General Description of the Meare Lake Village
By ARTHUR BULLEID, L.R.C.P., F.5.A.

The Meare Lake Dwellings are situated near the Village of Meare, about 3.75 miles N.W. of Glastonbury, in the County of Somerset, and consist of two distinct groups which, for descriptive purposes, are known as the East and West Villages. In this chapter an account is given of some of the results of the excavations situated in the two eastern fields of the West Village, D. and E. (Fig. 1), begun in 1910 and completed in 1933. Although the systematic examination of this part of the site was prolonged over a period of twenty-three years, it should be stated that no digging took place for six years during, and immediately after, the first great war, and secondly, there were three separate seasons when digging was either prevented or much curtailed by water. One year a pump had to be employed the greater part of the time ; another season after a few days' work, excavating had to be abandoned because the field was flooded ; and in a third season the water level was so high that digging was impossible, although all arrangements had been made to start work. Excavations as a rule were only undertaken for a few weeks in August and September. This is the driest time of the year, and coming after the peat digging and hay harvest the same workmen were generally available each year.

This chapter describes the examination of forty dwelling-sites and the areas of ground around them.

The Meare Lake Village site was first noticed by the late Mr. Stephen Laver, a farmer residing at Westhay, who rented, among other grounds in the 'Turbaries, the pasture field D' (Fig. 1), containing dwelling mounds I to XX 1. This field, in the Parish of Meare, adjoins the N. side of Meareway road and is about 200 yards distant from the S. bank of the River Brue. In the 25 in. Ordnance Survey Map of Somerset, Sheet XL, 13, it is numbered 1006 with an acreage of 1.472. The field is long and narrow, bordered by ditches, and has a hummocky appearance over the northern portion. In the autumn of 1895 when digging post-holes for a fence round a newly-made haystack Mr.Laver picked up from the earth thrown out a fragment of black ornamented pottery, a whetstone, and a stone spindle-whorl. Being a man of observation and having seen some of the recently discovered objects from the Glastonbury Lake Village he recognised their significance. When attending the next market at Glastonbury Mr. Laver brought his Meare discoveries with him. Disappointed at finding the writer out of town, he very obligingly left the small parcel at my father's office accompanied by a brief explanatory note which stated,' Found when digging post-holes for the rails round a haystack'. When the writer returned a few days later he immediately realised the meaning and value of the parcel's contents. A letter was written to Mr. Laver acknowledging it and asking to be shown the site.

Fig. 1 - Sketch plan of the Meare Lake Village

After an interval of several weeks the request was repeated and as still no reply was forthcoming it was thought that perhaps Mr. Laver did not wish to disclose the position, and the only alternative was to locate the site without his assistance. This interpretation of the tenant's silence however was found many years later to be quite incorrect. The writer knew that farmers renting low-lying land in the locality of Meare would instinctively stack their hay on mounds, or on ground least subject to inundations. It was therefore only necessary to examine the haystacks in the neighbourhood of Meare and Westhay to find the site of the new village. This was done systematically in the spring of 1896, and during the third walk made by the writer, the Meare Lake Village was found. On this occasion a mound was discovered in a field rented by Mr. Laver surmounted by a haystack, together with many other mounds near it and in the adjoining fields. Furthermore, it was noticed that another and quite distinct group of dwelling-sites existed in two fields lying east of Mr. Laver's, now known as the eastern village, and from the bank of the ditch separating these pastures fragments of a large thick pot were procured. The spot having been noted, the remaining parts were dug out some years later, and the vessel now reconstructed is among the Lake Village exhibits in the Wyndham Gallery at Taunton Castle. From observations made on the day of the discovery, it was seen that the Meare Lake Dwellings consisted of two Villages, and that in extent they covered a larger area than the Glastonbury Lake Village. (Fig. 2).

