176 Mr. George Tate on Ancient Sculptured Mocks, 8fc. 



I am sensible I am here wandering into the regions of 

 speculation, or it may be of fancy ; but these views are not 

 derived from Assyrian, Egyptian, or Hebrew symbolisation, 

 to which our antiquities have but little relation, since they 

 belong to a different state of civilisation ; they are suggested 

 by the records we have of the opinions and practices of the 

 people who, I believe, incised the mysterious looking figures 

 on our rocks. 



These inscriptions appear to have served another purpose, in 

 connection with the dead. We have, however, only four dis- 

 tinct cases in Northumberland of their being used in sepul- 

 t;hral chambers, though there are others not far distant from 

 interments. In Scotland, and in Ireland, and in Devon- 

 shire, I find more have been seen on cist covers. The dig- 

 ging at Old Bewick failed to show any connection there, 

 between these inscriptions and interments. Their use for 

 the dead was, therefore, I think, only partial and secondary ; 

 and arose out of the sacred import of the symbols. The 

 mediaeval Christian, as he was dying, gazed with hopeful 

 earnestness on the cross as the symbol of his salvation, and 

 had it placed over his tomb ; and he was sometimes buried in 

 earth brought from the Holy Land. And so, as the ancient 

 Briton, was laid in his tomb with his weapon and his earthen 

 cup at his side, he might also be supposed to gaze on the 

 sacred concentric circles, as symbolising his hope of immor- 

 tality. 



The Rev. William Procter of Doddington carries this view 

 much further, and considers that the incised blocks are monu- 

 mental inscriptions; and as he has been long acquainted 

 with them and carefully investigated them, his opinions are 

 entitled to be placed upon record ; I am glad, therefore, that 

 he has favoured me with them in writing. 



" I am," says he, " decidedly of opinion that they are all 

 monumental inscriptions in memory of departed friends whose 

 remains had been deposited near them. The oldest monu- 

 ments in our church-yards bear no verbal inscriptions; and 

 it is not likely that these far more ancient monuments aimed 

 at verbal inscriptions. As in our old church-yard monuments, 

 the sword, the shears, and the cross are emblematical of the 

 sex, profession, and faith of the departed, so it is pleasing to 

 think that the prevailing figure of the circle in these engrav- 

 ings in the rocks may have been designed to symbolise the 

 immortality of the soul. Or the central dot may indicate the 

 individual deceased, the surroundings have reference to his 



