IV. An Account of a Stone Barrow, in the Parish of Wellow, at Stoney Littleton in the County of Somerset, which was opened and investigated in the Month of May 1816. Communicated by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart. F.S.A.

In my introduction to the Ancient History of South Wiltshire, I have endeavoured to investigate with accuracy and minuteness, the various barrows with which our chalk hills particularly abound. I have stated their forms, construction, and contents. Those which occur most frequently, may be divided into four classes. I. The long barrow. II. The bowl-shaped barrow. III. The bell-shaped barrow. IV. The Druid barrow. The two first, from the general simplicity of their structure, appear to be the most ancient; for in No 3 we find a great degree of symmetry in the design, which corresponds with the figure of a bell: and No 4 varies materially from all the preceding. I know not from what circumstances the learned Dr. Stukeley appropriated these low tumuli to the British order of Priests called Druids I am rather inclined to think, from the result of our own researches that they were destined to receive the bones and the ashes of the female tribe of Britons; for the articles generally found within them both with regard to size and quality, have been such as were more becoming to a lady than a priest. But the most inexplicable of all the barrows, and the most distinguished by its size and construction, is the Long Barrow, consisting of an immense long ridge of earth, pointing most frequently from East to West; and rising to a higher degree of elevation towards the former aspect. These are the barrows which the Northern Writers ‘describe as ship barrows—carinœ instar.