Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, England, British Isles [Map]

Avebury by William Stukeley. Boroughbridge. The stones, as much famed by the name of the Devil's Arrows [The Devil's Arrow's [Map]], as misrepresented by writers, stand in some fields, half a mile west of the Roman road south of Boroughbridge. Some think them Roman, though they regard not any Roman work hereabouts: some say they are factitious, though plain stone as possible. They are stones of very large dimensions, and have been hewn pretty square, much as those at Stonehenge; but silly people have knocked off the edges: their height is very great: they were very taper and well-shaped, and much of an obelisk form; but the tops are decayed, and long furrows worn down on all sides along the tenderest part of the grain of the stone. I remarked, that they all lean somewhat southward. The stone is intirely composed of small white crystals, unperishable by weather: they are certainly natural, and brought about ten miles off, from the west, where more such lie above ground in great plenty. Three now stand; one was taken away, as all report, to make a bridge over the bec a little eastward. The cross near the church is of the same stone. These stones stood 200 foot asunder, pretty near in a line north and south: the first stone westward is not so high as the other, but broader much, and stands square, or perpendicular to the line of direction; it is 8½ foot broad, 4½ thick, 23 foot about; the second in the next pasture is square each side, but not precisely; it is 5 foot broad, 4 foot thick, 18 foot fquare: the next is twice as far distant, and beyond the road, of a figure much like the former, but rather higher, as that is higher than the first; this is 5 foot by 4: the two last are very beautiful obelisks, and their height about 25 foot, as I guess. The ground this fine monument stands on is high, and declines every way a little from it; the great river [River Ure], the brook, and some low ground to the south, hem it in as it were. Mr. Gale, and the beforementioned clergyman, some time since dug under one to the foundation, and found that it was about five foot under ground, and fastened into its seat by stones laid in clay, quite around it, as a wall: they put four half-pence, in a leaden box underneath, of queen Anne, Vigo, &c. and filled it up again. I could not commend them for it, as it could only tend to mislead the curious of future times.

Reliquiæ Isurianæ. Commencing our Illustrations with the Druidical remains, the Devil's Arrows [Map] (so called) claim a primary notice. These remarkable Obelisks appear to belong to that class of Celtic or Druidical monuments termed Meanhirs, Peulvans, or Pillar Stones, the earliest known memorials¹ of the primitive inhabitants of Western Europe. They have been the source of unceasing misapprehension to antiquaries for the last three hundred years. Leland, Camden, Drake, and others supposed them to be of Roman origin, notwithstanding the absence of ornament or the least vestige of an inscription, which in Roman workmanship we certainly should expect, from universal analogy. Camden² states it to be the opinion of many "learned men," but who would appear to have resisted the evidence of their own senses, that these colossal objects were artificial, and composed of fine sand, lime, vitriol, and small pebbles! —instancing, in corroboration of this idea, the compact artificial stone of the Romans described by Pliny. Dr. Gale, suspecting their having been designed for the reception of Roman mercuries, to indicate the way, four roads meeting here, could not be convinced to the contrary, till, by personal inspection, a sense of the practical impossibility of such a purpose was forced upon him³. Ackerman⁴ classifies them, with good reason, among Druidical remains, but erroneously states them (in 1847) to be four in number, and as not unlikely to have formed part of a circle (or temple); whereas these monoliths have for a long period been but three in number, and their line is so slightly curved, that, if part of a circle, the latter must have had a radius above half a mile in length, and would for the greater part of its course have extended along low ground! Their original natural forms appear to us to have been but little altered by art⁵; they taper upwards, where also the artificial grooves or flutings (long supposed to be rain-worn channels!) are more noticeable than nearer the surface of the ground, but below it they clearly demonstrate the operation of the celt, or some analogous instrument. The stone is the coarse rag or millstone-grit of the North of England, than which probably none other could be selected more calculated for weathering all time. No such stone, however, is to be met with in the immediate vicinity; but at Plumpton, ten miles distant, it occurs in large detached masses, and whence it may safely be considered these Obelisks were procured, though not without incalculable labour and trouble, in the rude and early age that witnessed their erection. They surpass in magnitude the average of the stones of the temple at Stonehenge, which, it may be remembered, were conveyed a distance of fifteen miles. They all lean somewhat to the southward, and occupy a rather elevated position, as the ground slightly declines on all sides; yet their site is not sufficiently commanding to warrant the belief of its use for beacons.

Note 1. "Of more ancient date than Druidism itself." Grose's Antiquities, 1777.

Note 2. Bishop Gibson's, vol. ii., p. 96.

Note 3. Drake's York, p. 25.

Note 4. Archæological Index, pp. 16—18. i

Note 5. In the opinion of Dr. Stukeley and others, they were hewn square Obelisks; but a careful examination of them, and a visit to the site of their probable production, will, we think, dispel the notion.