Fig.2 - Plan of the district, showing the relative position of Glastonbury and Meare lake villages

As the investigation of the Glastonbury Village was then in progress and was likely to continue for several seasons, additional excavations could not be undertaken until this work was completed. It was therefore not until 1908 when the work at Glastonbury was finished that an opportunity occurred to examine the mounds at Meare. To achieve this object it was necessary in the first place to interview Mr. Laver ; this always genial and hearty person immediately expressed himself interested in the matter and willingly gave all the help and assistance in his power. In the second place the joint owners of the field, three sisters, Mrs. Roberts and the Misses Counsell were consulted. These ladies not only gave their consent to the suggested exploration of the site, but also kindly presented everything discovered in field D (Fig. 1) to the Somerset County Museum at Taunton. On 20 July, 1908, the writer with the help of two experienced workmen dug a few test-holes, and a section through one of the mounds (Mound VII). This tentative work produced such encouraging results both structurally and in regard to the number of relics that the late Dr. Robert Munro travelled purposely from Scotland to see the excavations, and his enthusiasm was such that a few days later it materialised in a descriptive letter of one-and-a-half columns in The Times.

Later the subject was brought before the Annual Meeting of the Somerset Archaeological Society at Taunton, and on Tuesday, 18 Aug.1908, the writer read a short paper on the Village and the recent Excavations, and advocated the exploration of the site. The late Sir VIilliam Boyd Dawkins who was present' warmly sympathised with the work and congratulated the Society on having such an opportunity as that afforded them by the excavation of the Meare Lake Village '2

It was decided to begin a systematic examination of the site the following year under the joint directorship of Mr. H. St. George Gray, F.S.A., and the writer. To further this object a committee was appointed and an excavation fund started. The first contributor, however, was the late Lord Winterstoke, who made a donation of £100 before any appeal was issued. This was due to his having read Dr. Munro's article in The Times, and the sum was sufficient to provide a large workshed and the wages for the first season's work. It should be noted that after this it has been mainly through the untiring energy of Mr.St. George Gray in obtaining subscribers to the fund that it has been made possible to continue the exploration from year to year (see List of Subscribers on pp. xiv - xvi).

It may be well here to consider the locality in which these Lake Villages are situated, and the hydrographical conditions of this part of Somerset whereby their construction was made practicable. The central part of this County consists of some 360 square miles of comparatively low land, the greater part of which is below the 100 ft. contour line. A considerable area of this lies only 10 ft. to 20 ft. above O.D. Limited to the N.E. by the Mendips and on the S.W. by the Quantocks, these levels are intersected by the Polden hills and divided into northern and southern areas, the former drained by the rivers Axe and Brue, the latter by the Parrett and its tributaries. Sometime during their varied and complicated Geological history, these river districts were open to the Severn Sea, with tidal estuaries running 15 to 20 miles inland from the present coastline. At various positions north and south of the Poldens, beaches were formed along the seaboard, and at other places quantities of marine sand and shingle were deposited, producing banks which are now known as the Burtle sand beds. In course of time land elevation took place, and the sand banks becoming islands some of them were ultimately inhabited areas in Neolithic times. Later a subsidence occurred with an encroachment of the sea and the formation of the coastline as seen today. This obstruction prevented the inflow of the sea, and as time progressed the water filling some of the esturine hollows on the landward side of the barrier became brackish and then fresh enough for the growth of plants and the formation of peat. The central levels of Somerset at one time probably extended well out into the channel beyond the present coastline, for the remains of submarine forests have been noted at several places at low-water. Phelps says 3'The low-lying district of the Mendip range, comprises the great Brent Marsh with its two branches, one of which lies at the foot of Mendip extending eastwards to Westbury near Wells. The other branch extends eastwards to Glastonbury, is bounded by the Polden Hills on the south and on the north by the Wedmore ridge, and includes the heretofore open tract of peat-bog in the parishes of Wedmore, Meare, Glastonbury, Street, Walton, Ashcott, Shapwick, Catcott, and Edington Burtle. The eastern part of this morass lying north of Glastonbury is called East Sedgemoor'. Previous to the dissolution of the Monastery at Glastonbury, the greater part of these peat lands belonged to the Abbot of Glastonbury, or the Bishop and Dean of Wells. A lake of considerable extent, called Meare Pool, occupied a large tract and is thus described by Leland (1506-1552): 'The mere is, as at high waters in winter a 4 miles in circumference, and when it is least a 2 miles and an half, and most commonly 3 miles. This lake or mere is a good mile in length 4.'

