124 



Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire. 



then covering them with boughs and earth, not only had store- 

 houses wherein to lay up their provisions, and warm dwelling 

 places during the cold of winter, but secure retreats from their 

 enemies, who when plundering the open country, often failed to 

 discover these subterranean recesses. 1 These pits were circular, 

 and in the shape of inverted cones; they were placed in close 

 proximity to one another, for the sake of mutual protection, as 

 well as society, and generally on the sides of hills. By careful 

 research, traces, (though often I confess somewhat obscure) 8 have 

 been found, of these ancient dwelling places ; and antiquaries 

 examining the ground with practised eye, have pointed out the 

 sites of Celtic villages, and the tracts or hollow ways leading 

 thereto. 3 In this enquiry, none have been more indefatigable, and 

 none more successful, than our Wiltshire Antiquaries, Sir Richard 

 Hoare, and his coadjutor, Mr. Cunnington. On a close exami- 

 nation they discovered vestiges of these hut-circles in various parts 

 of our downs : they pointed out spots where they were grouped to- 

 gether in considerable numbers, and they unhesitatingly pronounced 

 them to be British villages. 4 We may see them on our own downs, 

 more especially within or just outside the British camps, which so 

 often crown the highest eminences ; and in other suitable localities. 

 They now present the appearance of circular pits more or less filled 

 in ; some nearly obliterated, being little more than slight depres- 

 sions in the soil, though others are still of considerable depth. 

 And we need but to point to the famous Pen Pits near Gillingham, 

 several thousands in number, visited by the Society during its 

 meeting at Shaftesbury in 1861, and the able paper by Mr. 



Rapin's History of England, vol. i., p. 5. 



Henry's History of Great Britain, vol. ii., p. 115. 



Sir R. Hoare's Ancient Wilts, vol. i., p. 35, 84. 

 1 Ephorus said of the Kimmerians that they dwelt in subterraneous habitations 

 which they called argillas" communicating by trenches, (Ap. Strabo Geo., 

 lib. v., p. 375). It is certainly a curious analogy of language, that argel in the 

 language of the Cymry or British means a "covert," a place covered over. 

 [Sharon Turner's History of England, vol. i., p. 37.] 



2 The English at Home, by Alphonse Esquiros. 



3 Sir R. Hoare's Ancient Wilts, vol. i., 19, 44, 116, &c, vol. ii., 37, 109, &c, 

 and throughout both volumes. 



4 Sir R. Hoare's Ancient Wilts, vol i., p. 50, 83, 89, 196, vol. ii., 43, &c. 



