Mr. G. Tate on Cist-vaens and Sepulchral Urns. 67 



Cist-vaens have been discovered ; for not only in Northum- 

 berland, but also in Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, along the Welsh 

 borders, and in Scotland, these relics of a distant age have been 

 observed. These remains must, therefore, be referred to the 

 ancient British. 



Richard of Cirencester, in his account of the original inhabit- 

 ants of Britain, says : — " Their interments were magnificent, and 

 all things which they prized during life, even arms and animals, 

 were thrown into the funeral pile ; a heap of earth and turf 

 formed the sepulchre." This description in its full extent may 

 be more applicable to the inhabitants of the southern part of 

 the island ; less magnificence would be displayed in Northum- 

 berland, where the people, more distant from the commerce and 

 more civilized manners of the continent, were in a poorer and 

 ruder condition. From a fragment of one of the British bards 

 we are further informed that the British buried their dead on 

 the top of hills and lofty cliffs, on declivities, in heaths and 

 secluded valleys, on the banks and near the fords of rivers, and 

 on the sea-shore, where the ninth wave breaks. In Northum- 

 berland, the ancient British graves have generally been on ele- 

 vated ground. A few years ago an urn similar to our ruder one, 

 and containing bones, was found on Abberwick Hill ; others have 

 been discovered at Millfield Hill, Humbledon, Glanton, Threwitt, 

 Warrenton, — all hills or high situations. 



That the urns were of native manufacture, and not imported 

 into the country by the Phoenicians is, I think, pretty certain, 

 since the clay of which they are formed is the same as that which 

 is abundant in the neighbourhood where they have been en- • 

 tombed. The people who constructed war-chariots were surely 

 able to make coarse pottery ; in fact, the potter's art is one of 

 the earliest cultivated ; it was even practised among the abori- 

 ginal inhabitants of North America. 



No Roman coins or works of art have, as far as I can learn, 

 been found in any Cist-vaen which has been examined; it is, 

 therefore, highly probable that these ancient British graves con- 

 tain the remains of a people who lived anterior to the conquest 

 of Britain by the Romans. 



As suggestive for further researches it may not be useless to 

 add, that the name Lesbury would lead us to expect that 

 antiquities would be found in that neighbourhood ; since the 

 word Barrow is derived from the Saxon Beorg, Borh, or Byrig, 

 words applied to a town or fortress, a hill or a mound, and 

 whence come the words Borough and Bury. Sir R. Hoare, who 

 made careful and extensive investigation of ancient British re- 

 mains, states, that " near to places terminating with ' bury ' I 

 have almost invariably found some ancient camp, or earthenwork, 

 which gave rise probably to the termination." 



