Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/76

The most generally known collection of hut-circles, and the first to be explored, is that at "Grimspound," near Moreton Hampstead. "Grimspound" is an irregularly shaped piece of ground, lying between two tors, with a small streamlet running through it, and enclosed by an unmortared stone wall, more than fifteen hundred feet in circumference. This was originally about five feet high and nine or ten thick, but, in some places at least, it seems to have been divided into two walls with a space between them; this space may have been filled up with turf, or it may have been used for dwelling or storage purposes. Inside this enclosure are the foundations of about two dozen roughly circular enclosures, from nine to sixteen feet in diameter, some of which were probably cattle pens, while others were certainly human dwellings. The latter had originally consisted of slabs of granite set up in a ring to a height of about three feet, the spaces between being filled in with smaller stones, and the whole backed up outside with turf; the doors were generally constructed of two upright jambs of granite between two and three feet high, on the top of which lintels of granite were placed; the floors of the huts were of the subsoil of clay and granite grit and rolled pebbles, beaten hard, and occasionally, and in places, paved; the roof is believed to have been formed by poles sloping from the top of the low wall to the centre, and covered with turf, rushes, &c, as there were not sufficient stones found to form a domed roof. Most of the huts, when cleared of the accumulation of vegetable soil with which they were filled, were found to contain a low platform or dais, formed of curbstones with straight edges, all natural, but selected for the purpose, and laid in the soil, cutting off a portion of the circumference, which portion was generally carried out so as to afford additional width and depth to the dais, which was usually paved, and probably served as a seat for the inhabitants by day and as a bed at night. There were generally a flat stone in the middle of the hut, without any indication of fire upon it, which had probably been used as a table, or as a base for a post to support the conical roof, and another flat stone, with considerable marks of fire, which had evidently been a hearthstone; near the latter was usually found a hole in the floor, about nine inches deep, lined with stones set on edge, and full of peat ashes and charcoal, which was doubtless