hill, about a mile and a half N. E. of Kirkby-Moorside, is a fine view of the house; the moors forming the back ground; which from the view had of them from that station, look majestic; one hill retiring behind another, until the prospect is terminated by the horizon.

On a bold projection called Shepherd's Knab, on the right of this mansion, is a great number of oblong tumuli, ranged some east and west, others north and south, irregularly scattered over several acres of ground: I had one of them opened, and Mr. Shepherd had another; but there were no remains in them, nor was the colour of the earth changed by fire. They are nearly flat on the top, and not more than two or three feet thick. Some of them are perhaps 10 yards by 5 or 6, some more and some less the tradition of them is that they were thrown up for rabbit burrows.

ANTIQUITIES ON THE MOORS.

ANCIENT BRITISH SETTLEMENTS.

In Scotland there are a number of circular huts, which the people call Druid's houses; and on the moors not far from Kirkby-Moorside, and on the hills, &c. facing the plain of Cleveland are some resembling them, which no doubt have been for the same purpose. They are of different sizes, and in some places they are not round but of various shapes; according perhaps to the different ideas which the ancient Britons had imbibed from their intercourse with strangers, which often, as friends

or enemies, visited this kingdom. It does not require much discernment to form an idea of the manner on which these huts or houses were constructed. A hole, many of which remain in different parts of this kingdom, was dug in the ground which formed the site of it, and the materials dug out of the excavation of it were laid round as a border which would keep the water from entering into it. In this mound were placed poles which met at the top, like a cone resembling a sugar loaf. These poles were intersected or crossed with twigs, forming a kind of basket work; over this was placed straw, grass, or hay, and upon all probably turf, to prevent the wet from entering; and on one side was an opening as a door, out of which the smoke escaped, and the light was admitted. The fire was placed in the middle of the floor, and some straw, hay, or grass, strewed round it, would furnish the inhabitants with seats by day and beds by night.

These settlements were not all of a size, but of different dimensions, like our little towns and villages; and some of the druids who lived a hermit's life, would live in solitary ones; and in some places two or three would be together.

In some places are discovered numbers of them in a cluster forming a vacant place in the centre, which might be a place for their cattle; those stations were probably encompassed with a fence of wood. These settlements have frequently houes accompanying them, which were the depositories of the dead; and at some stations are large pits; one at each station probably may have been for the residence of their chief. They had their places of worship also, and their officiating priests; who were very numerous and powerful amongst them.

These settlements bear all the marks of antiquity. From their stations being connected with houes and druidical stones, which in some places yet remain, they appear to have been prior to the introduction of christianity into this island; they cannot be traced to the Danes or Saxons, as such they must

be ancient British, the abodes of the warlike Brigantes who dwelt here, or the arrival of the Romans and of other tribes still more ancient, but others may have been built since the Roman invasion, especially those which are of an oblong form and are encompassed by stones, which is the case at the Stone hags, their huts are similar to those in other countries which the ancient Britons inhabited; and barbarous nations to the present day build in a similar manner. The first person who viewed the pits in this district in this light was Mr. Bird of Whitby, since which many have visited them, and antiquarians are agreed on the subject.

The first station of these ancient remains from Kirkby-Moorside, is that called the stone hag, on the east side of Farndale on the Blakey-Moor, four miles south of Ralph Cross, close to the road between Castleton and Kirkby-Moorside, this clus'ter is 400 feet long from north to south and three hundred feet broad from east to west, the area is wholly occupied with pits which are varied in their form and differ from all other stations; some of them are round, some oval, some resembling a half moon, and are in general of a large size, both in breadth and depth. Vestiges of buildings are very evident, and in some places the houes seem to have been divided, and almost opposite the stone hags, on the west side of Farndale.

On the side of the hill a row of round pits extend to a great distance, which probably had been huts for soldiers, when on their watch; and not far from them is a protuberance called the Urn Knab, on 'which is a very strong trench, which runs across it, and must have been a strong place of defence. The knáb is almost inaccessible on three sides, the south north and east; and the west part has been defended by a high mound and deep ditch, partly of stone, and partly of earth, having a houe in the middle of the garrison; and there is a tradition that a battle was fought near, between the English and the Scots.

The word Hag, signifies broken or uneven places.

These pits are very numerous in some places, and are found in a variety of situations, as on the hills of Cleveland, facing the plain on Rosebury Topping, in Troutsdale, on the side next to Basin houe, and Scamridge, in Egtongrange, ten miles from Whitby, about a furlong to the right of the road, on a rising ground near the edge of the moor. Some upright stones are seen on the s. E., probably the fragments of a druidical temple; and several houes are near. Others are seen about a mile to the south of Godeland chapel they are known by the name of Killing pits, from a tradition that a battle was fought there. Another in Harewood dale, about half a mile north from the chapel, the spot is termed the Dryheads. There is another large collection of circular cavities, termed the Hole pits in Westerdale a few yards s. w. of the chapel, in the centre of them, has been an open area. There is another cluster within the rabbit warren of Mr. Herbert, at Scamridge, near Ebberston.

:

HOUES.

The houes were the ancient repositories of the dead. It is well known by those who are acquainted with ancient history that before the introduction of christianity, there were no places for the dead like our church-yards; but they were interred in places most convenient for the purpose, and respect for deceased friends and relatives, induced the survivors to raise over the remains of their departed friends, heaps of earth, which by us are called houes, and which differ in size and form, according to the rank of the deceased, or the fashion of different ages or tribes. The bodies were sometimes burnt to ashes, and their ashes put into an urn, were placed upon the earth, and the houe was raised upon them. Some houes contain one each and others many. The urns are made of clay slightly baked, so that they fall to pieces by the slightest touch. Sometimes one urn is found within another, perhaps containing the ashes of the heart. The rule of

burning bodies had its exceptions, as entire skeletons have been sometimes found. Perhaps it is not easy to ascertain to which of the heathen tribes, which inhabited this neighbourhood, the raising of these houes is to be attributed perhaps some made some of them, and others the remainder.

Is is thought they cannot be ascribed to the Romans, as they abound in those parts of the British isles where the Romans had no permanent station; nor was it their mode of burial :—nor to the Saxons or Danes, as they are found in parts of Britain which were never subject to either; but they, at least the greater part of them, must have been raised by the ancient Britons; as they are found in connexion with other antiquities, which must have belonged to them.

Perhaps some of those hills called tumuli, were watch towers; some for the purpose of tribunals, and some of them places of worship, which is supposed to be the case with those encircled with upright

stones.

The houes in this district are known by different names, as Green houe, and Blake houe, corrupted into Blakey; and many from the names of men, &c.

TRENCHES, CAMPS, &c.

We scarcely can ascend any eminence on the edge of the moors, but we perceive vestiges of defence, made in the ages of cruelty and bloodshed; sometimes the rampart is found only, the earth thrown out of the ditch, and sometimes stones are connected, to check the progress of an invading enemy; or for the convenience of being kept from being taken by surprise. They are in a commanding situation, from which they could see the movements of an enemy, or make a stand against them should they be attacked. They no doubt were the camps of the ancient British tribes, who always encamped on mountains; and as this district was the scene of conflict between the Romans and Brigantes, we need not wonder at those warlike preparations being