flat marsh to Killmar, is as fine as anything on the
Bodmin moors. On the west side of the marsh is an
ancient British settlement, apparently unconnected
with the stream-works for tin. The houses were
long and quadrangular; one was apparently a council
chamber, having a judge's seat in granite and
benches of granite down the sides. Unfortunately
these have been wantonly destroyed recently by a
man who was building pigsties. The houses had
separate bakeries, and two or three of these with
their ovens remain in a tolerably perfect condition.
The same long building was occupied by two or
three families, divided off from each other by an
upright slab of granite, making so many horseboxes,
but each family had its own hearth. The pottery
found there was all wheel-turned; and as many hones
were found, no doubt could exist that the occupants
belonged to the iron age. No other village of the
kind has as yet been noticed on the moors except
another somewhat higher up the stream that feeds
Trewartha Marsh, and this has been much mutilated
of late years. Independent of these singular quadrangular buildings are hut circles belonging to a far
earlier age, before steel and iron were known.
The whole of the hillside is cut up into paddocks, and a conduit of water was brought from the little stream at Rushleford Gate to supply the settlers with pure drinking water. No traces of burnt slag were found, and consequently the ovens cannot be pronounced to have been made to smelt the ore, but it is strange that there should be several of these ovens. The whole settlement is so curious that I
