A Field Day at Ald borough and Boeoughbridge. 35 



uniform size, have been set on end and formed into one line, or into 

 two or more nearly parallel lines, stretching away for several hundred 

 feet. These lines are generally oriented, but occasionally they run 

 from north to south. In support of this supposition, set forth for 

 the first time, Mr. Lukis pointed out that the position of the northern 

 stone seemed to confirm the idea. It is much wider than the others, 

 and its long axis is at right angles to the direction of the line. This 

 exactly tallies with the systems of lines in South Brittany. There 

 the stones increase in size as they extend from what may be supposed 

 to have been the commencement of the lines to the other extremity, 

 at which is found a terminating circle ; and there the enormous head- 

 stones of the lines have their long axes placed as in the case of the 

 " Devil's Arrows." He therefore thought that the lines were 

 constructed upon the same system as in the other countries men- 

 tioned, so that if a satisfactory explanation of the destination and 

 purpose of any one of these systems was obtained, it would probably 

 serve for all. That explanation, however, has yet to be ascertained, 

 so that even if we had before us a group in a condition of unquestion- 

 able perfection, we should still be seekers for its signification. 



With regard to the antiquity of the monoliths, Mr. Lukis said that 

 nothing more can be said than that they were pre-Roman — very 

 indefinite as that statement is. It should not be forgotten that the 

 stones stand on ground in close proximity to an ancient British town, 

 which afterwards became the great Roman city of Isurium, retaining 

 its old name in a classic form. There may have been, and probably 

 were, other megalithic monuments in this vicinity at that time, which 

 during the long occupation of the Roman forces were converted into 

 building materials. It is not often that great stones like these stand 

 alone, without a number of other circumjacent monuments, telling of 

 a long and peaceful occupation of the soil, and when they do exist we 

 seem to be justified in conjecturing that the ground has been gradually 

 cleared by a succession of invading peoples whose customs and 

 manners greatly differed from those of the race who preceded them, 

 followed by those whose religious beliefs prompted them to eradicate 

 heathen superstition by demolishing the monuments which seemed to 

 them to favor and encourage it. 



The party then proceeded to Aldborough — the " British Pompeii " 

 — the Iseure of the Brigantes, the Isurium of the Romans. Where 

 the church now stands was a Roman city — not a mere camp, and the 

 traces still to be seen, together with the numerous remains dug up 



