Notes, Archaeological and Historical. 



257 



of ancient inhabitants except a few fragments of pottery of old but uncertain 

 date. 



Mr. Thomas Codrington, in a letter dated 1861, writes: — "The pits are in 

 two tiers, the lower tier separated from the steep sides of the hill by a terrace, 

 below which the chalk taken from the pits was thrown in mounds. Above this 

 lower set of pits are more mounds, then a terrace, then a second tier of pits. 

 The pits run one into another and out on to the terraces by what may have been 

 once round pits, but have now as much the appearance of passages in many cases. 

 This renders it difficult to count the number, but there are from thirty to thirty- 

 five, as near as I can make out. Round to the south is a pit much larger than 

 the rest, measuring thirty feet across." 



As no relics of human habitation have been found here, and as the situation 

 is so extremely exposed, there is little probability that the pits were ever used 

 for dwellings. They may, possibly, however, have been constructed as shelters 

 for look-out men in times of danger. A line of similar ancient pits on the edge 

 of Rodborough Hill, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, are believed to have been used 

 for this purpose. 



Whilst excavating in these pits we noted a large barrow situate a few hundred 

 yards to the east of the road leading to Marlborough. With the kind permission 

 of the Marquis of Ailesbury and the tenant, Mr. Haines, we opened this barrow 

 in May last. It is lift, high, 52ft. in diameter, and is surrounded by a trench 

 12ft. wide and 3ft. deep. The top of the barrow is dome-shaped like a bell, and 

 ! had in its centre a large beech-tree growing. There were also many trees— oak 

 and elm — growing on the barrow and round it on the outside of the trench. 

 Commencing on the eastern side we cut a trench 4-^ft. wide down to the original 

 soil, right through to the centre on the level, and then excavated out all round 

 to the distance of 2ft., thus effectually clearing out what was originally the first 

 earth thrown up. No indication in the shape of an interment was found. Just 

 before we reached the centre, about 4ft. from the original level, one large flint, 

 weighing perhaps 25lbs., was taken out, but nothing whatever was found beneath 

 it. Several specimens of flint knives and scrapers were found amongst the first 

 earth thrown up to make the barrow, i.e., in the layers nearest the original ground 

 level. One or two pieces of pottery very similar in appearance to that found in 

 the Broomsgrove Kilns were found nearer the surface. The undisturbed con- 

 dition of the barrow gave ample evidence that it had not been previously opened. 

 Whether it was raised to commemorate some great event, such as a victory or 

 death of a chieftain or prominent personage, it is of course impossible to say ; 

 but so far as the negative evidence goes, it seems against the supposition that it 

 it is a funereal mound. 



Wiltshire Bibliography. 



In the catalogue of second-hand books issued by Mr. Thomas Thorp, of 

 Reading, in May last, item No. 763 ran as follows :— " Wiltshire. — Extensive 

 MS. Collections, by the late Canon Jackson, towards a Bibliography of Wiltshire, 

 in a parcel, 5s." I wrote for it, but received a reply that it was already sold, 

 and subsequently learnt that the purchaser was Mr. Francis Jenkiuson, of 



