BARROW, &C., ON TREWAVAS HEAD. 307 



about 1 foot 6 inches in height by 3 feet 6 inches in length ; 

 and they give a diameter of 19 feet 6 inches to the Circle, near 

 the western side of which, in fact within one foot only of one of 

 the encircling stones, is a very good Kist-vaen, (A in the plan), 

 with its eastern and western sides consisting each of a single stone, 

 measuring, respectively, 3 feet 6 inches and 2 feet 10 inches in 

 length, by 2 feet 3 inches in height ; and these support a cover, of 

 tolerably regular form, 4 feet 5 inches in length, 4 feet in breadth, 

 and 1 foot 1 1 inches at its greatest thickness. The south side of the 

 chamber seems to have been protected by smaller stones. How 

 the north side was formed there is no evidence to show. If a single 

 slab had been originally placed there, it must have been removed 

 when a pit (b) was dug in front of it some years ago by a treasure- 

 seeker. We have here again the old story so often told in con- 

 nection with the destruction and plundering of ancient monumental 

 structures. A miner in the neighbourhood had long set a covetous 

 eye on the barrow as the store-house of great riches ; and one 

 night he had so impressive a dream, bringing vividly before him a 

 great crock of gold, that at dawn he proceeded to the mound and 

 dug the pit just referred to, exposing the Kist-vaen, into which 

 he got full access ; but what he found there my informant, whom 

 I accidentally met near the spot, and who knew the miner, could 

 not tell ; and as the explorer himself has since left Cornwall, 

 there seems now to be but little chance of ascertaining what the 

 cell contained — -a state of things much to be regretted, as, from 

 its structure and peculiar position, the barrow is of more than 

 ordinary interest. / 



On its western side there appear to be some traces of an outer 

 protection formed by upright stones, which, however, does not 

 now extend to the eastern side. There might have been a second 

 Circle ; or, perhaps it was an afterthought to expand the base in 

 that direction, the more effectually to cover the Kist-vaen, which, 

 as already stated, is placed near one side of th-e inner circle of 

 atones — possibly to leave space for other interments/'' 



* " At Lagmore, in the neighbourhood of Ballindalloeh. in Banffshire, is 

 a concentric circle of pillar stones. A cromlech still remains on the south 

 ^ide, immediately within the circumference of the inner circle. It is formed 

 of a large covering slab resting on four supi^orting pillars." — Sculptured 

 Stones of Scotland, Appendix to Preface, p. xxiii, Vol. II, 



c 3 



