Mr. Tate on the Celtic Toum at Greaves Ash. 315 



tliey are found nowhere. Circles of stones, which do not en- 

 close sepulchres, and which are in spots where groves of trees 

 may have grown, are the remains which, with most proba- 

 bility, may be regarded as Druidical temples ; to this class the 

 interesting circle at Three Stone Burn may belong ; but the 

 subject still requires careful investigation. In the centre of 

 the Western Fort there is a group of standing stones, which, 

 without any stretch of imagination, may be recognised as a 

 place for administering justice or performing religious rites ; 

 and in the centre of the Upper Fort, stands a large stone, 

 which we might fancy to have been an object or place of some 

 superstitious ceremony. Fires, rivers, fountains, trees, and 

 stones were worshipped by the ancient Britons ; and so long 

 did this idolatry linger in our island, even after the introduc- 

 tion of Christianity, that Canute in the eleventh century 

 passed a law prohibiting such heathenish superstitions. 



Very sparsely indeed is the valley of the Breamish now in- 

 habited ; beyond Ingram there are only seven shepherds' 

 houses and cottages ; but during the Celtic period, the 

 numerous dwellings scattered over it indicate a vastly greater 

 population, almost justifying the exaggerated expression of 

 Csesar when he says, there are in Britain an infinite number 

 of men. Peace and security in our day reign in that valley ; 

 but in these ancient times the hill tops bristled with fort- 

 resses, and the whole district wore a threatening aspect, and 

 breathed distrust and strife, rapine and bloodshed. These 

 arrangements tell of a divided state of society — of separate 

 tribes and clans, often at war with each other. That Celtic 

 race, though warlike and brave, was weakened by intestine 

 strife, and through want of union, perished beneath the 

 sword of foreign invaders, and the little we know of its 

 character and history has to be gathered from their sepul- 

 chres and ruined towns. 



Explanation of Plates 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 — 



PLATE 4. 



Plan of the Celtic town on Greaves Ash, near Linhope. 



PLATE 5. 



General view of the Western and Eastern Forts from Greenshaw hill. 



PLATE 6. 



Masonry of the south face of the rampart of "Western Fort, Greaves Ash, 

 A. Flue through the rampart. 



X 



