Prehistoric Dwelling Places 87 



To begin with, the architect and builder planned the 

 house so that future extensions could be made without in 

 any way upsetting the comfort of the residents. He exca- 

 vated a trench 8 feet deep, 11 feet wide, about 30 feet in 

 length, on the sloping edge of a small hill. The black outside 

 line in the cross section shows the original sides of the trench. 

 In this rectangular excavation he proceeded to build the house. 

 The side walls are about three feet thick, built of large rough 

 unhewn stones, except those used in the jambs of the doorways, 

 which were either hewn or selected as having square corners. 

 The side walls, as usual, slope inwards, and were evidently held 

 in position by temporary supports until the immense roofing 

 stones were laid on the top, their weight and size serving to hold 

 the side walls in position. I should think these top stones may 

 average about 2 tons each. In the side walls he built two door- 

 ways, one on either side. These doorways have square-cornered 

 jambs and lintels. The passages from them only proceed three 

 feet, the bare hard perpendicular sides of the trench, composed 

 of hard undisturbed boulder clay, end the passages. Thus we 

 find the builder left these doorways so that if the owner of the 

 house desired to add to it, he could do so entirely from the out- 

 side, without the peace of his domestic hearth being in any way 

 disturbed by the building of the additions to his dwelling. In 

 this case no additional rooms were ever added to the house. 

 At the upper end of the room is a handsome fireplace with 

 chimney. The fireplace is also of large rectangular-cornered 

 stones, and measures 3ft. high by 2ft. wide ; from it the chimney 

 ascends with a steep slope. Agricultural pursuits have obliterated 

 the external aspect of the chimney, and had almost blocked it 

 up below, but we carefully and completely removed all the filling-up 

 soil. At the other or lower end the builder constructed a drain, 

 which had become choked up, but we opened it from above and 

 remade it, ensuring for many generations to come, I hope, the 

 spectacle of a dry specimen of a complete prehistoric souterrain 

 dwelling. What I conceive to be the original hall door or entrance 



