Hut Circle 60.-Rather irregular or oval. Longest diameter, E. to W., 15 feet; shorter, N. to S., 9 feet. No visible trace of an entrance. Burnt stones at east, showing fire-place. Hut Circle 61.-Or rather a circular pit about 4 feet deep; diameter at bottom, 6 feet; at top, 8 feet; formed of large stones; traces of fire all over the bottom. Here we found some rubbers, several dozen cooking stones, and a piece of flint.

Hut 62.-At a distance of 146 yards, direction E.S.E., we come to 62, which at first sight, having a circular appearance with a central depression, we took for a hut circle, but after excavation we found no sign of habitation. It must have served some other purpose.

Hut Circle 63.-A very good specimen, but much filled up with fallen stones. External diameter, 22 feet; internal, 12 feet. The entrance was at south. Some cooking stones, pieces of spar, rubbers.

Hut Circle 64.-A large good circle. Exterior diameter, 25 feet; internal, 17 feet. No sign of an entrance. Cooking and rubber stones (one small red-stone rubber), neck, lip (or handle) of a jar, and pieces of flint.

Hut Circle 65.-A good circle. Exterior diameter, 18 feet; internal, 11 feet. Entrance denoted by large fallen stone W. of S. The fire-place was at east side. About a dozen cooking and rubbing stones. A well-worked piece of flint.

Hut Circle 66.-A massive stone hut of large granite boulders about 100 feet from the river at S.W. Total length from N.E. to S.W., 15 feet internally. Rubber and cooking

stones.

External diameter,

Hut Circle 67.-Fine small circle. 19 feet; internal, 9 feet. Could not determine the entrance. About a dozen cooking and rubber stones found and some fragments of pottery.

Hut Circle 68.-Very well defined; 18 feet external and 12 feet internal diameter. There was a large slab of stone 5 feet square in the centre. Some of the stones had fallen inwards, and there was no definite sign of an entrance. About two dozen cooking stones and rubbers, amongst which there was one of granite, 12 inches in length, of triangular section, with very flat smooth base. Its base measured 8 inches across, and the sides of the section were 6 feet and 6 inches, as shown on sketch. Charcoal, pottery, and some pieces of flint were found here.

Hut Circle 69.-Very good. External diameter, 18 feet; internal, 11 feet. Entrance (probable) at south, the stone posts having fallen inwards.

Three dozen cooking stones, pounder of tourmaline granite, spar polished, charcoal, pottery, and a piece of flint found.

Hut Circle 70.-Fine hut. External diameter, 21 feet; internal, 13 feet. Entrance at south marked by one upright stone. About three dozen cooking, rubbing, and sling stones. One specially fine fractured whetstone quite smooth with use, pointed piece of spar, flints.

External diameter,

Hut Circle 71.-Well constructed. 21 feet; internal, 11 feet. The only sign of an entrance was on eastern side. More than one hundred (sling, rubber, and cooking) stones and pottery were found.

Hut Circle 72.-Fair specimen. External diameter, 17 feet; internal, 11 feet. Some large stones like steps suggested entrance at S.S.E. A considerable number of rubbing and cooking stones dug up.

Hut Circle 73.-Longer diameter, 12 feet; shorter, 7 feet. A large, nearly square, stone nearly filled the hut.

Cooking stones. No entrance.

Hut Circle 74.-Small and rough, made of large boulders. External diameter, 10 feet.

Rubbing stone found here.

The

Hut Circles 75 and 76.-Contiguous. Very difficult to excavate, as they were filled with rough large stones. only sign of a possible entrance was close to the division wall on N.E. side of 75, in which some large rubber stones were found. Internal diameter of 75 was 15 feet; and of 76, 12 feet.

N.B.-These hut circles (75 and 76) have not been drawn in the usual manner north and south, but as shown by arrow. Hut Circle 77.-Rather oval, the diameters being 12 feet and 10 feet. Formed of very large rough boulders.

Rubbing stones, pointed piece of quartz spar.

Hut Circle 78.-Internal diameter, 15 feet. Also made of large rough boulders. Piece of glass (? ancient).

Hut Circle 79.-Very rough work indeed. Floor, 8 feet and 10 feet; not a circle; constructed in the clatter.

(N.N.W. of 80 at about 30 yards are traces of perhaps other ancient huts, but we were unable to investigate further.) Hut Circle 79 may possibly have been the cook-house for 80.

Hut 80.-This hut seems to have been rebuilt at some period, and probably was never circular. A very large stone, at least 3 feet thick and 13 feet in length, monopolizes the internal space. We tried it as floor, bed, and board, but it was equally unsuitable for our requirements in each case. A corroded piece of iron was found (possibly a modern knife). Large rubbing stone. Pottery. Very good arrow-head point.

Hut Circle 81.-Before digging, this seemed like a hut circle about 15 feet external diameter, but nothing was found to indicate habitation.

Hut Circle 82.-On the opposite side of the river, to the west of Homer Redlake, and nearly S.W. from the boundary stone at about 200 yards, is a fine hut circle fully 20 feet in diameter and well built. Here we found a flint, charcoal, and traces of pottery.

On revisiting the above settlement some months after exploration, it was noticeable that the cooking stones which were hard when first dug out had become friable.

Whilst under canvas we were visited by Colonel Goldie, R.E., Commanding Western District, who was much gratified with what he saw.

We were much cheered during our stay in the wilds, under canvas, and uncomfortable surroundings, by the visit of a party of enthusiastic ladies and gentlemen full of the meeting at Princetown, which was then in progress, who were ably conducted to our "diggings" by Mr. George French, of Postbridge.

A hut circle is marked on the Ordnance Map N.E. by N. of the top of Fur Tor at a distance on plan of about 800 yards. We located this and marked it for excavation, but were unable to carry out our intention, though we attempted to do so.

BURIED HUT CIRCLE OR (?) BARROW AT "THE CROFT," PETER TAVY.

A probable hut circle or (?) barrow discovered while cutting a road in a field known as "The Croft," close to the Rectory, at Peter Tavy on 3 January, 1906, by Arthur Heeley, Esq. The hollow in the centre was about 12 inches deep and 18 inches diameter, and contained charcoal.

A portion of a vessel of soft stone was found, three pieces of another vessel, and several small pieces of flint.

THE PARISHES OF LYNTON AND

COUNTISBURY. I.

INTRODUCTORY, ANTIQUITIES, HISTORICAL SKETCH,
AND MANORS.

BY REV. J. F. CHANTER, M.A.

(Read at Lynton, July, 1906.)

I.

INTRODUCTION.

OF Lynton and Countisbury, almost isolated as they were from the tide of human events, with Severn Sea on one side and the solitudes of Exmoor Forest on the others, the older Devonshire writers have told us but little. For literature in the past was wont to gather round persons rather than places, to describe events rather than scenery. It is only the more modern writers who have lingered long and lovingly over the beauties of nature, and with such Lynton and its neighbourhood have ever been a favourite subject, for it is a land noted far and wide for its beautiful and romantic scenery, its deep valleys and precipitous hills, its rushing streams and moss-clad rocks, its wooded vales and rolling moorlands, its ferns and verdure, its perpendicular cliffs, with fringe of silver sea beneath. And so writers from Polwhele downwards in a long stream Warner, Southey, Dr. Maton, and others have filled pages with description of its natural features, and especially of the Valley of Rocks, or Valley of Stones, as they called it, in which they saw, filled as their minds were with the fantastic theory of Druids and Druidical worship invented in the seventeenth century and then so prevalent, a place which ought to have been, even if it was not, a scene of its mystical rites. And each year adds to the number with