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127
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b ar re ^ u pright stones, and surrounded on all sides withh The south-western avenue, consisting of about two
term' stones > ' 3 nearly a mile and a half in length, andtjojj^utes in a single stone. It has to be remarked, thatby g hese avenues run in a curved direction, and are hencerelin' 016 su PP os ed to represent a serpent, thus connecting thet>on° < f ,n t ^ e Druids with the early and prevalent supersti-t a ii p ® er pent-worship; the western avenue answers to theis re the reptile; the large circle to the body; while the headgua</ re8 ^ nte d. by the Hackpen, a word which, in some lan-stru®' 3 ’ S1 guifies serpent. The circles of this portion of theh av i n re are concentl 'ic, the outer one containing forty stones,inn er ® a diameter of one hundred and fifty feet, and thefort,,’ yh* c h j s comprised of eighteen stones, a diameter of
^y-eigbt feet.
hni' Veen *"' le t wo avenues just mentioned, are three mounds,
or „„
fnjri" 13 ’ ° ne of which, situate at the extreme south, and nearlyabl e ^ e * ween the extremities of the avenues, is remark-tiarned o- ' n S the largest artificial mound in Europe ; it isof fj v tilbury Hill. The base of this mound covers a spaceis uores and thirty-four perches, and its circumferenceheio-ijj. .thousand and twenty-seven feet; the perpendiculars lop e tl* S ° ne hundred and seventy feet, the length of theth e t) i 'p ee hundred and sixteen feet, and the diameter ofBesijg 1 , t®) at its apex, one hundred and twenty feet,a vaript ” na a nd other erections connected with Abury, are8om e Druidical remains scattered in all directions for
Tile IStance round the great circle.
With tt. n - Um V er stones employed at Abury and Sonehenge,
eir distribution, as given by Dr. Stukeley :—
ABURT.
J*e . , Stones.
5°tth tem , rC e con tains.100
» 0rtt ‘tem P J e,outercircIe ••• 30o° utt i tem lnner otrcle ... 12
Sth ou ter circle ... 30
Av 6c ove„?P m ter circle ... 12
H eli 8 kaa n rt d ? lt ». 4
eastern altar . 2
n avenue .200
. 200
^ «tstern. avenue .*»••••
acVpeTij outer circle ..
inner circle .^
Btone-cove iambs. ■»
p ? 6 Ring atone . n
losing stone ol tail.■***
Stones.
The great-circle uprights. 30
The great-circle imposts. 30
Inner circle . 40
Trilithon uprights. 10
Trilithon imposts . 5
Inmost stones . 19
Altar . 1
Stones within the vallum. 2
Large table stone . I
Distant pillar. I
Stone at entrance. I
Total..
. **.652 Total.140
s Sct Ure ,8' v es the following account of a remarkableV *hage 0 p° hind. “In the isle of Lewis,” be says, “at theg et Uarkabig ^ assern ' ss > there is one of these temples very> ev en f ee) . e '. The circle consists of twelve obelisks, about8b cent ^ eac h> an d distant from each other six feet.? a Pe 0 f ,!' e stands a stone thirteen feet high, in the perfectth er 6 r udder of a ship. Directly south from the' s ° a noth e Star *d four obelisks running out in a line; ast^ber anj 8 ?.°k ^ ne due east > an d a third to the west, the; 6 Sa rn e . distances of the stones being in these wingsa at tbe’g 80 '■hut this temple, the most entire that can be,of tl h> there* 116 t * me both round and winged. But to the«. °b e lisk<! n eac hj by way of avenue, two straight ranges
1,6 8 > °t thp. Bom r. l.: . a _,—
^'sach ! ye . 1 ! he ranges D themselves are eight feet^distant^
die e nt Con sisting of nineteen stones, the i 7 three cir-to the avenue.” Dr. Borlase mentions three cmIVwf oa c in the parish of St. Clare, Cornwall called thet*bo8 e * W l ich are separate and distinct from
a centres are in one straight line. . , besides
n S st some few of the more important circles
rue same bigness and distances with those of
those already mentioned, may be classed that of StantonDrew, consisting originally of three circles, of the largerof which five stones remain, and of the smaller, a larger num-ber ; the stones are much inferior in point of size to thosealready described. Rollrich is another circle of stones nearChipping Norton, Oxfordshire , the highest of which is notmore than five feet above the ground; they are irregular, andof unequal height. Another is found near Penrith , Cumber-land, which consists of seventy-seven stones, each ten feet inheight, and before them, at the entrance, stands a single oneby itself, fifteen feet high. Similar structures are found inother parts of England, Scotland , and the Isles, hut none ofthem approaching in size those of Abury or Stonehenge .
There exists at Carnac, in Brittany , a monument, whichin size approaches nearer to Abury than any other suchwork, hut which, in its form and general character, is perfectlyunique; it is of ruder formation than either Abury or Stone-henge , “ and consists of eleven rows of unwrought pieces ofrock or stone, merely set up on end in the earth, withoutany pieces crossing them at top. These stones are of greatthickness, but not exceeding nine or twelve feet in height;there may be some few fifteen feet. The rows are placed fromfifteen to eighteen paces from each other, extending in length—taking rather a semi-circular direction—above half a mile,on unequal ground, and towards one end upon a hilly site.When the length of these rows is considered, there must havebeen nearly three hundred stones in each, and there areeleven rows; this will give some idea of the immensity ofthe work, and the labour such a construction required. It issaid that there are above four thousand stones still remain-ing.” This account is taken from Mrs. Stoddart’s Tour inNormandy and Brittany; but a French writer gives the sizeof some of the stones at twenty-one and twenty-two feet,and he especially alludes to one specimen, which was twenty-two feet high, twelve broad, and six deep; its weight is givenat two hundred and fifty-seven thousand pounds.
Logan stones, or rocking-stones, as they are less technicallytermed, are stones, often of an immense size, poised on others,or on natural rocks, in such a peculiar manner, as to move withthe slightest touch. They seem to have been erected at vari-ous times and places. They were known to the Greeks, andcalled by them XiOoc e/jif/vxoi, or live stones, also namedPetrse Ambrosise, from the ceremony they underwent ofbeing anointed with oil. Pliny takes notice of one erectedby Lycippus, at Tarentum, and also of one at Cyzicum ,which is said to have been left by the Argonants; but themost celebrated was the Gygonean stone, near the Pillars ofHercules, of which Ptolemy Ilephajstion relates, that itstands near the ocean, and may be moved with the stalk of anasphodel, but cannot be removed by any force. Pliny like-wise says of one at Harpava, in Asia , that it is of so strangeand wonderful a nature, that if even a finger is laid on it, itwill move, but if you thrust it with your whole body, it willnot move at all.
These stones are very common in Britain ; there areseveral in Cornwall and Yorkshire, as also in Scotland ,where they are called Claca Breath, or stones of judgment;it is known that there existed formerly several in the islandof Iona, which have since been destroyed. In some casesthe stone rests on two points, in others on one; it is said thatthe junction was formed in one instance in Scotland , wherethe stone had been removed, by a protuberant knob in theupper stone fitting into a socket.
A stone of this nature is that near Penzance, Cornwall ,named Men-amber; it is eleven feet in length, four feet indepth, and six in width. Its equilibrium was destroyedby Cromwell’s soldiers, by breaking off a portion. Another
i