Rev. W. Greenwell on Ancient British Tumuli. S03 



probably, the sepultures of more humble persons than the 

 larger tumuli which contain cists, urns, and implements. 



On August 2nd and 3rd, I examined a place of sepulture 

 at Blawearie, near Old Bewick. It is situated about half-a- 

 mile north-east of the camp upon Bewick Hill, and consists 

 of a circle of stones set on edge, in some places touching each 

 other, in others standing apart. The circle is 36 feet in 

 diameter, and contains within it a few ordinary field stones 

 upon the surface, but not in a sufficient quantity to constitute 

 a cairn. Some years ago, a cist had been discovered in the 

 centre, in which was found an urn, since lost, nor can I 

 recover any account sufficiently exact to determine the type. 

 Nine feet six inches to the south-west of the centre, we came 

 upon a cist, lying north-west by south-east. It is 3 feet 

 4 inches long, 1 foot 10 inches wide, and 1 foot 10 inches 

 deep, made of four slabs with a cover, one of the side stones 

 had a single stone placed upon it, and another had several, 

 to make it up to the requisite height. At the bottom was 

 about 4 inches of sand, amongst which and nearly covered 

 by it, at the north corner, was an urn placed upon its side, 

 with the mouth towards the centre of the cist. There was 

 not a trace of the body — an unburnt one, no doubt — remain- 

 ing, and nothing, beyond the urn, except a few pieces of 

 charcoal. The urn is of the flower pot shape, 6| inches high 

 and 6 inches wide at the mouth. It is entirely covered with 

 lines placed herring bone fashion, made by a sharp ended 

 implement, and is identical in shape, and ornamentation, with 

 one found at Great Tosson, near Rothbury, with an unburnt 

 body and an iron javelin head.* Three feet west of this cist 

 was another, lying also north-west by south east. It is 2 feet 

 8 inches long, 2 feet 3 inches wide, and 1 foot 9 inches deep, 

 and has only two side stones and a short one at the north- 

 east end ; the cover had been previously removed. At the 

 bottom was about 6 inches of sand, amongst which, at the 

 north corner, was a necklace of beads, of which above one 

 hundred were found. Ten of these are cylindrical, the others 

 being thin flat round plates of various sizes, and they had 

 been arranged in series of ten rotmd ones and then a long 

 one, then ten round ones and so on. The long beads are 

 from eleven-sixteenths to one inch long, the round ones from 



* See Mr. Tate's Account of this Discovery in Proc. of Soc. of Ant of Scot- 

 land, Vol. IV., p. 58, and a Description of the Skull, with a Plate of the Urn, 

 &c., in Cran. Brit., PI. 54. 



