80 CRANIA BRITANNICA. [CHAP. V.
notice of a Lord of FM in Denbighsliire, called "Llewellyn aurdorohog," or "Llewellyn of the
Golden Tore*."
The gold tore has scarcely ever been found in Britain with sepulchral remains: it was
perhaps too valuable to be deposited with the dead. It has, however, been frequently found
under other circumstances, associated with bronze weapons and other objects clearly of the British
periodf. Armlets and other ornaments of gold, almost equally costly with the tore, have not
unfrequently been found in barrows. Some of these seem altogether to correspond with the golden
pectorals or breast-plates, said by Diodorus to have been worn by the Gauls. Plates of gold have
been found of an oblong, lozenge, or circular shape, often curiously ornamented, and perforated
at the edges, which are tm-ned back and wrapped over a thin piece of wood. One of large
dimensions, discovered on the breast of a skeleton, in a barrow near Stonebenge, bears much
general resemblance to what must have been the form of the breast-plate of the Jewish High
Priest i. May we conjecture these ornaments to have belonged to, and been distinctive of, the
Druids ? The curious corslet of gold, elaborately embossed and ornamented, and of size sufficient
to cover the neck and shoulders, now in the British Museum, was found with a skeleton in a
barrow at Mold in PHutshire, accompanied by a great number of amber beads §. This corslet, or
gorget, is perforated at the edges, so as to admit of being sewn, or otherwise attached, to the
upper part of the clothing. The large golden gorget, in the Museum of the Royal Irish
Academy, foimd twelve feet beneath the surface in a bog in the county of Limerick, is of similar
elaborate workmanship. Though differing in form, and not perforated at the edges, it was apparently
intended to be worn on the same part of the body ||. Mr. Crofton Croker has published
* Camden, by Gough, vol. iii. p. 174.
t As in Granta Fen, Cambridgeshire, in 1850. In this instance,
a large tore, armlet and several small rings of gold, the
latter perhaps intended to be used as money, with a spear-head
or dagger of bronze, were found with a skeleton ; probably that
of a man who had accidentally lost his life at this spot, whilst
still a marsh or lake. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries,
vol. ii. p. 103.
X This is a nearly square, lozenge-shaped plate, measuring
seven hy six inches. It is ornamented with indented lines,
forming a series of lozenges one within the other, the central lozenge
being divided into nine equal spaces of the same form,
whilst the internal between the two outer is filled with zigzag
lines. There is ft perforation in two corners of the plate, by
means of which it might have been attached to the dress, or
suspended from the shoulders. With this were several other
gold ornaments, also a dagger and spear-head, both of large size,
a javehn-head, and a fine celt, all of bronze ; likewise a curiously
shaped polished stone perforated, with a wooden handle and
resembling a mallet. Had this been a sacrificial instrument;
and was this harrow the burial-place of a chief Druid of Stonehenge?
(Hoare, " Ancient Wilts," vol. i. p. 202.) Another
golden plate, of less dimensions, but more richly ornamented,
was found in a barrow at Upton Lovell, accompanied with
other ornaments of gold and with a deposit of burnt bones.
(Ibid, vol i . p. 98. Seealsovol. i. p. 44. plates 2, 10, 26, 27.)
A similar oblong plate of gold, measuiing seven hy five inches,
was found in a tumulus at Cressingham, in Norfolk, with a
skeleton having a large number of amber beads round the
neck. There were also a portion of a gold armilla and three
small boxes of the same metal, and a dagger and spear-head of
bronze. (Norfolk Archaeology, vol. iii. p. 1.) With gold plates
of this description, should be compared the polished flat stones
of chlorite slate, perforated and evidently intended to be worn
in the same way, three at least of which have been found in
the harrows of Wiltshire, one at Tring in Hertfordshire, and
others in tumuli in Aberdeenshire and Skye. Hoare, loc. cit.
vol. i. pp. 44, 103. plates 2, 12. Wilts Archfeological Natural
History Magazine, 1856, vol. iii. p. 18G. Archseologia,
vol. viii. p. 429. plate 30. fig. 6. Wilson, " Archeeology of
Scotland," p. 157. It is not at all improbable, that these perforated
stone ornaments, as well as the gold plates of similar
shape, may have been valued also as amulets, for certain mystic
virtues supposed to he connected with them.
§ Archseologia, vol. xxvi. p. 422. The " quantity of iron
completely decayed," found in this tumulus, shows its comparatively
late date, probably not earlier at most than the beginning
of the Christian sera.
II Vallancey, Collect. Hib. vol. iv. p. 3, 4. Camden, by
Gough, vol. iv. p. 230. plate 11. Crofton Croker, "On discovery
of gold plates in Ireland," in Collect. Antiq., by C.