At the time of the Norman survey in 1086, the acreage of land under cultivation at Meare was small, and apparently at that date the most important occupation of the inhabitants was fishing. Under the lands belonging to St. Mary of Glastonbury we learn' To this manor belongs an island which is called Mere (Meare, sometimes clled Ferramere or Feriingmere). There are 60 acres of land. (There is) land for one plough which is there (about 20 acres), and (there are) 10 fishermen and 3 fisheries paying 20 pence. There are one riding-horse and 13 beasts, and 4 swine. There are 6 acres of meadow and 6 acres of wood (land) and 2 arpents (arpentz) of vineyard.5' It is worth 20 shillings, and as much when the Abbot received it. The acreage of Meare Island at the present day is about 724 acres, chiefly pasture, this includes the hamlet of Westhay and all the land above the peat line. Collinson says, 6'That part of Mere called Mere-pool which was formerly a stagnant water, contains about 400 acres (situated between the lower hamlet of Godney and Meare), and by draining is rendered valuable. There were several other pools or lakes in the district called Hacchewere and Bordnwere in which an eelery, Lichelake and Cockeswere, the latter of which was rented in 1516 by John Gyblat at twenty shillings per annum.' There was also another pool called Jameswere, rented at thirteen shillings and fourpence in the time of Henry VII. In these pools were kept a great number of swans, herons, and other fowl. The Glastonbury Roll mentions forty-one couple of swans found here (Meare pool) after the dissolution of the Abbey. Under Meare-pool and lesser pools Phelps writes,7 'In these pools, swans were kept in great numbers, and they were frequented by herons, geese, ducks and other wild fowl. The gentry of the county frequently sent their swans to be kept there'. The following streams discharged their waters formerly into Meare-pool -The Brue, the Wells river (Sheppey), and two smaller streams, Redlake and Whitelake, which intersect East Sedgemoor the latter being the Pilton stream was navigable for barges as far as Stean-bow, and was one of the Abbot's waterways. In the reign of Edward I, the Abbots of Glastonbury turned their attention to prevent the influx of the tide, and a Royal Commission was issued empowering persons to make banks against the sea, and erect sluices to keep back the tide. Yet so late as the time of Henry VIII there was a lake called Meare-pool' in circuite fyve miles and one myle and a half brode'.
In the survey of the temporalities of the Abbey of Glastonbury after the dis-solution, full particulars of the Meare parish are given at that time, about A.D.
1540:

'There ys apperteyning unto the sayde Manor one fysshing called the Mere, wherein are greate abundance of pykes, tenches, roches, and yeles, and of divers other kyndes of fysshes ; whiche hathe allwayes ben kept to the use of the House, and is worthe by the yere to be letton to ferme, xxvjl, xiiis, iiUd. Also there ys a game of Swannes apperteynyng unto the same water, whiche were allwayes belonging unto the sayde atteynted monasterye of Glastonburye, and vewed upon the survey to the nombre of xl. cowple. Also there were vewed at this present survey certeyne heronsewes, whiche have allways used to brede there to the numbre of iiij'8

Attempts had been made by the Abbots of Glastonbury to drain the great level of Brent Marsh and particularly the low lands near Meare and Glastonbury. For this purpose a channel or canal was cut across the low land near Mark to Rooks Pill in the parish of East Brent joining the Brue and Axe rivers. This canal carried off a considerable portion of the waters which over-spread the moors west of Glastonbury, reducing them to a lake of 500 acres in extent called Meare pool, and in this state it remained at the time of the dissolution of the Monastery at Glastonbury

