262 On Iron and Iron-slag, &c, by Mr. James Hardy. 



to him, lie having, in middle life, sojourned for a little 

 while in a cousin shepherd's house, which was that 

 called the old palace, but which is actually the pele-tower of 

 Old Yeavering. For this, and not the modern steading, is 

 the seat of the primeval Saxon occupants of the territory of 

 Gebrin, Gefrin, or Yevern. Crossing from Akeld towards 

 the base of the hill, we passed the burn, and after measur- 

 ing the prostrate monolith, which we pronounced it to be, 

 not aware of its having been previously determined for 

 certain, we proceeded to look at the broken top of the 

 tumulus at Worm Law. The workmen placed at the Club's 

 service had here, at only two feet depth, struck upon a cist, 

 over which, among the accumulated earth, were scattered 

 fragments of pottery, shattered flints, and some iron-slag. 

 The iron-slag puzzled our friend Mr. Tate very much to 

 account for, and it is to afford a possible explanation, that I 

 mention the incident that fell under our inspection that day. 

 At the depth of half-a-foot in the section made by the cut- 

 ting, which had been rubbed into the quick by sheep, we 

 noticed a rusty article projecting, and proceeding to extract 

 it, obtained a longish piece of flat iron, very much decayed, 

 and doubled up the one portion over the other. On handling 

 it, it broke at the bend. One of the pieces was more taper- 

 ing, or worn away, than the other. It exactly resembled, 

 and we decided that it was, a fragment of an old cart hoop, 

 of a cart with narrow wheels ; and we thought it possible that 

 gypsies might have encamped at one time on the clean 

 grassy space round the barrow, free as it is from the every- 

 where encroaching brackens, and that this might be a 

 remnant of their leaving, for old gypsies did not traffic in 

 scraps of iron. Moreover, we may suppose, that here taking 

 advantage of the circular mound, so suitable for the purpose, 

 they levelled the summit of the barrow, and on the ring 

 thereof repaired or recast their outworn cart hoop — for they 

 were adepts in smith- work ; — that the slag was a product of 

 their fires on that occasion, and that the old metal we had 

 drawn forth was too imperfect to be retained, and had been 

 twisted up, perhaps to test it, and then cast aside. This 

 will account, also, for the earth over the cist being so shallow. 

 I had previously a notion that the sheet-lead, discovered 

 in a superficial situation in one of the neighbouring fortlets, 

 had been conveyed thither by some of that ready-fingered 

 clan. Who else could have had an iron-hoop up there ? I 



