security; and have withstood the attacks, of destroying elements, while splendid monuments have mouldered into dust. This ground is also covered with innumerable stones, some have been of enormous dimensions, to judge by the fragments left; they having been made free with for the repair of roads and even the most inexperienced in the examination of such remains, will not find it difficult to trace circles and lines amidst all the coufusion occasioned by the numerous fragments that have been indiscriminately mixed and left from time to time by the workmen. Many of those stones continue in an upright position, and from the regularity still visible, it was, in all probability, appropriated by the ancient inhabitants of this once populous soil, to the performance of their frightful and mysterious ceremonies; and those altar-like stones, now blanched and furrowed by time, have perhaps reeked with the life's blood of human victims, and on which they have writhed in dying agonies, under the knife of the officiating druid-priest. The tumuli in this district, are generally of a very singular construction; large blocks of stone, piled close to each other, composing the outer edge or boundary; in the centre of this circle the ashes or body appears to have been deposited, and cairns of various

dimensions have been raised by heaping on stones of all sizes. No earth has been used, as far as I have observed, in those tumuli near Hulleys; there is, however, a considerable quantity of decomposed vegetable matter, which has worked its way through the interstices of the stones, from the surface downwards; and may be an additional proof of the time that has elapsed since their erection. The stones are all, more or less, rounded by attrition, as if they had been brought from the sea beach, or collected from the surface of the land, where they had long lain, exposed to atmospheric action. And almost every variety that Geologists describe on this coast may be found in those barrows. The remains of a tumulus of this description may be seen a few hundred yards to the east of the ruins, its diameter is about seventy feet, and was from fourteen to sixteen in height: little more than the outer circle is now left. Its venerable age was, however, no protection against the depredations of road-makers. Five years ago, many fragments of coarse unbaked pottery were seen, scattered over the interior, but none were preserved; except two or three small fragments, which have an ornament that appears to have been made with the nail of the thumb or finger, in the possession of Mr. T. Pickering, of Cloughton, were taken from it,

B

but of that he is not certain.

At what period Hulleys was last the busy scene of man, is a mystery which I shall not attempt to unravel; that it was for many ages the residence of the ancient Britons or Brigantes, there can be little, if any, doubt; from its connection with remains on the moors, the works of a people, according to the most authentic accounts, long anterior to the subjugation of the inhabitants of this district by the Romans. Hu leys may have been greatly altered by the Britons after that event; and they would, in time conform to, and adopt, Roman improvement in the construction of their residences for security and convenience, which would be the natural result of an intercourse with a superior race of people.

I am inclined to think that Hulleys retained an importance among the legends of the people even up to the time of the conquest, as in all probability it gives the name to Stainton Dale, which is clearly derived from the Saxon Stein or Stan, stone, and ton, town, or residence.And if I may indulge in a fanciful conjecture, there does not appear to be any great obstacle in the way to prove that it might, in every sense of the word, have been such a town as Cæsar describes the ancient Britons to have inhabited, viz., "walled towns in the midst of

woods or forests."-In some of the vales close to Hulleys, oak trees have been obtained, and with little trouble may still be procured, fit for any building purposes, and easily shaped with the carpenters' tools: these are not antediluvian; and perhaps not many ages have elapsed since these moors were covered with forests of oak and other timber. But what a change! How different now!-To the north and north west of Hulleys the scenery possesses all that wild and romantic character so peculiar to the Yorkshire moors: frowning, as it were, in wrath at their own desolation and dreariness, and deserted by the human race. Not so once: cast your eyes around, and every where you behold mysterious relics, like the ruins of a former world, of a people long since mingled with the dust; whose manners and customs are guessed at-not known! In contemplating scenery like this, abounding with tumuli, ruins of temples, and other druidical remains, every excuse should be made if the fancy run wild for a time!

I have before referred to the antiquities on the moors, and with which I conceived Hulleys to be connected. From Hulleys to the westward a track, or covered-way, is seen to emerge from the wood close to the sixth mile stone, on the Whitby road. It crosses a small stream, which rises half a mile off, called Ringing Keld.

The track-way rises boldly up the hill side, on the top of which there are several tumuli, some of them very small: it continues a straight course in a direction to three larger tumuli on the verge of Harwood Dale, and near a place called Gowland. Stone celts have been found on the moors near this place; and not long ago a quern, or ancient mill-stone, was ploughed up. One of the celts I have obtained, and the other is in the possession of Mr. T. Pickering, of Cloughton, who has also, much to his credit, preserved the remains of a small British urn, found in a tumulus, near Ringing Keld.* To the north west of Hulleys, at the distance of a mile and a half, to the left of the high road, there is a vast assemble of stones, scattered over a considerable plain on the high moor, apparently without order or design; contiguous are many tumuli, nearly surrounding a remarkable and beautiful little relic, and if I may be allowed the phrase, it "speaks volumes" in explanation. It is a small circle of upright stones, of about thirty feet diameter; most of them in their original position, the highest of which is now nearly four feet above the surface. The ground within is rather higher than that without, and in the middle of the circle, the altar-stones are still visible! The

* A representation of which is attached to this letter.