HISTORY OF THE CALDERSTONES. 133 



inscription is generally supposed to refer to the grass and 

 a fir tree in the centre of the circle; but Mr. Henry- 

 Walker, son of Mr. J. N. Walker, states that his father 

 certainly "planted" at least some of the stones in their 

 present positions. 



Sir James Picton refers briefly to the stones as a circle 

 of the Stone Age in his "Memorials of Liverpool" (vol. 

 i., p. 2) ; Mr. A. L. Lewis describes briefly the orientation, 

 " the highest stone being as at Stonehenge to the south- 

 west," and says "I consider this circle to have been 

 sacrificial " (Journ. Anthrop. Instit., vol. i., p. 299, 1872) ; 

 but the best descriptions are those given by Professor Sir 

 James Y. Simpson in 1865 and by Mr. J. Eomilly Allen 

 in 1883. 



At the time when Sir James Simpson examined them 

 (see Trans. Hist. Soc. Lane, and Chesh., n. ser., vol. v., 

 p. 257 ; 1865) only five of the stones were standing ; now 

 all of them are erect. Simpson gives figures of three of 

 the stones, some measurements, and a detailed description 

 of some of the older incised markings, which he supposes 

 to have been made with flint tools. He describes the 

 monument as " a small megalithic circle," and regards it 

 as Pre-Celtic. 



Eomilly Allen (Jour. Brit. Archgeol. Assoc, vol. xxxix., 

 p. 304; 1883) adds a little to Simpson's description, he 

 gives a plan of the circle with further measurements, 

 better figures of the more interesting sides of the stones, 

 and he discusses more fully the nature and origin of the 

 markings — especially the footprints. He traces the 

 practice of carving footprints on stones from "the remote 

 past of the Bronze Age " to the present day. Five of the 

 stones bear a number of inscribed markings, some of 

 which (spirals, circles, concentric rings and cups mostly) 

 are pre-historic, others (footprints and crosses) Eomilly 



