86 



Notes on Barrow-diggings. 



longed to Sir Richard's gang of labourers, told me how the work 

 was carried on when he was a lad. " Sir Richard stopped at the 

 great House, and instructed his men to dig down from the top 

 until they got nearly to the level of the natural soil, when they 

 were to send or wait for him. On his arrival the search was con- 

 tinued, and the cist, if any, examined in his presence." This was 

 his usual mode of procedure, and this will account for the frequency 

 with which he was disappointed in not finding a cist or interment. 

 Had his example been followed in the examination of the group, 

 which I am about to describe, the largest barrow would have been 

 an enigma, and I should have wondered why so vast a cenotaph 

 had been raised. The fact is that the principal interment does not 

 always occupy the centre. If Sir Richard had adopted a different 

 mode from the first, he would have acquired that very knowledge 

 which would have saved him from the error of classifying Wiltshire 

 barrows in the way he devised ; he would have been able to teach 

 us of the present day much that we have been acquiring with 

 lengthened toil and observation ; and would have helped us to 

 compare with greater exactness and interest, the barrows of Wilts 

 with those of Dorset and other Counties. 



We are certainly most deeply indebted to this indefatigable an- 

 tiquary and his able and intelligent co-adjutors for much that is 

 highly interesting and instructive, and I trust I may not be con- 

 sidered presumptuous and arrogant in thus freely expressing my 

 opinion of their mode of operation, and of the result of their labours. 

 But any one who reads " Ancient Wiltshire " with the hope of 

 learning how Wiltshire barrows were erected, and why their forms 

 and dimensions are so diversified, will be disappointed. The in- 

 vestigation was apparently not pursued with this object in view. 

 In many cases we have a difficulty in ascertaining the material of 

 their construction ; the site of the interment within the barrow is 

 frequently only implied, instead of being accurately noted; the 

 position of the skeleton, whether on its back, right or left side, is 

 often not mentioned ; and we are led to the conclusion that the 

 chief, if not sole, object in the investigation was the possession of 

 the articles which had been deposited with the dead. In proof of 



