Mr. George Tate on Ancient Sculptured Bocks, <^c. 139 



prepare a paper to be accompanied by careful drawings and 

 explanations of the concentric circles on Routin Linn, Bew- 

 ick, and other places, in conjunction with other sculptured 

 stones in other parts of the district." Reference is also made 

 to this subject in a paper read by Mr. Dickson in 1858, on 

 a Saxon Cross at Rothbury ; " here on the Borders we have 

 the mysterious concentric circles carved on the rocks of 

 Doddington and elsewhere, emblems of eternity. But as 

 Mr. Tate, one of our members, has promised a paper on the 

 subject I forbear to add more," * With a view to the accom- 

 plishment of this task, I have year after year examined and 

 sketched all the stones which have been discovered in the 

 Border land, noted the antiquities with which they are con- 

 nected, and ranged over wide districts where they were likely 

 to be found. Circumstances have delayed the publication of 

 this paper, partly arising from difficulties in obtaining satis- 

 factory drawings, and partly from the hope, that in accord- 

 ance with a recommendation I had submitted, diggings 

 would have been made with the view of throwing light on 

 these sculptures. Some advantage has resulted from the 

 delay ; new facts have accumulated ; and the researches 

 recently made in the district by excavations into ancient 

 British oppida, forts, and sepulchres, the results of which 

 have been printed in the Club's Proceedings, help to throw 

 light on the period to which these inscribed blocks belong.f 



The drawings which illustrate this paper, include every 

 inscribed rock in Northumberland found in situ, on which 

 intelligible forms could be traced. With the exception of 

 the Routing Linn Stone, all are drawn to a scale of half-an- 

 inch to the foot — a size which adequately represents every 

 essential character, and conveniently admits of the compari- 

 son of the various figures with each other. Plans of the 

 figures are given, because shewing their true forms better 

 than perspective views. To produce a pretty picture out of 

 rugged rocks and rude sculptures has not been attempted ; 

 indeed natural breaks and markings on the rock have been 

 excluded, where they would interfere with a proper per- 

 ception of the artificial forms incised. Most of the drawings 

 have been made from the stones by Mr. John Storey, an able 

 and distinguished artist, under my own direction, and aided 

 by tracings and rubbings ; others are from rubbings kindly 



* History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, vol. iv., p. 72. 



t History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, vol. iv., pp. 293, 436. 



