244 Wlialton and its Vicinity, by the Rev. J. E. Elliot. 



which they danced, and through which they carried their 

 children. ... It is not to be conceived that a solar worship so 

 intimately agreeing in various details, could arise spontane- 

 ously of itself in so widely distant countries ; it must have 

 been imported from one country to another. . . . There is 

 every reason to believe that this festival was once generally 

 celebrated in the whole of western Europe, &c. . . . We must 

 therefore, come to the conclusion that the worship of Baal 

 in Ireland as well as Scandinavia, must be derived from the 

 east, since the striking affinities sufficiently prove its oriental 

 origin." In this conclusion, I may fairly include Northum- 

 berland and the neighbourhood of Whalton. Within the 

 memory of persons now alive these fires were kept up, with 

 their attendant dances, in all the neighbouring villages ; 

 they are still maintained in our own, though now fallen into 

 the hands of the young lads. In the neighbourhood of Belsay , 

 a name which clearly indicates its connection with the Phoeni- 

 cian god Baal or Bel, there are remains of a Druidical circle ; 

 and near to it was found by my friend, Mr Bigge, one of those 

 stones with the concentric engravings which have recently 

 attracted the notice of the society, and which Nilsson attri- 

 butes to solar worshippers. This view of the learned Swedish 

 professor is confirmed by the opinion of your late secretary, 

 Mr Tate, in his very valuable paper on " Ancient Sculptured 

 Rocks," in the "Proceedings" of 1864* Mr Tate,indeed, traces 

 this solar worship to a Druidical source, whereas Professor 

 Nilsson derives it from the Phoenician worship of the sun- 

 god Baal ; but as he regards Druidism as a younger form of 

 that religion, there is no actual conflict between them. There 

 are besides other indications of the general prevalency of that 

 solar worship,f of which, as I have supposed, the mid-summer 

 * See page 174. 

 f In a letter which I had from Mr T. Arkle of Highlaws, he gives some 

 further confirmation of this. 1st. In regard to the mote hills of Elsdon, "The 

 opening in the higher hill points 35 degrees east of south The word Elsdon 

 has usually been derived from the Saxon Hide Dun, Old Hill ; but perhaps 

 there are equally good reasons for deriving it from the British Seuls dun, 

 signifying Fortress of the Sun. It was anciently written Ellesden or Helles- 



den, which may to some minds recall Heliopolis or Heliades Can 



Elsden and Eildon have the same derivation ? The hills are likely to have 

 been used for the same purposes. 2. The two stones standing one on each 

 side of the Tumulus on Sandyford Moor, have their longer axes pointing 36 

 degrees east of south. 3. On Earlside, not far from Byrness, are three upright 

 stones called the Three Kings. This monument has consisted of four stones, 

 one of which is fallen down, but still lying close to where it stood. The side 



