or figured, so far as I am aware, nothing can be said as to their characteristics. This authority was of opinion, however, that few, if any, interments in barrows took place after the Roman invasion in Britain; so that these articles must have been in use before or soon after that event. He also discovered an urn in a barrow, with an ornament on the rim in relief like the shape of a horseshoe.[1]
The able veterinary surgeon, Bracy Clark, in 1832, described what he termed 'two ancient horse-shoes,' found near Silbury Hill, Wiltshire. This hill, which is situated on the road from London to Bath, is nothing more than a mound of large size, and is believed to be of great antiquity; by some it has even been supposed to be the appendage of a Druidical temple, it being placed exactly due south, and possessing other characters of a similar kind. It is to be much regretted that no methodical and careful examination has yet been made of this tumulus, for at various times objects of great age and antiquarian value have been obtained from it. An opening was made in it in 1723, when a human skeleton, the antlers of a deer, a knife with a horn handle, and a horse's iron bit were found. Stukely thought the hill was the grave of a great king, and that these were his remains. 'In the month of March, 1723, Mr Holford ordered some trees to be planted on this hill, in the middle of the area at the top, which is 60 cubits (103 feet 9 inches) in diameter. The workmen dug up the body
neither is any notice of them to be found in his Guide to the Wiltshire Barrows.
- ↑ Ibid., p. 121.
