A HISTORY OF DEVONSHIRE 



thick, resting on the ' meat ' earth. It was strewn with fragments of wood charcoal and covered 

 with wood ashes, and the stones showed signs of having been subject to heat. Close to this plat- 

 form was a pit, 4^ ft. by 3 ft. and 4 ft. deep, dug out of the sub-soil and/«// of ' meat ' earth mixed 

 with fragments of calcined bones. The latter on examination did not appear to be human, but 

 bones of some animal. The barrow was made of stiff clay, and some of this near the platform was 

 burnt so hard as to resemble pottery. It was impossible to sift the material removed, for the clay 

 was too heavy and plastic, but careftil scrutiny disclosed a pear-shaped amber pendant f in. long, 

 some pottery of the early Bronze Age, and a little calcined bone. This was found 1 5 in, below the 

 surface of the centre of the barrow, which rose 5 ft. above the surface of the ground. More pottery 

 and calcined bones were found at a depth of 5 ft. The pottery is hand-made, | in. thick, and black 

 on the inner surface. The paste is well made, hard burnt, and of the clay of the district with a 

 little sand to temper it. 



Miscellaneous 



We have thus briefly shown that Devonshire is rich in evidence of the 

 Bronze Age, possessing as it does the ruins of the huts, together with a great 

 number of the graves, of the people of that period. 



The domestic pottery of the huts, with the exception of some of the 

 pots used for cooking, differs but little in make or ornamentation from the 

 vessels found in the graves. They are sufficiently akin to form a connexion, 

 and to satisfy the expert that the people occupying the huts on Dartmoor 

 were buried in the cairns which studded both that area and other parts of 

 Devonshire as well. 



It is hardly to be wondered at that no bronze has been found in the 

 hut circles. It was precious, great care was taken of it, and on rare 

 occasions only was it placed in graves with the honoured dead. There 

 are sixteen records of finds of bronze in graves in Devonshire, but one of 

 these (Lovehayne Farm) may be considered to be unconnected with the 

 interment. 



Considering the small number of graves which have been opened under 

 efficient superintendence during recent years, and which were previously 

 undisturbed, this is not a small proportion, for according to Canon Greenwell 

 articles such as bronze swords, spear-heads, and celts appear only on the 

 rarest occasions to have been interred with the dead. 



There are records of finds of bronze in Devonshire not connected with 

 interment. 



Gawler Bottom, Post Bridge. — A bronze ferrule of the shaft of a spear was found here in 

 1892, 4 ft. deep in the peat, and is now in the Municipal Museum, Plymouth ; the remains of the 

 blade of a dagger were also found in the peat at the same depth at Broadhole near the head waters 

 of the Plym. The bronze ferrule is interesting, for it is not of common occurrence in Great 

 Britain. Only some forty examples have been thus far recorded, and of these only three or four 

 are in the British Museum. Four specimens about 7 in. long were found with bronze spear-heads 

 at Bloody Pool, South Brent. The latter were barbed and 14 in. long, but, unfortunately, they 

 were all broken. 



Teigngrace. — A spear-head 1 1 in. long was discovered here. It has a delicate bead, which 

 runs down each side of the midrib, and is continued as a square projection below the blade. 



Washfield.— Leaf-shaped spear-heads were found in an ancient entrenchment at Worth in 

 this parish. With these were also found a leaf-shaped sword 14 in. long, with rivet notches at the 

 side of the base and a flat plate of bronze, apparently hammered out, 5 in. by 5 J in. and i J in. thick. 



EscoT. — Several bronze swords were discovered in a field near here. 



Talaton. — Six sword blades were found here. They were of the rapier type, and from 

 12 to 22 in. in length. 



Winkleigh, near Crediton. — Another blade of 1 7 in. was found in this place. 



SiDMOUTH. — A flat celt 4jin. long, having the faces ornamented with a number of longi- 

 tudinal cuts, was found near here. 



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