A HISTORY OF DEVONSHIRE 



north of Stannon is a kistvaen marked in O. S. xcix, NE ; 440 ft. WSW of this in the direction 

 of Stannon Tor is a small cairn 1 5 ft. in diameter. This cairn had been previously opened in 

 the centre. The writer drove trenches through it in 1895, and found the interment in a circular 

 hole dug in the ' calm ' or sub-soil. This urn-shaped cavity was filled with wood charcoal, ashes, 

 and calcined bones, and also yielded a finely-pointed yellowish translucent flint. 



The previous explorers looked for the interment in the centre, but did not find it as the cavity 

 was near the NE circumference. 



KisTVAENS IN THE Plym Valley. — A kistvaen at Calveslake yielded a flint arrow-head and 

 three flakes, and another at Langcombe, Deadman's Bottom, three arrow-heads and fragments of 

 an urn. 



Many of the districts of Devonshire outside the Dartmoor area are rich in barrows, and a con- 

 siderable number of these monuments have been opened during the past thirty-five years by competent 

 persons and the results recorded. The finds have not been in every case of much consequence, for 

 some barrows turned out to be barren, having been opened in search of treasure in an irregular 

 manner and at an unknown period. In confirmation of this there is a curious document in the 

 Patent Rolls of 1 7 Edw. II. It secures to one Robert Beaupel ' the privilege of excavating six 



Fig. 17. — Flint Knives and Scrapers from Kistvaen on Lakehead Hill 



barrows in Devonshire, on condition that the search is made in the open day and in the presence of 

 the sheriiF and other responsible officers. 



When previously unopened barrows have been explored under proper supervision some valuable 

 evidence has been obtained. 



HoNiTON. — There are many barrows in the neighbourhood of Honiton, and some of these on 

 Broad Down and Gittisham Hill have been examined, first by the Rev. R. Kirwan and recently by 

 Mr. R. H. Worth. All interments discovered were cinerary. (See fig. 1 8). 



The important finds were as follows : — 



Two drinking vessels of Kimmeridge coal with a capacity of about a gill, both ornamented with 

 incised lines of such regularity as to suggest that these vessels were turned on a lathe ; a bronze 

 spear-head (see fig. 19 and fig. 3 on same), and supposed fragments of another, and a celt of the 

 socket type (see fig. 19 and fig. 5 on same) ; hand-made urns, including a very small, highly orna- 

 mented example, filled with burnt bones. It is only 2 in. high and 3 in. wide at the mouth, with 



' The Beaupels held lands in Brandon, North Devon, on the borders of Somerset, and it has been sug- 

 gested that the six barrows in respect of which the grant was made may have been Chapman Barrows, a short 

 distance to the south-west. This immediate group originally consisted of at least five tumuli, and there are 

 still remaining many others in the vicinity. Trans. Devon. Assoc, xviii, 107. 



362 



