280 On Urns and Antiquities of the Cheviot Hills. 



Under the rim is a line of rude chipped out depressions ; then 

 an elevated ring followed a depression all round, along which is 

 a series of larger chipped out rude depressions ; then an elevated 

 ring followed by an encircling depression ; followed by a free 

 space, and then a transverse ring of somewhat oblique dug out 

 or impressed marks ; then another elevated rib ; and beneath it 

 a line of depressions as if made by the end of a stick with three 

 notches in it ; these depressions are somewhat of a horse-shoe 

 shape : the body of the urn is speckled all over with impressions 

 of this kind, some of them more regular in pattern than others ; 

 an attempt has been made to place them in a medallion position 

 on the upper and widest portion of the sides ; two smaller me- 

 dallion marks are seen at one part near the base. 



There is a final rim above the base with a few of the notched 

 stick marks widely disposed on it. 



It is remarkable how out of such rude materials, and with 

 untutored skill, so many different styles of ornaments have been 

 contrived. In describing British urns they are usually said to 

 be of the " usual pattern," but hitherto I have scarcely seen two 

 alike. Hence the greater necessity of preserving the knowledge 

 of them by engraving. 



"In the front of Rosedean farm-house," it is notified in the 

 Alnwick MSS., "and near the Dene, is a large barrow of the 

 tumulus kind ; and not far off another, a smaller one, but with- 

 out so decided an appearance." There are so many gravelly 

 knolls in the neighbourhood, that Mr MacLauchlan did not give 

 these a position in his map. (Memoir of Survey of Eastern 

 Branch of Watling Street, 1864, p. 26, note). He, however, 

 enters a " Cist with Urn, 1860," on the right hand (going south) 

 of the turnpike road, between it and Roddam burn, at no great 

 distance from Wooperton. 



Wooperton, Roddam Rigg House. 

 Writing in July, 1852, Mr Tate in his MS. Notes remarks, 

 " The flanks of the Cheviot around Roddam, Wooperton, and on- 

 ward to Lilburn, present a succession of beautiful rounded 

 gravel hills, standing distinctly out from each other. These 

 lovely green spots have been studded with sepulchres ; for several 

 urns and cists have been discovered in these natural mounds. In 

 the course of last year, four cists were laid bare near the summit 

 of a conical hill at "Wooperton, and three large-sized urns of 



