Diary of a Dean by Merewether. 36. Portions of gold ornaments found in a barrow on Roundaway down, near Devizes. The barrow in question was opened by the orders of the late proprietor, E. F. Colston, Esq., of Roundaway Park. It is a small one, situated in the apex of the down, which, although particularly mentioned by Sir R. C. Hoare, escaped the examination of that able and indefatigable antiquary. The workmen having, at a depth of 7 feet, cut through an upper stratum of peculiarly fine dark mould, and reached the natural chalk level, came to a skeleton, much decayed, which had formerly been enclosed in a wooden chest, bound round and clamped together with strong iron plates or hoops. Several portions of this iron-work had fibres of the wood still adhering to them, and remained precisely as originally placed. The skeleton lay east and west, the head towards the latter point. At its feet, formed of about twenty triangular pieces of brass fastened together with rivets and two thin hoops of the same metal, lay a cap or helmet, which remained perfect a few minutes only, falling to pieces on the admission of air. Near the neck were several large oval garnets, among which was one, much larger than the rest, of a triangular shape. All were strongly set in gold. The ovals appeared to form, with intermediate beads made of twisted gold wire, a necklace, from which the triangular stone hung as the central pendant. There were also (with several smaller articles) two pins of gold, fastened to one another by a gold chain, with a small medallion between them; on one side of which is distinctly engraved the figure of the Cross. Unfortunately none of the parties most interested in the discovery were present at the exact time, and it is feared that they did not obtain all the remains, as it was heard that similar stones had subsequently been sold at Bath, which had been found on Roundaway down. The bones of four animals were also found in the corners, said to be of a dog and cat, a horse and a boar. A coin, small brass, of Crispus, was also found, proving the date of the interment. There is no other instance on record of a similar discovery belonging to the same period in this district.

Section I Tumuli 1843. The 30th of June 1843 was occupied in examining the middle part of a large barrow on Brassington Moor, usually called Galley Lowe [Map], but formerly written Callidge Lowe, which is probably more correct. About two feet from the surface were found a few human bones mixed with rats' bones and horses' teeth; amongst these bones (which had been disturbed by a labourer digging in search of treasure) the following highly interesting and valuable articles were discovered: several pieces of iron, some in the form of rivets, others quite shapeless, having been broken on the occasion above referred to, two arrow-heads of the same metal, a piece of coarse sandstone, which was rubbed into the form of a whetstone; an ivory pin or bodkin, of very neat execution; the fragments of a large urn of well-baked earthenware, which was glazed in the interior for about an inch above the bottom; two beads, one of green glass, the other of white enamel, with a coil of blue running through it, and fourteen beautiful pendant ornaments of pure, gold, eleven of which are encircled by settings of large and brilliantly coloured garnets, two are of gold without setting, and the remaining one is of gold wire twisted in a spiral manner, from the centre towards each extremity (a gold loop of identical pattern is affixed to a barbaric copy of a gold coin of Honorius in the writer's possession); they have evidently been intended to form one ornament only, most probably a necklace, for which use their form peculiarly adapts them. It will here not be out of place to borrow some quotations relative to a remarkable superstition connected with glass beads similar to those discovered in Galley Lowe, particularly the one having "two circular lines of opaque sky-blue and white," which seem to represent a serpent entwined round a centre, which is perforated. "This was certainly one of the Glain Neidyr of the Britons, derived from glain, which is pure and holy, and neidyr, a snake. Under the word glain, Mr. Owen, in his Welsh Dictionary, has given the following article: "The Nair Glain, transparent stones, or adder stones, were worn by the different orders of the Bards, each exhibiting its appropriate colour. There is no certainty that they were worn from superstition originally; perhaps that was the circumstance which gave rise to it. Whatever might have been the cause, the notion of their rare virtues was universal in all places where the Bardic religion was taught."

