THE RELIQUARY. APRIL, 1864. NOTICE OF THE DISCOVERY OF SOME CELTIC REMAINS AT STANCLIFFE HALL, DARLEY DALE. In the month of April, 1863, in the course of excavations forming part of the immense works still going on at Stancliffe Hall, Derbyshire, the seat of Joseph Whitworth, Esq.-whose wonderful rifles have given him a world-wide and imperishable name-a most interesting discovery of Celtic remains was made, of which I am now enabled to lay before my readers the following account :— The Stancliffe estate, now the property of Mr. Whitworth, belonged to Ralph de Darley, and from him passed to the Collumbell family in 1370, from whom it passed successively, by female heirs, through the families of Newsom and Pott to Sir John Digby, who sold it to Robert Steere. In 1718 it was purchased by Greensmith, and in 1799 was sold to Heathcote, from which family it passed by sale to its present owner, Mr. Whitworth. The Hall, an Elizabethan building, is delightfully situated, and commands from its front a magnificent view of the valley towards Matlock, and of the surrounding hills. Near to the Hall are the famous grit-stone quarries of "Darley Stone," from which the materials for the new Houses of Parliament, St. George's Hall, Liverpool, and many other public buildings have been procured. These quarries, some of the finest and most profitable in the kingdom, Mr. Whitworth is throwing into his grounds, so as to form natural rock gardens, of the most stupendous and gigantic character, and the Hall is also to be demolished, the place where it stands filled up, and a splendid mansion erected on the higher ground thus formed. In the course of these works, close at the back of the Hall, while the excavations were proceeding, the urns, about to be described, were found. They were placed on the rock, covered with a compact sandy mound, over which the soil had accumulated to a depth of from four to five feet, filling up that part of the little valley, if I may so call it and completely burying the mound. This accumulation of soil appears to have been the natural result of the situation, the barrow being placed at the foot of a sloping hill, rising to a height of about eighty feet, from which the earth has been gradually washed down by the rain of successive ages. Thus no trace of the grave-mound remained, the soil having accumulated until the surrounding rocky bed was covered to a sufficient depth to form a level over the barrow, as I have stated, of between four and five feet. It was in clearing away this soil and sand, for the purposes of the alterations in the grounds, that the workmen came across the first of the cinerary urns, and, thanks to Mr. Dawson, under whose able superintendence the works are being carried out, it was preserved, and the remainder of the excavations carried on with commendable and necessary care. The subsequent operations brought to light four other cinerary urns, which were found almost in a line with the first; the first two being nearly together, and the other three at a distance from them of between three and four feet. The urns were all inverted, that is, they were placed mouth downwards, on small flat stones. Two of them were got out perfect, but the other three fell to pieces on removal. Sufficient fragments, however, were preserved to enable me to restore them in the drawings, and thus to give accurate representations of their forms. The engravings are one-third in size of the originals. Those who are acquainted with the forms of the cinerary urns of the Celtic period found in Derbyshire, will at once perceive, that the shape of the examples here figured, are unusual in that district. The general form of the sepulchral urns found in that county will be seen by the engravings here given, for comparison, from Monsal Dale and Ballidon Moor; the principal characteristic of which, it will be seen, is the deep border, or overhanging lip around the upper part, and which is entirely wanting in those from Stancliffe, now under notice, where the upper portions between the mouth and the rim are flat, or rounded only. The ornamentation, too, is somewhat different to that usually found on the sepulchral urns of the district, although produced in the same manner. These facts would almost lead one to the inference, that the Stancliffe urns were the work of a different tribe from that which peopled the Peak district. Of this, however, I shall have more to say on another occasion. The urn shown in the first engraving (Plate XX. Fig. 1), is 84 inches in height, and 74 inches in diameter at the top. It is ornamented in the usual manner of Derbyshire pottery of that period, with lines produced by indenting twisted thongs into the pliant clay. The ornamentation consists simply of two encircling lines, with a series of diagonal lines between. The urn was filled with burnt bones, and was placed, as I have already stated, mouth downwards, on a flat stone. On careful examination of the contents of this urn, a most interesting discovery was made, of fragments of a metallic ornament, with minute beads, almost white in colour, the materials of which, having apparently been subjected to the action of fire, it is difficult to ascertain. The principal fragments of these remains I have shown of their full size, on the accompanying engraving. They consist of portions EURWITT of a bronze tube, which has originally passed through the small beads, some of which were also found loose among the bones. That the tube has passed through the beads, is evidenced by two which remain in their original position. These remains are, unfortunately, too fragmentary to enable me to speak at all decisively as to their use. Α similar discovery, along with armillæ and other ornaments of gold, was made in January, 1849, on the estate of Lord Digby, at Whitefield Farm, in the parish of Beerhacket, Dorsetshire. Of these curious objects of Lord Digby, I am enabled to give the accompanying engraving, and in connection with it I quote the following notice from the Archæological Journal. The remains consisted of "fragments of a remarkable ornament of gold, the use of which in its present imperfect state it is difficult to conceive. They consist of pieces of a tube of gold, now slightly curved, and having at intervals hollow beads of gold, attached to one side (see woodcut), The weight of the tubes and beads, with four similar beads not attached to the tubes, is 6 dwts. 13 grs. Also, some solid portions of wire, ornamented at intervals, as if beads of similar form to those already mentioned (double truncated cones), Along with the beads and tube in the Stancliffe urn, a bronze pin was found, which is shown of its full size on the engraving. The next urn, shown on Plate XX., measures 10 inches in height, and is 7 inches in diameter at the mouth. The form will be best understood by reference to the engraving. The ornament consists of two encircling rows of indentations, produced by the twisted thong being doubled or knotted, and pressed into the clay. Between these rows are the characteristic zigzag lines, formed as before by pressing a twisted thong. Inside, the rim is also ornamented with the Deutsche Alterth. Halle, 1824. Compare Wagener, Handbuch, Pl. 110, No. 1103. Klemm, Handbuch, Pl. 11, gives a curious ring or collar, having a row of globules apparently not perforated, affixed along one side, which may serve to illustrate the peculiar object above described. |