64 ANCIENT SETTLEMENT ON TREWORTHA MARSH. 



how a bullock could have been got through the door at the east 

 end, for it is only 2-ft. wide, and if we may judge from the 

 jambs found in place, it cannot have been above 2-ft. 6-in. high. 



The " Council HaU " may, however, have been utilized in 

 later times for bullocks, and the cushion-stones removed to make 

 mangers for the cattle. If this were so, then perhaps the traces 

 of a central hearth were destroyed. 



To return to the hall of seats. The stone-slabs that formed 

 a screen between it and the upper hall, where were the hearths 

 were five in number. Two formed the elbow to the upper seat 

 on the north side. In a line with this, were three more. All 

 were lying on their faces down hill, but of their position there 

 could be no doubt, as the groove in the soil remained, showing 

 where they had been sunk into the floor. The floor of the room 

 above is a few inches higher than that of the lower hall. Out- 

 side this lower hall, on the north side, is a sort of buttress built 

 against the wall, consisting of large stones laid one on the other. I 

 think it not improbable that the supply of peat for fuel in the house 

 was stacked between this buttress and the stone screen already 

 referred to, near the narrow opening in the north waU, into the 

 upper hall. It is possible, were this the case, that the fuel was 

 thrown in through this hole. The north side would be that least 

 exposed to driving rain, and it would have been a convenience 

 to thrust the fuel in on the same side as the stack, instead of 

 having to carry it all round the house. Outside the opening, 

 west of the stone-screen, were slabs of stone, either pavement, 

 or lintels of the opening that had been cast down. 



To return to the main entrance on the south side. West of 

 the screen that sheltered the door, at the distance of 6-ft. 6-in., 

 is a stone stile into the little paddock that adjoins the house on 

 the south. It is 3-ft. wide, and the stile slab is 2-ft. 5-in. above 

 the ground. It is held in place by a stone jamb, a slab stand- 

 ing 3-ft. 6-in. from the ground, and 2-ft. 6-in. wide. On the 

 west side of this stile we found the kitchen midden of the 

 house, a stratum of peat-ashes and broken crockery lying on the 

 virgin soil, about an inch thick. Here we found three broken 

 hones, a slate spindle-whorl, two flint chips, and a broken 

 polished flint celt-head. I may add that we found two more 

 hones in the hall with the benches. 



