18 8 The Grave-mounds of Derbyshire, and their Contents. 



The first of these contains in the centre, and in four places 

 within the area of the circle, large cists, or, as they now appear 

 from the soil being removed from them, large cromlechs exactly 

 of the same construction as that well-known Druidical struc- 

 ture, " Kits-Coty-House," and numberless others.* They are 

 formed of large limestones (the general formation of the dis- 

 trict), and have all had covers, or cap-stones of the same, but 

 only two with these cap-stones perfect now remain. The 

 accompanying plan of some of these cists gives the situation of 



the stones forming the sides of the large chamber ; of the pas- 

 age leading to it ; of the slabs which closed its entrance ; and 

 -of the covers or cap-stones. The chamber is rather more than 

 five feet in height, and the largest cap-stone about seven feet 

 square and of great thickness. A kind of wall similar to those 

 which have been found to encircle some of the Etruscan tumuli, 

 forms the circle of this mound, which rises to a height of more 

 than fifteen feet from the surface of the ground. The " Five 

 Wells " tumulus contains one of the most perfect examples now 

 remaining of this kind of arrangement. cc It consists of two 

 vaults or chambers, situated in the centre of a cairn, about 

 thirty yards in diameter, each approached by a separate galley 

 or avenue, formed by large limestones standing edgeways, 

 extending through the tumulus, respectively in a south-east 

 and north-west direction." Another five- chambered tumulus 

 is Ringham-Low, which has, as yet, been only partially ex- 

 amined. 



In some instances, the barrows are formed almost wholly of 

 earth, and where ihey contain examples of urn burial, or of 

 cremation without urns, the indications are frequently very 

 striking. It not unfrcquently happens that the spot where the 



* As a rule tho structures known as cromlechs, Druidical altars, etc., are these 

 large sepulchral cists from which the earth forming the mound has at some time 

 been removed. 



