Notice of an Urn. By John Turnbull. 805 



broke a hole in the Urn which however otherwise remains entire. 

 The Cist lies approximately east and west. It is from 39 to 40 

 inches long, 26 to 28 broad, and 16 deep. A single stone forms 

 each side and end, and the cover consisted also of a single stone 

 — all of them red sandstone slabs from 6 to 8 inches thick. It is 

 difficult to say whether or not they have been dressed in any 

 way. There was no stone for the floor. The cover was about 6 

 inches below the surface of the ground. 



In the Cist were found an wen and some fragments of human 

 bones much decayed — among them a piece of the skull. The 

 urn must have stood near the east end of the Cist, otherwise it 

 could not have been broken by the pick which tore away the 

 east end wall. It is 71^ inches high by 6 inches across the mouth. 

 It is of what is called the drinking cup type, and is ornamented 

 by incised lines encircling it forming six bands — three of the 

 spaces between these bands being completely filled by oblique 

 incised lines ; and the other spaces being ornamented by smaller 

 markings along-side the bands. 



[I extract a few particulars from another account by Mr Wm. 

 Fairbairn : *' The urn was found about 500 yards to the west of 

 Manderston House, and about 70 yards from a very fine spring 

 of water which at present supplies the mansion-house. The 

 adjacent ground runs with a gentle slope both to the north and 

 south, and it was on what appears to be the highest part of the 

 ridge, consisting chiefly of gravel and sand, that the cist was 

 found, and where I may say it still stands. The circumference 

 of the urn at top is 1 9^ inches ; at its most contracted part above 

 the middle 17 inches ; at the greatest girth below the middle 19^ 

 inches ; at the base 12|- inches. Parts of the skull found along 

 with it are 1% of an] inch in thickness. One of the side-stones of 

 the cist measures 3 feet and the other 3 feet 6 inches. These 

 with one of the end stones still remain fixed in the earth. The 

 stones are of the roughest description, and no care has been 

 taken to square or dress them in any way. The depth of the 

 stones may be said to be about two feet ; and if the cavity has 

 at any time been deeper, it must have been made so by scooping 

 out the bottom." The engraving is from a drawing by Mr 

 TurnbuU.— J. H.] 



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