A HISTORY OF CORNWALL Bronze Age or later periods, was pointed out by Mr. W. C. Borlase, F.S.A., in Naenia Cornubiae. It is an undoubted fact that the barrows and other sepulchral deposits of Cornwall present features which, compared with those in other parts of the kingdom, may be regarded as abnormal, but the character of the objects contained in or accompanying them is sufficiently well- pronounced to indicate the relative positions to which the burials may be assigned. The following particulars of Cornish barrows include those both of the Stone Age and of the Bronze Age, and as it is not possible in every case to differentiate them it has been deemed best to treat them together under the genera] head of barrows : Although many barrows have been removed from time to time for the purpose of agricultural improvements, there still remains a very large number on the hills, the moors, and the cliffs throughout Cornwall. The author of Naenia Cornubiae mentions that five kinds of barrows, known respectively as the cone-shaped barrow, the bowl barrow, the bell barrow, the flat barrow, and the ring barrow, are found. But these distinctions are perhaps little more than differences in height, the Cornish barrows varying in height almost as much as in diameter. The dimensions range from 1 8 in. in height 1 and 9 ft. diameter, 2 to 28ft. in height and ii6ft. in diameter. 3 It seems probable that these differences are due to the amount of time and material which the builders had for the work rather than to any deliberate plan of construction. If they be arranged according to their contents they show two marked classes, viz., (a) the chambered barrow, which is sometimes long * and sometimes round ; * and (b) the more usual round barrow, containing one or more small kist vaens or urns. The distinction between these two types is very noticeable, and as at Chapel Carn Brea * a kist vaen was found in the mound covering a chambered barrow, it is just possible that the one may be of an earlier date than the other. In the round chambered-barrows the chamber is nearly square, while in the long specimens it is oblong. In every case it occupies the greater portion of the whole bulk of the mound ; the sides and one end are built of stone, and the roof composed of long stones laid across, and the whole covered by a mound. In one of the ' Giants Caves ' at Scilly 7 the chamber was aaft. long, 4ft. Sin. wide, and 4ft. 10 in. high ; and in the other i4ft. long, 2 ft. high, and 4 ft. wide in the middle ; while that of the Pennance 8 barrow is 9 ft. 6 in. in length, 4 ft. in width, and 4 ft. 4 in. in height. The 1 Botrea Hill, Sancreed, Trans. Penz. Nat. Hist, and Antlq. Soc. i, 234 ; Edmonds, The Land's End District, 33 ; Borlase, Naen. Corn. 134. ' Trannack, Madron, Trans. Penz. Nat. Hist, and Antlq. Soc. i, 234 ; Edmonds, op. cit. 32 ; Borlase, Naen. Corn. 208. 1 Veryan Beacon, Journ. Roy. Inst. Cornw. (1855), 23 ; Drew, Hist, of Cornw. ii, 289 and 664; Borlase, Naen. Carn. 204. ' Scilly, Borlase, Observations, 30 ; Borlase, Naen. Corn. 72 ; Pennance, Trout. Penz. Nat. Hist, and Antlq. Soc. (1862-5), 44. Ibid - (1883-4), 3'; Gent. Mag. 1865 (and plan); Borlase, Naen. Com. 74; Tregiffian, Journ. Roy. Inst. Corntv. (1879), 211 (and plan). 5 Treen in Zennor, Borlase, Naen. Corn. 73 ; Brane, Sancreed (as Chapel Euny), Journ. Roy. Inst. Corntv. (1865), 19 (and plan) ; Borlase, Naen. Corn. 75 (fig. and plan). " Borlase, The Age of the Saints, Introd. viii. ' Scilly, Borlase, Observations, 30. 8 Pennance, Trans. Penz. Nat. Hist, and Antlq. Soc. (1862-5), 44 5 Ibid - ( l88 3~4)> 310. 358
