50 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



The most generally known collection of hut-circles, and the 

 first to be explored, is that at " Grimspound," near Moreton 

 Hampstead. " Grimspound " is an irregularly shaped piece of 

 ground, lying between two tors, with a small streamlet running 

 through it, and enclosed by an unmortared stone wall, more than 

 fifteen hundred feet in circumference. This was originally about 

 five feet high and nine or ten thick, but, in some places at least, 

 it seems to have been divided into two walls with a space 

 between them ; this space may have been filled up with turf, or 

 it may have been used for dwelling or storage purposes. Inside 

 this enclosure are the foundations of about two dozen roughly 

 circular enclosures, from nine to sixteen feet in diameter, some 

 of which were probably cattle pens, while others were certainly 

 human dwellings. The latter had originally consisted of slabs of 

 granite set up in a ring to a height of about three feet, the spaces 

 between being filled in with smaller stones, and the whole backed 

 up outside with turf; the doors were generally constructed of two 

 upright jambs of granite between two and three feet high, on the 

 top of which lintels of granite were placed ; the floors of the 

 huts were of the subsoil of clay and granite grit and rolled 

 pebbles, beaten hard, and occasionally, and in places, paved ; the 

 roof is believed to have been formed by poles sloping from the top 

 of the low wall to the centre, and covered with turf, rushes, &c, 

 as there were not sufficient stones found to form a domed roof. 

 Most of the huts, when cleared of the accumulation of vegetable 

 soil with which they were filled, were found to contain a low 

 platform or dais, formed of curbstones with straight edges, all 

 natural, but selected for the purpose, and laid in the soil, cutting 

 off a portion of the circumference, which portion was generally 

 carried out so as to afford additional width and depth to the 

 dais, which was usually paved, and probably served as a 

 seat for the inhabitants by day and as a bed at night. There 

 were generally a flat stone in the middle of the hut, without any 

 indication of fire upon it, which had probably been used as a 

 table, or as a base for a post to support the conical roof, and 

 another flat stone, with considerable marks of fire, which had 

 evidently been a hearthstone ; near the latter was usually found 

 a hole in the floor, about nine inches deep, lined with stones set 

 on edge, and full of peat ashes and charcoal, which was doubtless 



