British Urns found at Hoprig. By Jas. Hardy. 133 



Smith, on hearing of the discovery and the destruction of the urn, 

 had the fragments collected, and, after exercising the utmost 

 patience has carefully cemented them together; and it may now 

 he said to be again complete. (Plate I. f. 2.) It was placed 

 near the outer western end of the area, among sandy soil, in a 

 hollow that had been prepared for its reception, and was guard- 

 ed all round with boulders, but was unprotected by a cist. The 

 boulders were sandstones, greenstones, pale porphyries and 

 Silurians, brought from some of the neighbouring burns, which 

 are at some distance. They are of the same kind of stones with 

 which the stone-dykes hereabouts are coped, which were obtained 

 from these burns. The urn was placed in a reversed position on 

 three flatter stones fitted together and sunk in the gravel and 

 sand that underlie the surface soil. 



It was of a cinerary character, and covered a considerable 

 quantity of calcined bones, which had been still smoking when 

 it first enclosed them ; for the fumes have blackened the lower 

 portion of the inside, and two stains of smoke are still perceptible 

 on the exterior where it bad issued from two circular perforations, 

 placed like a couple of eyes below the rim, which are unusual in 

 this kind of urn. (Plate II.) It is a magnificent urn, one of 

 the largest and most substantial ever found in the district. The 

 height is 19 inches, the diameter of the mouth 16 inches, and the 

 circumference some 45 inches. It has been formed of a firm 

 well-fired clay, such as is obtained at the present day at the 

 bottom of the Black Dub, and of a yellowish red colour, unglazed, 

 but smooth, and having a greasy feel, as they say of some 

 minerals. The shell is fully half an inch thick. It has been 

 ornamented with great care and no little skill. The wonder is to 

 find such a variety of taste and design both in form and decora- 

 tion of these primeval vessels. Both the shape and the orna- 

 ment are mi generis, quite different from Eoman or Saxon 

 workmanship, and belonging to a more pristine era. Of the 

 fabricators we know nothing except from their funereal remains. 



In describing this urn I place it on its narrow bottom, which 

 forms the apex in the figure. It forms two sections, an upper 

 and ornamented, and a lower and smoother division. The upper 

 part of the urn displays three raised bands, adorned with 8 pro- 

 jecting knobs, (very indistinct in the engraving.) Between two 

 of these knobs, on one side only, are two perforations, which 

 have been bored chiefly from the outside, as they are wider in 



