Rude Stone Antiquities of Brittany. By Miss Russell. 517 



one in the parish of Constantine, must have been a regular Scotch 

 weem, thirty feet long, five feet wide, and six feet four inches in 

 height. In the other,near the house of Trelowarren, the entrance 

 opened into a cross passage, one end of which had fallen, while 

 the other led into a comparatively large room. Both were 

 entirely concealed. Near the latter was a large tumulus con- 

 taining urns with ashes. Mr Polwhele's theory is that these 

 buildings were temporary habitations used for concealment 

 during hostile landings on the Cornish coast. On the other hand, 

 I observe in the " Gentleman's Magazine Library," a selection 

 of articles now in course of publication, two cases of inhabited 

 British dolmens ; a woman lived under a so-called Druid's altar 

 near Bala, in Wales, and went out at night to forage on her 

 neighbours, though she never stole anything but provisions. 

 And an old woman lived for many years in a cromlech or dolmen, 

 near Lough Gur in Ireland. After her death it was partly pulled 

 to pieces in a search for money, which she was probably supposed 

 to have hidden ; but the searchers only found " an old jug full 

 of burnt bones, which was of no use to anybody." Whether or 

 not these were the ashes of a former occupant, it is very unlikely 

 that a chamber of the size described, thirteen feet by six, should 

 have been built for the purpose of hiding the "jug" somewhere 

 about it. The term cromlech means "roof-slab," though the 

 crotn or "bent" properly applies to the angle of an ordinary 

 house-roof. Cromlech is the word used in Wales and Ireland. 



As to the third class of rude stone monuments in Brittany, 

 the single standing-stones — menhirs or long stones — there is 

 curiously enough no mystery at all ; some of them at least have 

 been idols. 



It seems quite authentic that there was an edict of the Council 

 of Nantes, as late as the year 658 (about the time of the Council 

 of Whitby in England) requiring that the stones which were 

 worshipped should be thrown down ! And thrown down they 

 were, in the south-west of Brittany, now called the Morbihan, 

 for there are many huge pillar-stones still lying as they have 

 fallen, probably at this time, twelve hundred years ago. Nobody 

 knows if the sixty-seven foot one, broken as well as prostrate, 

 was ever really upright. I should rather infer that it had been ; 

 no difficulty was found lately in setting up some immense stones 

 at Erdeven, where only the simplest appliances were used ; one 

 may regret its being so easy, but it shews what the united 



