and the architect designed this cornice. The eaves course of the single roof was last century work, and the workmen had no respect for the stones they used. One of them was nothing less than the old piscina. Some crosses and sides of graves of early and late Norman work were found in the walls of the church. None that can certainly be pronounced Saxon. The tower had a number of stones which evidently never belonged to the church, and which most likely came from the castle, for the castle seems to have been the common quarry about the time the steeple was built. These were castellated battlement stones, tracery windows of fifteenth and sixteenth century, a gurgoyle, etc. Respecting dates, the Norman chancel could not be much later than 1130. Except the string at chancel arch, everything speaks a much earlier date. The early English church was probably built between the years 1195 and 1214. The almost Norman sedilia, west door, and depressed window arches point to the earlier date, while the exceeding beauty of the detail incline to the later. The Piscina being single and not double, which was usual up to the thirteenth century, points to the later date also. It is most probable that William de Meschines, brother of Ranolph Meschines, was the founder of the Norman Church. Dugdale's Monasticon, referring to Saint Bees, says :"William de Mechine (or Meschines) was the founder of Saint Bees"-and a Latin Charter is extant in which he grants "to Saint Mary's, York, the church of Saint Bees, with 7 carucates of land in Coupland, the chapel of Egremont," &c. Hutchinson, Nicolson, and Jefferson, all quote this authority. The great similarity in architecture between the Early English Church, and portions of the Abbey Church at Saint Bees, and of Calder Abbey, makes it very probable that Ada de de Lucy, who was lady of Egremont from 1203 to 1236, either as the wife of Richard de Lucy or of Thomas Moulton, had much to do with the building or completing of the three churches. For many generations this church has been known as St. Mary's, but by what authority cannot be discovered. Bacon, in his "Liber Regis," calls it St. Michael's, so does J. Gorton in his Topographical Dictionary of Great Britain and Ireland. In conclusion, it may be asked why so interesting a building was not restored instead of being destroyed? First, because the committee had no option, and second, because it was impossible. Restoration is only possible where there is something to restore, and then only advisable when there is some practical gain by restoration. Too little of the original church was left to permit of restoration. To rebuild on the old lines was impossible, as they are not yet properly understood. What is known was made known by pulling down the walls. It is hoped that a wiser course than attempted restoration has been adopted. The parishioners will receive a larger and more comfortable church and they will see in the new building all that was of architectural worth in the old. The four east windows spared by the destroyers in 1752 are already in the chancel. The aisle walls of the new church are fac-similes of the side walls of the old. The arch stones which once divided the double chapel will appear in the transcept arches, and the sedilia is built in the vestry wall. The west door would have been made the tower entrance but is so very small that even to teach by symbolism that "strait is the gate and narrow the way" was not sufficient excuse for utilizing it. Possibly it may be built against the boundary wall, for it would be a shame that these stones that have clung together for well nigh seven centuries should now be parted. ART. XVII.-Stone Circles near Shap, Westmorland.* אן By N the neighbourhood of Shap, in the county of Westmorland, may still be seen several of those curious stone circles, the use and object of which have not yet been satisfactorily explaned. They are more or less complete according to the nature and cultivation of the ground upon which they stand, and sometimes consist of two, in some cases of three concentric circles. The stones have been originally upright, though many of them are now fallen, and some of them are partially buried in the ground. In any particular circle, the stones do not much vary in size, but there is a wide difference between those forming one circle, and those used for another. In some instances, the stones are five or six feet in length, and of proportionate thickness. They are, for the most part, though by no means invariably, granite boulders, are of great weight, and must have cost much labour to place them in position. They would not, indeed, have to be conveyed any great distance, and it is not improbable that the difference in sizes of the stones used in the formation of different circles may have depended entirely upon the size and character of the "boulders" scattered about the particular locality in which the circle stands. At Gunnerkeld, not far from Shap, I had the pleasure of showing Mr. Stuart, Secretary to the Society of Antiquaries (of Scotland), one of those circles, the stones of which are of * Reprinted (revised by the author) from Proc. Soc. Antiq., Scotland, Ist series, vol. iv., p. 443. + For plan and account of this circle by Mr. Dymond, see Transactions of this Society, vol. iv., p. 538. great great size and weight. At Gamlans,* in the parish of Orton, there are the remains of another, which, with the exception of the long upright stone, is in its general characteristics not unlike the circle in Cumberland, well known as Long Meg and her Daughters.