Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 9.djvu/250

186 of six feet of sedimentary gravel, bouldered pebbles, &c., with two feet of earth, had been formed over them.

"The stone of which the moulds are formed is a strong micaceous schist, of a light greenish colour, similar to that found in Cornwall, and very heavy. The pair of moulds weigh about 12 lb.

"In Mr. Short's 'Collectanea Curiosa Antiqua Damnonii,' p. 25, mention is made of the camps of Preston-Bury, Wooston Castle, and Cranbrook Castle, on the borders of the River Teign, about eight miles above Knighton. May it be supposed that such moulds were used by the tribes who occupied these camps; and that they had been washed down by the waters of the Teign? This must obviously have occurred at a very remote period, when it is considered that since their deposit in the place where they have been recently found, eight feet of surface has been formed over them. The level of the field in which they were discovered is now nearly 50 feet above the present level of the river. The river rises in Dartmoor, above Chagford and Gidley Common, where are many relics of the Celtic period—the Tolmens, stone circle, the Pillar Stone, innumerable circles, the sacred avenue leading to Holy-street, and thence onwards to the Logan Stone and Cromlech, near Drews Teignton.

"The clay beds of the valleys of the Rivers Bovey and Teign are evidently in the direction of the water-shed of these streams, at right angles, before the two rivers join, after which the beds are formed in a uniform deposit through the low lands of King's Teignton to Aller Mills, in King's Kerswell, where it seems that the currents were bayed back by the carboniferous lime hills; and by the eddying of the waters on the soft green sand of Milbourue Down, the course of the Teign was effected to Teignmouth.

"The lignite known as Bovey Coal is interspersed with the clay beds in the King's Teignton Level. The main deposit on Bovey Heath crops up to the surface in the direction of the valley, with a dip of one foot in five feet. But the coal and clay were anterior to the period in which the moulds were deposited.

"A few years since eight celts of bronze were found at Plumley, in Bovey Tracey, about three miles higher up the valley than the spot where the moulds were found; four of them were placed in regular order, under a granite block, the other four scattered about. There were also at Plumley six adjacent stone circles, possibly the remains of a British village, in perfect preservation, which the proprietor demolished for building purposes, although in the midst of a country abounding with granite."

It will be noticed in the accompanying representation of the moulds, that at the edge of one of them there is a shallow cavity, which would produce a thin slip of bronze sharply ribbed on one side and flat on the other. In Mr. Brackstone's Collection of Irish Antiquities there is an object of bronze, which he has kindly sent for examination, in some measure analogous, but it is ribbed on both sides: length, about 15 in. (see woodcut). It has been conjectured that these may have served to sharpen bronze weapons, in similar manner to the instrument termed a steel now used.

Mr. stated the following particulars in relation to an "Oculist's