Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/267

 THE AKCllAi:ul.(XllCAL INSTITUTK. I'.I'J stones taken from the old wall, the interior of which only remained, the facings having been long since removed. I took particular care that notiiing should be disturbed which seemed to me to bo of the slightest interest. I have opened a quarry since then, at very great expense, which I might have avoided had I been as regardless of those monuments as I fear I may get credit for. I assure you that not one stone shall l>c ever removed during my occupancy ; and I very much regret having touched any of the old walls, if, by doing so, I have rendered them less interesting to yourself, or to the members of the Institute." Mr. Joseph Moore, of Lincoln, communicated the following notice of the examination of a supposed tumulus, in Lincolnshire, which he had under- taken, in order to ascertain whether it were of a sepulchral character : — " Broughton, a parish in the north part of the division of Lindsey, is known to archajologists as connected with the singular custom of the Gad Whip, an account of which will be found in the Journal of the Institute, vol. vi., p. 239. It is a large parish, situate on the Roman way extending from Lincoln to the Ilumber, at the distance of about nine miles from the latter, and twenty-two miles from the former. Ilorsley considers it to have been the Prajtorium, mentioned in the first Iter of Antonine, and the Presidium of the Notitia, '* Mr. De la Pryme, in describing this way (Philos. Trans., No. 203), refers to a hill close to the town of Broughton, which he supposed to be a Barrow, and from which he conjectured the name to have been originally Barrow-ton. In Domesday it is written Bortone, and in Pope Nicolas's Taxation (1291) Berghton. In later times the name is written Braughton, which agrees with the present pronunciation, and appears to support Mr. De la Pry me 's conjecture. " The desire to certify the real nature of the tumulus, and the circumstance that it is called by the country people, ' the Barrow Hill,' suggesting the probability of its containing some Roman or other remains, led me to direct an excavation to be made, with the view of ascertaining its structure or contents ; this operation, from the size of the hill, was attended with con- siderable trouble. It may seem desirable to place on record the result of this investigation, although of a negative character, since the total absence of antiquities or relics of any kind has deprived this hill of the interest its appearance and situation was calculated to excite, and refuted the popular notion of its artificial character, to which antiquaries had sometimes been willing to give credence. We are reluctantly obliged to consider it as a mere sand hill. There being, as Stukeley observes, ' at Broughton, a vein of deep sand well planted with conies.' ' There is a tradition among the old inhabitants, that the hill was formed for the purposes of war ; but, if used as what Ilorsley calls an * exploratory mount,' some vestiges would most probably have been found during the recent excavation, tending to ! show that it had served such a purpose. The term Barrow, from which it has been supposed that the town was named, must therefore, if that deriva- tion is accepted, be considered as signifying merely a hill." It does not appear that any other barrows or tumuli were known or supposed to exist in Broughton, with the exception of the one alluded to, ' Camden says : " At Broughton are The Roman remains, fossil fish, and petri- Roman remains, with fossil fish, and near fying spring no longer exist, this a petrifying spring and a barrow."