V. — Celtic Remains on Dartmoor. — By Thomas Kelly, Yealmpton. 



Bead at the Spring Meeting, 3Iay 25, 1866. 



ON the western borders of Dartmoor, verging upon the districts 

 now cultivated, are numerous vestiges of the ancient inhabit- 

 ants of the country, consisting of Hut Circles, Sacred Circles, 

 Barrows, Kistvaens, Cromlechs, and Cairns. Immediately above, 

 and within a furlong of the Eiver Yealm, near Yealm Head, is a 

 large Aboriginal Village; the basements of the Huts, which are 

 from 40 to 50 in number, being still in good preservation. 



Below this Village, and close to the banks of the river, are 

 two oblong, rectangular buildings. One of them, on the eastern 

 bank, is 26 feet m length, and 16 feet in breadth ; and the remains 

 of parts of the walls are about 6 feet in height. In this Hut is a 

 Granite Stone (See Fig. \), on which, at right angles to each 

 other, are two rectangular hollows, which have evidently been 

 sunk with a metal tool. The stone, or slab, is 4 feet long, 2 feet 

 wide, and from a foot to 15 inches in thickness. Each of the two 

 excavations is of the following dimensions : 1 6 inches long, 1 1 

 inches wide, and 8 inches deep. The sides of the hollows on this 

 stone, as well as of those on two others to be presently referred 

 to, are bevelled, so as to admit of any castings (if they were used 

 for such a purpose) being easily removed. In the eastern wall of 

 the Hut, ju«t within the entrance, which is from the north, and 

 marked by a stone post about 6 feet high (perhaps one of the 

 original jambs), is a Niche, composed of four rough slabs, 21 inches 

 high, 18 inches wide, and 14 inches deep; for what purpose does 

 not appear. 



At a short distance above this Hut, on the opposite side of the 

 river, is another of the same description, 30 feet long, and 10 

 feet wide. (See Fig. 1). In this also is an excavated stone (See 

 Fig. 3), similar to the one already described, excepting that it has 



