Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/421

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CROMLECH AT DREWSTEIONTON, DEVON. .31 9 Ifcre arc two concentric circles of stones, the inner circle linvini;- entrances facing the cardinal points, that to the north being (55 paces in length and 5 broad. The outer circle, besides these, has avenues diveiging towards N.E., S.E., S.W., and N.W. ; a smaller circle seems to intersect the lai'ger, of which the avenue eastwards is very evident." ]Ir. Grey informed me that he visited and measured these remains, in company with his brother, at 9.30 a.m., on Wednesday, July 4, 1838, and that the plan was made on the spot, and linished up at the hotel at Okehampton that same evening. The remains, mapped by Mr. Grey, arc unquestionably the " Sacred way," the " Two rows of Pillars," and " columnar circles " noticed by Polwhele. As Mr. Grey's plan does not include the pillars on the north and south, it is probable that at the time of his visit the work of destruction had conmienced. The fields on "which these remains existed were examined by myself this year, 22nd March, 1872, and again on 12th September. On the first occasion they had been recently ploughed, so that there was every opportunity for making a careful inspection. In the easterly field I could not find a trace of the remains ; in the westerly some stones were visible near the gate open- ing npon the common ; but, after studying the spot, with the map in hand, they could not be identified as forming part of these remains. There is an upright stone, larger than those mentioned by Polwhele, in the field to the south of that in which the Cromlech stands, but the distance is far beyond that given by Polwhele to the row of southerly stones. On the common, 56 ft. to the west of the point where the division hedge joins the outside boundary, there is an upright stone, 4 ft. 6 in. high, 4 ft. 8 in. in girth at the bottom, and wedge-shaped at the top, which, from its character, may have been one of the old stones, and by its position niigiit have either formed a part of the north- western avenue, or a prolongation of the row of stones men- tioned by Polwhele as being to the north of the Cromlech. On the common, in an angle formed by prolonging the northern and north-eastern avenues, three stones run from east to west, crossed by two from north to south ; these are large rounded stones, and in their character do not resemble those found in avenues or circles, and I think that they are only boulders that have been lelt where the excavations for