74 Archceologia. 



upright stone in the centre, are not at all uncommon ; and we have 

 ourselves seen in North Wales a fountain which had a " Druidical 

 circle" round it. This curious law, therefore, assures us that it 

 would be very unsafe to assume that all circles of stones have 

 belonged to sepulchral monuments, or that they are prehistoric in 

 date, or even older than Saxon times. This must have some 

 weight even on the question of the antiquity of Stonehenge, the 

 only objects met with in which that have characteristics of date are 

 fragments of pottery found under two of the large upright stones 

 on their fall, and stated to have been distinctly Roman. It must be 

 borne in mind that " Roman" in our Western antiquities means 

 objects belonging to the Roman period, and continuing in use during 

 several subsequent generations. 



To return to the subject of Cromlechs, it may be well to remark 

 that, in the new number of the Archceologia Cambrensis, Mr. Blight, 

 of whom we have spoken above, has given an account, with 

 engravings, of a very curious monument of this description, standing 

 at Llausantffraid, near Conway. It consists of a rather fine spe- 

 cimen of the ordinary cromlech, an immense block of stone, cal- 

 culated to weigh nearly twenty-five tons, supported on what appears 

 to have been originally about a dozen upright stones, forming the 

 walls of a chamber, measuring eight feet from east to west, by seven 

 from north, to south, and averaging about three feet and a-half in 

 height, so that its dimensions were not much different from the 

 more elaborately -built chamber in the Cornish barrow at Pennance. 

 But the peculiarity of this cromlech consists in two upright stones, 

 raised on the outside on more elevated ground (for it stands on the 

 side of a bank), which had evidently been placed there symme- 

 trically for some purpose at which we cannot now even guess. A 

 stone lying flat on the ground a little further off appears to be all 

 that remains of a circle which inclosed the sacred ground of the 

 cromlech, and probably formed the basis of a mound. This com- 

 munication from Mr. Blight is followed by a paper on cromlechs 

 in Pembrokeshire, written by the Rev. H. Longueville Jones, the 

 founder of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, long one of 

 its most zealous and enlightened supporters, and the editor of 

 its journal. Mr. Jones has given a description, with engravings, 

 of four very remarkable cromlechs at Newton, Manorbeer, Sb. 

 David's Head, and Pentre Ifan, all well worthy of a visit from the 

 numerous excursionists who now turn their steps to South Wales. 

 They are all remarkable for the size and weight of the flat stone 

 which covers them. In the first of those we have mentioned, that 

 of Newton, the supporting stones at one end have fallen, and the 

 cap-stone remains with one end upon the ground. At St. David's 

 Head, the cromlech stands outside of an ancient camp, or entrenched 

 work, and the circle of stones remains which ouce defined the limits 

 of the covering mound. That at Pentre Ifan is one of the 

 largest cromlechs in Wales. When it was visited by the Cambrian 

 Archaeological Association in 1869, five persons on horseback stood 

 within it, and under the capstone, at the same time. In this instance 

 the existing cromlech seems to have formed one of several sepul- 



