Page:Surrey Archaeological Collections Volume 1.djvu/106

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THE KINGSTON MORASTEEN.

also unique, is in Cumberland, near Keswick; and its peculiarity consists in having, within a circle of fifty unhewn stones, at its eastern end, an inclosure or sanctum, in the form of a parallelogram, formed by twelve stones, four at the west end, and four north and south, with one larger than the rest in the centre towards the east, which may fairly be considered to be the Mora-stone, with the twelve subordinate seats, as at Upsala, and the large circuit for the surrounding general assembly. Opportunities have not yet been afforded me for examining the other stone circles of the kingdom with this view. But in his account of the Morasteen in Sweden, Camden mentions a similar one at St. Burien, in Cornwall; and another also may be found in Borlase's description of that county; and as these sacella, or such sanctum sanctorum, are the normal form in the remaining Druidical circles in Mecklenburg, and the marks of Brandenburg, we may infer that if our own were more perfect at Rollrich, in Oxfordshire; at Stanton Drew, in Somersetshire; at Averbury; perhaps even if Stonehenge itself were intact; that this was the general ground-plan of all such places of Druidical assemblage and worship. This supposition granted, our Kingstone stone would be only one of a smaller circle of thirteen, surrounded by a larger outer girth of somewhat indefinite but frequent multiple of four. The Rollrich stones were originally 60 (4 by 15), and the Keswick ones, if rightly counted, and not including the two required to complete the sacellum, are 48 (4 by 12). In Ireland, tradition at least has preserved a perfect image of a Morasteen in superlative grandeur. I am not aware whether the existing remains are confirmatory. The principal circle of stones in the land of Erin was the Crum-Cruach, on a hill in Breferi, a district of the county of Cavan. Here was an obelisk,