† Several of the stones have been broken up and destroyed, but there is no difficulty in fixing their original site, and clearly tracing the circumference of the circle, the diameter of which is 135 feet. At Gunnerkeld there are two concentric circles, the outer of which measures about 100 feet across, the inner about 49 feet. It may be observed that these measurements cannot be made with exact accuracy, because the stones forming the circles having fallen in different directions, it is not always easy to fix the points to and upon which the measurement should be made. There are other stone circles in the neighbourhood similar to those at Gamlans and Gunnerkeld; but at present I wish to call attention to a class formed of upright stones, much smaller in size, standing not more than twenty inches or two feet above the ground, and I may remark that it is not unusual to find two of these circles adjoining, one of which is much more perfect than the other. I have specially noted two instances in which the circles are concentric, in one of which most of the stones remain, in the other the outer circle has either been partially destroyed, or it may be the few stones now remaining mark the commencement of a work which has never been completed. Two such concentric circles as these I have described may be seen upon *This place may owe its name, not to the stones themselves, but to the use of the land in former times on which they stand. Laurentius filius Roberti senescalli de Neubygine, in a grant to the monks of St. Mary of Holme, gives them "communem pasturam trecentis et sexagenta ovibus, et viginti vaccis, et uni tauro, et trigin ta bobus, in campo de Newbiginge." What the campus was to Newbiggen, the Gamlands or Camplands might be to Orton. Another explanation suggests itself. The place may owe its name to Gamel, the first Lord of the Manor, of whom we have not any account, but this does not seem likely. They would not call the lands Gamel's land, it not being demesne land, unless Gamel devoted it to some special use, or enclosed it for his own use. For plan and account of this circle, see Transactions, vol. v, between pp. 24 and 25, and the paper immediately following this. + For plan and account of this circle, see Transactions of this Society, vol. iv., P. 537. Knipe Knipe Scar, a short distance from Shap, another in the adjoining field, and two others exactly similar, with the exception of the third innermost circle, may be found at Odendale, in the parish of Crosbyravensworth. I mention these more particularly, because I have had the space within the circles carefully examined, and in each of them discovered faint traces of burnt matter. At Knipe Scar I had the advantage of Mr. Stuart's great experience and careful judgment, and the results of our examination were sufficient to satisfy us that at some remote period burnt matter had been deposited within the innermost of the three concentric circles. Near the centre of the larger and more perfect of the two sets of circles adjoining each other, about eighteen inches below the surface, we found a rough flatshaped stone, fifteen inches in width and about two feet six inches in length. Under this stone there were evident traces of charcoal and burnt earth, but no bones. The deposit was not exactly in the centre, but rather towards the north-west of the circle, a peculiarity which I noted in two other instances in which the deposit was found. The diameter of the outside circle is sixty-three feet, the second twenty-one feet, and the innermost of the three, within which the flat stone covering the deposit was placed, is seven feet. From the centre of this circle to the centre of the one adjoining, the distance is ninety-six feet. In the centre space of the other circle, about the same depth below the surface, we found a rude pavement of cobbles, about six feet in length and four feet in width, and under the pavement a similar deposit of charcoal. At Odendale, where two circles occupy the same relative positions, there was the same kind of deposit found within the innermost circle; but if there ever had been a stone or pavement, it had been disturbed on some previous occasion when the ground had been partially examined. The position of the deposit was the same as in the circles upon Knipe Scar, and the present condition of the two circles is relatively the |