The island of Meare is an elevated ridge consisting of an outcrop of lower has two miles long by half-a-mile broad, the long diameter of the ridge lying E. and W. The highest part is about 43 ft. above the mean tide level, and approximately 30 ft. above the level of the surrounding moors. In the year 1789 Meare Village was approached from Glastonbury it is said only by a horse-track, or by boat ; from other aspects it was surrounded by open moors and bogs impassable except in the middle of summer. This was correct at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Since then however the coming to light of two timber trackways buried many feet down in the peat (namely, the Abbots Way from Westhay to Burtle and Meare Heath Causeway from Meare to Shapwick) were undoubtedly of ancient construction and show that the Meare island was not so isolated as the early historians may have believed.9 There were, however, no good roads leading from Meare to Glastonbury and neighbouring villages until 1827. Stileway, which was formerly known as Stilvey or Stiveleigh, is the S.E. part of the ridge and was in monastic days occupied by a wood called Grove, seven acres in extent, where there was a heronry, and quarries 'of blue lias stone. 10

At Westhay, situated near the westend of the ridge one mile from Meare Village, there was a wood 4 acres in extent, where cranes were accustomed to build their nests and hatch their young to the number of a hundred.11 This is probably intended for herons as cranes build their nests on the ground among reeds or in open marshes.

With regard to the peat lands and bogs that surround the island of Meare, Godney moor appears to have been the largest area, and is stated to have covered 3,648 acres. Of this 1,880 acres are said to have been an old enclosure probably of pre-reformation date, and affording pasturage to thousands of geese which were kept there for the sake of their feathers. The remaining 1,768 acres were an open common enclosed in the year 1788, and included 1,000 acres of complete morass. At the dissolution Godney moor we are told 'contayneth VI myles'. Westhay moor was 1,693 acres in extent and was enclosed by act of Parliament in the year 1778. The lands lying south of Meare island called South Heath, were open tracts of moor before the dissolution of the Abbey, and consisted of 1,013 acres enclosed in 1814.

The foregoing notes show to some extent the state of the country surrounding the island of Meare in medieval and more recent times. In the year 1500 Meare pool was a body of water from 400 to 500 acres in extent, the area varying accord-ing to the season. This reduction was accomplished after several hundred years' attention to the drainage of the marshes, If the surveyors, engineers and other officials of the abbots, besides those acting under various Royal Commissions had found such difficulty in reducing the 'plague of waters' from the year 1304 (32 Edward I) downwards, it can be realized that before any systematic attempts at reclaiming had been made the extent of mere and morass must have been considerably greater, and we are better able to visualize the appearance of the country 2000 years back when the lake villages were inhabited. It was probably never an easy matter to define the margin of Meare pool, for its area was often changing, and its boundary in the swamps was seldom a stable or circumscribed one. Now after the lapse of 300 years, when the pool no longer exists and the site is occupied by pasture fields, it is impossible to trace its outline with any certainty, the where-abouts of the smaller meres is a question beset with even greater difficulties. Along the south side Meare pool was bordered by the Meare island as far as Westhay. It is doubtful if the western limits of the water extended beyond the line of the present Westhay-Wedmore road, for the reason that there is a broad belt of has rock to be seen in the bed of the river Brue east of Westhay bridge. This shelf of has apparently runs northwards into the moor and formed a natural boundary, and although several layers of the stone have been removed to deepen the river channel, it is still a shallow reach fordable in summer time. In the spring of 1934 the Brue Drainage Board had the river dredged, widened and deepened at this spot, and quantities of stone were removed. The writer saw the river in
September 1934 when the water was little more than 1 ft. deep and shallow enough for two boys of 5 and 6 years of age to paddle across. At the same time the water in the river further east and near the Lake Village was in some places from 4 ft. to 5 ft. in depth. The eastern limits of the mere is very uncertain, but during the Lake Village period it may have extended as far as the Glastonbury dwellings and included them within its area. Part of the north boundary was formed by the Godney ridge or island.

