A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



figure, which, it is pointed out, is in its turn half the diameter of Stonc- 



henge. 



The outer circle (see fig. 29) consisted of round logs of oak, placed 

 closely side by side. The lower ends of some of them have been noticeably 

 trimmed with a metal axe or adze ; a fact which serves as a useful criterion 

 in assigning a date to the remains. 



The inner circle is more complex in structure. It is formed of an outer 

 ring of earth, the ' vallum,' about 5 ft. wide and 9 in. high, composed of clay 

 thrown out of the ditch on the inside, which latter is about 5 ft. deep. Inside 

 this again was a low mound, formed also of clay out of the ditch, in which lay 

 concealed a circle composed of eleven rounded oak logs, forming a circle 34 ft. 

 in diameter. In the centre of this were found a group of urns, lying with 

 wooden ashes, in a small rectangular hole. The urns contained calcined 

 bones, and inside one of them was a third smaller vase ; these are shown by 

 photograph on Plate VI. 



The pottery and the cuts upon the wooden parts are evidence which 

 lead Professor Dawkins to conclude that ' this remarkable burial place falls 

 into line with the large series of burial mounds of the Bronze Age which lie 

 scattered, not only over the area of the British Isles, but over by far the greater 

 portion of Europe.' In other places the material employed for the circles and 

 fences is stone. Here, in place of stone, wood was employed. In this respect 

 the Bleasdale burial place is unique.^ 



In the vicinity of Manchester also have been observed traces of interment 

 by cremation, in the survival of cinerary urns, unaccompanied, however, by 

 any deposit of metal or stone. At Redbank was found an urn ' of late 

 British period ' in 1830. At Clifton, on the banks of the Irwell, some work- 

 men in making a trench through gravel came upon part of a skull, with signs 

 of cremation also. A small ' incense cup,' decorated in three tiers, was found 

 on the spot. In 1873, in the grounds of Broughton Hall, in the course of 

 excavation, a V-shaped trench was observed, 3 ft. wide, which descended 7 ft. 

 below the surface. An urn was lying in the middle of the trench filled with 

 mixed materials. It was of coarse clay of a reddish colour, hand made. Its 

 height was 5 in. and 6 in. across its widest parts ; the pottery is I in. thick all 

 over. The ornamentation is composed of lines lying diagonally, incised with 

 a pointed stick. 



In the northernmost part of the county also, at Yealand, which is 2i miles 

 west of Carnforth, have been found traces of ' neolithic settlement,' and among 

 them ' many barrows of earth and stone.' In one of them was recently found 

 about ' three or four quarts of human bones calcined,' and adjoining the urn a 

 human skeleton and a large (? glass) bead of blue colour. 



3. Interments in Lancashire over Sands 



Passing north of the Sands a remarkable series of barrows and burial urns 

 give evidence of the habitation of early man, for the most part, so far as can 

 be judged, during the Bronze Age. In the nearer district of Cartmel, at 

 Allithwaite, has been found a small earthen urn containing calcined bones in 

 Yew Tree Field, In Cartmel itself, on the site of the new burial ground, an 



^ Lam:, and Ches. Ant. Soc. xviii. 1900, p. 123. 

 244 