These beads are thus noticed by Bishop Gibson, in his improved edition of Camden's Britannia: "In most parts of Wales, and throughout all Scotland, and in Cornwall, we find it a common opinion of the vulgar, that about Midsummer-eve (though in the time they do not all agree) it is usual for snakes to meet in companies, and that by joining heads together and hissing, a kind of bubble is formed, like a ring, about the head of one of them, which the rest, by continual hissing, blow on, until it comes off at the tail, when it immediately hardens, and resembles a glass ring, which whoever finds shall prosper in all his undertakings: the rings they supposed to be thus generated are called gleinen nadroeth, namely, gemma anguinum. They are small glass annulets, commonly about half as wide as our finger-rings, but much thicker, of a green colour usually, though some of them are blue, and others curiously waved with blue, red, and white.'' There seems to be some connexion between the glain neidyr of the Britons and the ovum anguinnm, mentioned by Pliny as being held in veneration by the Druids of Gaul and to the formation of which he gives nearly the same origin. They were probably worn as a mark of distinction, and suspended round the neck as the perforations are not large enough to admit the finger. A large portion of this barrow still remaining untouched on the south-east side, which was but little elevated above the natural soil, yet extending farther from the centre, it offered a larger area, in which interments were more likely to be found than any other part of the tumulus, it was decided on resuming the search on the 3d of July, 1843, by digging from the outside until the former excavation in the centre was reached. In carrying out this design the following interments were discovered, all of which seem to pertain to a much more remote era than the interment whose discovery has been before recorded. First, the skeleton of a child, in a state of great decay; a little farther on a lengthy skeleton, the femur of which measures nineteen and a half inches, with a rudely ornamented urn of coarse clay deposited near the head; a small article of ivory, perforated with six holes, as though for the purpose of being sewn into some article of dress or ornament (a larger one of the same kind was found in a barrow at Gristhorpe, near Scarborough, in 1832); a small arrow-head of gray flint, a piece of iron-stone, and a piece of stag's horn, artificially pointed at the thicker end, were found in the immediate neighbourhood of the urn. Between this skeleton and the centre of the barrow four more skeletons were exhumed, two of which were of young persons; there was no mode of arrangement perceptible in the positions of the bodies, excepting that the heads seemed to lie nearest to the urn before mentioned. Amongst the bones of these four skeletons a small rude incense cup was found, which is of rather unusual form, being perforated with two holes on each side, opposite each other.

Section I Tumuli 1844. June the 10th, 1844, was opened a barrow [Map] upon Elton Moor, for which there is no distinctive name; it was on this occasion divided into four quarters by our sections, which left very little of the mound unexplored. In the usual central situation was found a previously-disturbed interment, accompanied by a large arrow- or spear-head of flint, a piece of a small urn neatly ornamented, and some animal teeth. On the southern side of the tumulus another interment was discovered, about eighteen inches below the natural surface of the land upon which the barrow was constructed; this skeleton was certainly that of an aged person, the teeth being much worn down; near the head was a piece of spherical iron pyrites, now for the first time noticed as being occasionally found with other relics in the British tumuli. Subsequent discoveries have proved that it was prized by the Britons, and not unfrequently deposited in the grave along with the weapons and ornaments which formed the most valued part of their store; even to the present day, the same mineral is used as a personal decoration by some tribes of the South American Indians. In the rear of the skeleton was a neatly-ornamented drinking-cup, which had been crushed by the weight of the soil, with which it had in a great degree become incorporated; within this cup the following odd assemblage of articles were placed: three quartz pebbles, one of which is red, the other two of a light colour; a flat piece of polished iron ore, a small celt of flint, with the peculiarity of having a round polished edge, instead of a cutting one as is usual; a beautifully-chipped cutting tool, twenty-one circular instruments almost all neatly chipped, and seventeen pieces, or rude instruments, all of flint, which had been turned to a delicate white or gray by calcination. Scattered about in the immediate neighbourhood of this interment were a good many pieces of burnt bones, not sufficient in quantity to compose a complete deposit, and a few rats' bones as usual.

Section I Tumuli 1844. June the 10th, 1844, was opened a barrow [Map] upon Elton Moor, for which there is no distinctive name; it was on this occasion divided into four quarters by our sections, which left very little of the mound unexplored. In the usual central situation was found a previously-disturbed interment, accompanied by a large arrow- or spear-head of flint, a piece of a small urn neatly ornamented, and some animal teeth. On the southern side of the tumulus another interment was discovered, about eighteen inches below the natural surface of the land upon which the barrow was constructed; this skeleton was certainly that of an aged person, the teeth being much worn down; near the head was a piece of spherical iron pyrites, now for the first time noticed as being occasionally found with other relics in the British tumuli. Subsequent discoveries have proved that it was prized by the Britons, and not unfrequently deposited in the grave along with the weapons and ornaments which formed the most valued part of their store; even to the present day, the same mineral is used as a personal decoration by some tribes of the South American Indians. In the rear of the skeleton was a neatly-ornamented drinking-cup, which had been crushed by the weight of the soil, with which it had in a great degree become incorporated; within this cup the following odd assemblage of articles were placed: three quartz pebbles, one of which is red, the other two of a light colour; a flat piece of polished iron ore, a small celt of flint, with the peculiarity of having a round polished edge, instead of a cutting one as is usual; a beautifully-chipped cutting tool, twenty-one circular instruments almost all neatly chipped, and seventeen pieces, or rude instruments, all of flint, which had been turned to a delicate white or gray by calcination. Scattered about in the immediate neighbourhood of this interment were a good many pieces of burnt bones, not sufficient in quantity to compose a complete deposit, and a few rats' bones as usual.