the Traditions connected with it. 325 



formerly might have been an oblong square, extending duly North 

 and South ; " ' — a description which is borne out by the sketches of 

 the monument which accompany his letter. Wise describes the 

 " Cavern " as " on the east side of the southern extremity of the 

 enclosed piece of ground raised a few feet above the common 

 level ," and as consisting of " Three squarish flat stones of about 

 four or five feet over each way, set on edge, and supporting a Fourth 

 of much larger dimensions, lying flat upon them. These altogether 

 form a Cavern * * * * which may shelter ten or a dozen sheep from 

 a storm." " There seem," says Wise, "to have been two approaches 

 to our Altar" (for so he would make the flat stone) "through rows 

 of large stones set on edge, one from the South, the other from the 

 West, the latter leading directly into the Cavern." What Wise 

 regarded as a western approach is really a side chamber, difiering 

 only from that opposite to it on the east, in having its covering 

 stone removed. 



Sir R. C. Hoare had free access to Aubrey's "Monumenta Britan- 

 nica," and it was hardly possible that he should take this monument 

 for any other than " a long barrow, having a kistvaen of stones 

 within it, to protect the place of interment. A line of stones 

 encircled the head of the barrow, of which I noticed four standing 

 in their original position ; the corresponding four on the opposite 

 side had been displaced * * *. The long barrows almost invariably 

 point towards the east, at which end is found the sepulchral deposit, 

 but this barrow deviates from the general rule, by pointing north 

 and south. The adit or avenue, the stones of which still remain, 

 goes strait from south to north, then turns abruptly to the east, 

 where we find the Isistvaen, covered by the large incumbent stone, 

 which measures ten feet by nine." ^ 



^ Letter to Dr. Mead concerning Antiquities in Berkshire, 1738, pp. 34 — 39. 

 "Wise attributes Wayland Smith's Cave to the Danes, making it the sepulchre of 

 their kiug Bagsec, slain at ^scesdun in 871 ; as Aubrey, with equal improba- 

 bility, makes it the monument of Heugist or Horsa. Sir Walter Scott (Notes to 

 Kenilworth, chap. 13,) adopts Wise's view; but he never saw the place, and, as the 

 author of the "Scouring of the White Horse" (1859 p. 69) says, "He should have 

 known better. The Danish king was no more buried there than in Westminster 

 Abbey." 



-Ancient Wilts, vol. ii., p. 47. The writer has condensed and in part 

 VOL. VII. — NO. XXI. 2 F 