Roach Smith, 1854, vol. iii. p. 131, 221. This paper contains
notices of numerous discoveries in Ireland of gold ornaments of
all descriptions. Among the objects figured (p. 149, 222) are
two circular plates, found, the one afc Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal,
the other at Cftstle Treasure, Co. Cork, the ornamentation
of which, consisting of a rude Greek cross within circles,
is curiously similar to that of other gold plates found by Sir
B. (;. Hoare in the British barrows of Wiltshire (Ancient
Wilts, vol. i. p. 44. plate 2 ; p. 98. pi. 10) ; and renders probable
a common origin for these objects, and that in the two
countries they belong to the same period. See also Camden,
CHAP. V. ] .HISTORICAL ETHNOLOGY OP BRITAIN. 81
an account, from which it would appear that a sort of scale armour of gold, whether intended for
ornament or defence or both is not clear, was sometimes worn by the ancient Irish chieftains. A
skeleton was found, in 1805, in a cave near Cloyne, in the county of Cork, " covered with small
thin embossed plates of gold, connected by bits of wire :" with the skeleton were several amber
beads. A few of the gold plates were preserved and figured by Mr. Croker, but the discovery
having been made by a treasure-seeker, complete details are wanting*. The use of many of the
objects of gold, doubtless belonging to the Celtic and pre-Christian period, which are often
found in Ireland, and less frequently in England and Scotland, is by no means clear.
Prom numerous examples discovered with objects evidently of the British period, we
learn that armlets and tores of inferior metals, bronze and even iron, were also used. Such are
the bronze tores found at the Quantock Hills, Somerset, at Wedmore in the same county, and
at HoUingbury in Sussex, with all of which were bronze axes ("celts"), amber beads, or other
objects, doubtless pre-Romanf. The curious bronze tores, made in imitation of necklaces of
beads, which open by means of a tenon and socket adjustment, such as have been discovered at
Rochdale, Lancashire, at Embsay, Yorkshire, and at Lochar Moss, Dumfriesshire, display
more skDl in their construction, and belong probably to a late period of Celtic art-manufacture;
their ornamentation resembling that of the chariot and horse furniture of bronze,
described farther on J. Bronze armOlse, of the Celtic sera, are often found in England. Many
were obtained from the barrows at Arras, Yorkshire, of the late British period, elsewhere
described in this work. With them, was also found an annular ornament for the leg, and a tore
for the neck, of the same metal. Altogether, it is probable that such ornaments of bronze
belonged to a comparatively late period, when the Britons had relmquished their nomadic habits,
and had begun to value gold rather as a medium of exchange, than for personal decoration.
Herodian informs .us that the Caledonian Britons wore circles of iron roimd the neck and
loins, which they esteemed as other barbarians did similar ornaments of gold§. An iron tore,
encircled by tive brazen wires, and evidently intended for the neck, was found with the remarkable
British autiq-uities discovered at Polden Hill, Somerset, which are now ia the British
Museum. Another iron riug or collar, probably intended for an ornament, was found with two
skeletons near Goodrich Castle, Monmouthshire. It was in two portions, and furnished with
the tenon and socket adjustment ||.
With little exception, the merchandize brought from Gaul to Britain, before the latter was
subjected to the Romans, consisted, as would appear, of trifling objects of luxury and personal
ornament, among which " bracelets of ivory, and necklaces, and articles of amber and glass " are
particularly named^f. The accm-acy of the historian in this enumeration is attested by the discovery
of such objects in the sepulchral tumuli of the Britons. Small ornaments and implements
vol. iv. p. 450. pi. 14. fig. 1. Archseologia, vol. ii. p. 38.
pi. 1. fig. 5.
* Collect. Antiq. vol. iii. p. 143, 148. with figures.
t Archoeologia, vol. xiv. p. 94. plate 23. Archieological
Journal, vol. v. p. 325 ; vol. vi. p. 81.
Archieologia, vol. xxv. p. ; vol. xxxi. p. 517. plate 23;
vol. xxxiv. p. 86. plate 11. With this last, must be compared
the beaded bronze tore of the same type found at Perdeswcll
near Worcester. ArchEeologia, vol. xxx. p. .T51. In both
these examples the beaded portion consists of detached bronze
beads, which had been held together by a wire.
§ Herodian, lib. iii. c. 47.
II Archojologia, vol. xiv. p. 90. plate 19. Archseological
Journal, vol. x. p. 257.
^ Strabo, hb. iv. c. 5. § 3. The words in this passage,
here rendered articles of amber and glass, are generally translated
" amber and glass vessels," but incorrectly. Had there
been any extensive importation into Britain of glass vessels
at the time in question, such would surely have sometimes been
found in the harrows of the period; but though common in
Anglo-Saxon tumuli, glass vessels have not been met with in
those of the Britons. Whether by necklaces or collars for the
neck, Straho intended tores of gold, as Mr. Birch, following
Falconer, concludes, admits of d o u b t w e think not.