Mr. Tate on Yecering Bell, &c. 441 



But the most peculiar character of this pottery is, that it is 

 covered with a yellow glaze. 



Two other hut circles in this Fortlet were explored ; on 

 the flagged floor of one, at the depth of 3 feet, charred wood 

 was found ; and in the other, which is 8 feet in diameter, the 

 upper stone of a quern was lying on its floor. This quern 

 is of the common conical shape, 13 inches in diameter and 

 measuring 6 inches in its thickest part ; it is made of a red- 

 dish porphyry with large felspar crystals, such as occur in the 

 district — a kind usually selected for these primitive hand- 

 mills. 



The square-like shape of this fortified dwelling might lead 

 to the supposition, that it is of late construction. Douhtless 

 the circle is the prevailing form of Forts and dwellings of 

 early Celtic times ; hut this is sometimes departed from, and 

 camps and Forts are frequently modified to suit the nature of 

 the ground. Even this fortified dwelling, however, has its 

 corners rounded, while its other characters ally it with early 

 Celtic huildings ; for it has the same description of thick 

 walls without lime, the same rudely flagged floors, and the 

 same kind of hut circles within. The flint associated with 

 the stone relic indicates an early age, when the Fortlet was 

 originally erected and occupied. After a lapse of time another 

 generation followed more advanced in art, for they used a 

 higher class of pottery, and this difference of time must have 

 been considerable, since debris of 30 inches in depth had 

 accumulated between the two periods of occupation. 



Fortified dwelling. {Plate XV. K.) A little higher up the 

 hill, 200 yards southward of Fortlet B, there is another smaller 

 fortified dwelling, with an eastern entrance ; and which, 

 though only 30 feet in diameter, has a wall 31 feet thick de- 

 fending several small, rudely-formed, unflagged hut circles 

 within. Diggings into these yielded, at a depth of 1 foot, frag- 

 ments of the same glazed pottery as that already described. 



Hut circles in Swint Law. The valley in which the 

 Fortlets already noticed are placed is bounded southward by 

 high ground, which is called Swint law ; and on this and in the 

 high valley between White law and Gleedscleugh, numbers 

 of hut circles could be traced a few years ago, some in 

 groups, others isolated, and many of them with their walls 

 standing above the ground ; but when the boundary fence 

 between the Akeld and Yevering estates was built in 1859, 

 all the camps and dwellings near this boundary were pill- 

 aged of their stones. 