The Meare Lake Villages were built in a bay near the S. W. margin of the pool, and situated some 400 ft. from dry land. It has been already mentioned that these dwellings consist of two distinct groups, now represented by low circular grass-covered mounds. After a superficial survey each area was found to be composed of from fifty to sixty dwelling-sites, but it is probable that as the excavations progress more sites will be discovered and the number increased as was
the case at Glastonbury. The mounds have no apparant arrangement or design in either group ; the only distinction is that of outline, the western group is long and comma-shaped, the eastern more compact and oval. The highest mound in the western village measured 4.4 ft. above the level of the surrounding fields, which are about 13.6 ft. above the mean tide level at Highbridge. The highest mound in the eastern group is 3 ft. The two groups of dwelling-sites are separated by a flat tract of land 100 yds. wide, and occupy parts of seven fields; the western group extends over parts of five fields, Nos. 1006, 1007, 1008, 1009 and 1021, the eastern group over portions of two fields, Nos. 1022 and 1027 12 (see plan).

1 At the time of our excavations this field was the property of three sisters, the late Mrs. Owen Roherts and the late Misses Counsell. The E. end of the West village, field 1021, marked Eon plan, belongs to the Somerset County Council (Small Holdings Committee). Three~quarters of the Eastern village, field 1022, also the field to the north of it hounded by the river Brue, are the property of Mr. St. George Gray purchased by him in April, 1936). All these owners have kindly presented the antiquities discovered to the Somerset County Museurn, Taunton Castle.
2 Proc. Som. Arch. Soc. liv, i, 40.
3 Phelps, Hist. Som., i, 50.
4 Leland in Somerset, 1540-42,Proc. Son'. Arch. Soc., xxxiii, 76.
5 According to Phelps an arpent equals 1 acre, or a square the four sides of which measured 1800 ft.
6 Collinson, Hist. Som., ii, 272.
7 Pheips, Hist. Som., 1, 579.
8 Pheips, Hist. Som., i, 50.
10 John de Glaston, li,3l8.
11 Ibid
12 Ordnance Survey Map, 25 in., Som. Sheet, xl.


The E. and W. diameter of the sites including the intervening space is 1,500 ft. in length; the greatest width N. and S. of the western group is about 180 ft., and of the eastern group 160 ft.

In construction the Meare villages are of the Crannog or artificial island type of lake dwellings, but differ in several ways from the Glastonbury Village, that is in so far as the examination of the sites has progressed. In the first place no protecting palisade has been met with surrounding the western group, although test trenches 50 ft. in length were dug from the marginal mounds in N.E. and S.W. directions. The ground only produced fragments of pottery and other occu-pational evidences. Secondly, neither causeway nor landing-stage has been disclosed. At the Glastonbury Village the ground immediately outside the stockade was the general tiping-place for rubbish of all kinds, and was always a source of much interest when under examination on account of the large number and variety of relics found in the peat. So far this prolific hunting-ground has not been met with at Meare. The natural conditions under which the two sites were constructed were somewhat different ; Meare was nearer dry land and probably placed in less swampy ground than the Glastonbury Village. Several borings were made at Meare West Village and l3~5 ft. of peat was the greatest depth obtained, whereas at Glastonbury 15 ft. of peat was found to be the average depth, Four borings across Field E from Meareway road to the south margin of the Village gave the following measurements:-

1. Near the road soil 1 ft. 3 in., peat 1 ft.
2. 100 ft. from the road soil 1 ft., peat 6 ft.
3. 200 ft. from the road soil 1 ft. 3 in., peat 7 ft.
4. 300 ft. from the road soil 1 ft. 6 in., peat 11 ft.

At both villages the stumps and roots of alder and willow trees occur where they grew near the surface of the peat. So far Meare lacks the layer of leafy peat so constantly met with at the Glastonbury site. It was of considerable importance for it showed the existence of pools of water among trees into which the leaves, chiefly willow, had fallen or driifed, still retaining their autumnal tints. This layer must have been formed shortly before the foundations of the earliest dwellings were laid down, as no occupational debris was found below it. The peat at Meare is chiefly composed of rush and reed, capped by a layer of compressed Sphagnum moss. The peat gradually diminishes in thickness southwards from the dwellings towards the raised land, and tails out at Meareway road, this was originally a broad drove or trackway bordering the margin or the swamp. The amount of timber used in the foundation at Meare up to the present time has been found less than at Glastonbury. At Meare peat is frequently noticed either heaped up or in a distinct layer supplementing the understructure ; this method of raising the foundation was less oifen resorted to at Glastonbury.

