no impediment to the passage 
of the plough. The stones of the megalithic monuments 
_ offer supplies of material both for the purposes of building 
_ and the repair of the neighbouring roads. As it was with 
“the Egyptian mummies, which Cambyses or Time had 
spared and which Avarice now consumeth,” so it is with 
these rude monuments of our forefathers. When the belief 
was strong that “ Mizraim cured wounds,” there was some 
cuse for “mummies becoming merchandise,” and 
“Pharaoh being sold for balsams ;” but to dress our fields 
with the sepulchral mounds of our predecessors, and to 
break up their monuments for the repair of our barns 
and roads, seems to us what Sir Thomas Browne would 
NATURE ro 297 
Session of Parliament, to make provision for the preserva- 
tion of certain national monuments, which has now been 
read a first time. The means adopted for dealing with 
this somewhat difficult subject appear to us well calculated 
for producing the desired result, and in a manner which 
even those who consider they have a right to destroy any 
monuments on their own property, cannot but regard as 
equitable. ; 
The conservation of monuments such as barrows, dol- 
mens, menhirs, earthworks, stone-circles, &c., is placed 
by the Bill under the charge of a body of Commissioners, 
consisting of the Inclosure Commissioners, the Master of 
the Rolls, the Presidents of the Societies of Antiquaries of 
London and of Scotland, the Keeper of the British An- 
tiquities at the British Museum, and three other Com- 
missioners to be nominated by the Crown, Under their 
charge are placed certain monuments specified in a Sche- 
dule attached to the Bill; but, with the consent of the 
Treasury, other monuments of a similar kind may, at any 
future time, be brought under their control. When once 
this has been done, any injury or damage to the monu- 
ments will be treated as a malicious injury and become 
penal, unless the written permission of the Commissioners 
has been obtained, or they have declined to purchase 
either the monument itself, or a power to restrain the 
owner or occupier of it from injuring it during a certain 
period of years. 
Powers are given to the Commissioners to purchase the 
freehold, or other estate, in any monument and rights of 
way for the public to it, as well as to exercise the power of 
restraint from injury. The amount of compensation to be 
awarded under either head is to be determined under the 
provisions of an already existing Act of Parliament ; but 
in all cases the consent of the Treasury will be necessary 
before there can be any outlay of public money. 
These are the main provisions of the Bill, but the neces- 
sary Clauses with regard to notices, powers of access, con- 
servation of monuments, and other matters, have not been 
omitted, and have evidently been carefully considered. 
The Schedule attached to the Bill is at present appa- 
rently undergoing revision, but about eighty of the prin- 
cipal prehistoric monuments of the United Kingdom are 
already specified. 
It appears to us that it would be wise for the local so- 
cieties in our different counties to furnish Sir John Lubbock 
with catalogues of the principal monuments in their re- 
spective districts, such as in their opinion ought to be 
placed under the protection of the Commissioners, so as 
to make the list as complete in the first instance as pos- 
sible, and avoid the necessity of making continual additions 
to it. 
The mere fact of a barrow, dolmen, or camp, being 
thought of sufficient importance to be cited by name in an 
Act of Parliament would tend to raise it in the respect of 
the inhabitants of the surrounding country, and in most 
cases suffice to preserve it from wanton injury. The 
general spread of education will also do much to encou- 
rage a regard for our national antiquities, of which, not- 
withstanding neglect in the past, we have still a fair num- 
ber to show. Let us do what we can to preserve them ere 
it be too late, and not let posterity charge the present gene- 
ration with neglect, should at some future time a greater 
interest arise in these relics of a dim past, and it then be 
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