A HISTORY OF CORNWALL case the barrow contained a kist, the urns were found outside it. Sometimes it is recorded that the kist was empty, 1 but this may be an error from want of careful examination, because in several instances * where there was no urn discovered there were burnt bones and evidence of cremation. Kists have occasionally been discovered,* and sometimes* containing urns, where there was no barrow at all, but it is most likely that in all these cases the barrow had been removed, while the kist having been originally placed in a sunk pit escaped the destruction. This inference is borne out by the observations made at Ladock and Manaccan, 1 where the surface showed evident traces of having been levelled. In 1886 two kiln-dried urns, both broken, but one containing bones, were found at some depth below the surface in ground which had been previously broken in Penzance Cemetery. 6 In 1899 another part of this same ground yielded two copper coins of Vespasian. In eight cases in Cornwall and one at Scilly the body seems to have been buried in a kist or sunk grave under a barrow without having been burnt, and of these three " are apparently cases of contracted burial ; at Bosavern 7 the body is stated to have lain at full length ; at Trevalga, 6 the Gugh at Scilly, 8 and Cardinham, 9 the evidence is slight or the record imperfect. The discovery at Maen in Sennen in 1716 recorded by Dr. Borlase 10 is quoted by the author of Naenia Cornubiae as an instance of contracted burial, but admittedly ' a very doubtful ' one. The extreme scarcity of this form of burial in the barrows is particularly interesting in comparison with the discoveries at Harlyn Bay and Sheviock. 11 Objects of metal are but rarely found in the Cornish barrows. The Rillaton cup, found in 1837 in a barrow near the Cheesewring, is the only article of gold 12 of which there is definite record, and iron is unknown. At Trelan in St. Keverne in a kist vaen, one of a group of ' several,' were discovered, about 1833, a bronze mirror, two brass rings, gilded, two fragments of bronze fibulae, and some fragments of brass rings and bronze ornaments. 18 The mirror is now in the British Museum. Some thin bits of brass (?) which may have been parts of a broken sword were found in a barrow at Trelowarren ; 14 a bronze palstave in one near 1 Ladock, Journ. Roy. Imt. Cornw. viii (1884), 211; Ballowall, Journ. Roy. Inst. Cornw. vi (1879), 194 ; Bodinnar, Trans. Penz. Nat. Hist, and Antiq. Soc. i, 235 ; Manaccan, Drew, Hist. ofCormv. i, 378.
- Pelynt, Journ. Roy. Imt. Corntv. (1846), 43 ; Durvall Downs, Borlase, Naen. Com. 171 ; Veryan Beacon,
Journ. Roy. Inst. Cormo. (1855), 23 ; Borlase, Naen. Corn. 204 ; Trewortha, Journ. Roy. Inst. Corntv. xi, 290. 3 Ladock, Journ. Roy. Inst. Cornw. viii (1884), 211; Gwithian, Borlase, Antiq. 236 ; Borlase, Naen. Corn. 170 ; Trelan in St. Keverne, Journ. Roy. Inst. Cornw. iv (1873), 266. 4 Gerrans, Journ. Roy. Inst. Cornw. (1844), 19 ; Borlase, Naen. Corn. 204 ; Gwithian, Borlase, Antiq. 236; Fowey, Journ. Roy. Inst. Cornw. (1840), 65; Borlase, Naen. Corn. 202 ; Sennen, Borlase, Antiq. 237; Borlase, Naen. Corn. 79; Calartha, Trans. Penz. Nat. Hist, and Antiq. Soc. (1883-4), 2 49 ! Brance Common, Borlase, Naen. Corn. 212, now in Penzance Museum. 5 Trans. Penz. Nat. Hist, and Antiq. Soc. (1886-7), 2 93- 6 Camelford, Journ. Roy. Inst. Corntv. ii (1867), 279; Trevalga, Borlase, Naen. Corn. 80 ; Lesnewth, Borlase, Naen. Com. 79 ; Maclean, Parochial Hist, ii, 400. 7 Borlase, Antiq. 235. 8 Mr. G. Bonsor found part of a human skeleton in a chambered barrow here ; from the relative position of some of the bones he inferred a contracted position. 9 Journ. Roy. Inst. Cornw. iv (1875), 2I 4- 10 Borlase, Antiq. 237 ; Borlase, Naen. Corn. 79. 11 See p. 366 infra. "Journ. Roy. Inst. Cornw. iii (1868), 34 and pi. ; Borlase, Naen. Corn. 37; Evans, Stone Imp. 448; Bronze Imp. 408. 13 Journ. Roy. Inst. Cornw. iv (1873), 266. " Borlase, Antiq. 214, 237, 290. 362