At Meare the clay of which the floors are made is of an inferior quality, of a darker colour, and of a less homogeneous character than that used at Glastonbury. It is often mixed with hard ochreous nodules and probably procured from several localities as yet unknown. The Glastonbury clay was invariably of a light yellow or buff colour, similar to that used today in the brick-works adjoining the main road from this town to Wells. At Meare the superimposed floors are traced less easily.

Both sites have produced evidence of rectangular dwellings ; at Glastonbury these were represented by discarded pieces of worked wood and hurdlework thrown away and used in the foundations supporting circular dwellings, and mixed with the usual logs and brushwood of the understructure. No fragment apparently was in its original position, or serving the purpose for which it was first intended. From the discovery of two rectangular frameworks as well as hurdles at Meare, we surmise that some of the earlier dwellings had foundations constructed on the log-hut principle, somewhat like the timbers of a Swiss chalet.

The surface of some of the clay floors appeared to have been intentionally hardened by baking ; this firing did not take place during the destruction of a dwelling by fire, but must have been done purposely before the dwelling was erected.
The depth of flood-soil that has accumalated over the village since its abandonment varies considerably; in an area of ground between two dwellings 2 ft. 6 in. has been measured, whereas at the top of the highest mounds it may be only a few inches thick. In Mound XXXIV which had a greater elevation than any other dwelling-site at Meare, there was no flood-soil over the central area at the top for a space from 12 ft. to 15 if. in diameter. As a rule the higher the mound the thinner the layer of flood-soil covering the top. The flood-soil in the fields surrounding the village averaged 18 in. in depth.

It was frequently noticed that the hearths belonging to the uppermost floors had either disappeared or were incomplete, and the layer of black earth and fire-ash usually covering the hearths and surrounding floor was either wanting or less distinct than that on the floors at the lower level. This is what we might expcct to find, for when the villages were abandoned and the dwellings had fallen into decay, the surfaces of the clay floors would be weather-beaten and washed by the first high flood. It would, however, be an exceptionally severe flood to cover a mound 4 ft. in height even at the present level of the surrounding fleids, and to leave a deposit of soil over the central and highest part would necessitate a much greater depth of muddy water.

Only a small proportion of the Meare dwelling-mounds has produced direct evidence of actual huts. Apart from the hearths and the clay floors covered with fire-ash and charcoal, there were seldom any signs of walls, entrance pavement or door-step, and only in a few instances were the lines of posts found in concentric circles similar to the arrangements seen at Glastonbury, denoting a succession of dwellings on the same spot. The wall-posts were driven through the clay floors into the timber substructure for a variable depth down to 2 ft. 6 in. The parts of the posts in the clay have in a large majority of cases decayed and disappeared, but it has been possible sometimes to trace their position by a vertical line or band of darker clay. In a few instances some of the lower horizontal lines of hurdle-work have been noticed filling the spaces between the wall-posts. The wall-posts are generally made of alder, the wood when found being quite soft like cheese other wall timbers are narrow planks or slabs of oak 3 to 6 in. wide and quite hard. At Glastonbury it was found that dwellings were occasionally destroyed by fire, and the charred stumps of the wall-posts were easily traced in a circular line near the margin of the clay floor. The stumps of the posts, being charcoal, were well preserved and were accompanied by masses of baked clay rubble; many pieces being wattle-marked were undoubtedly daub from the wall. No signs of a conflagration of this character have as yet been met with at Meare. Many dwelling-mounds at Meare have failed to produce evidence of wall-posts and this on sites where several superimposed floors were found. There is no reason for believing the posts have been removed intentionally, and there is nothing to show that these positions were occupied by rectangular huts. The only suggestion that can be advanced to explain this lack of evidence is that the dwellings may have been structures of a more primitive nature and shaped like a North American Indian tepee or wigwam. This supposition would also account for the absence of central posts in a large number of the mounds.
Large slabs, blocks and collections of has stone have been frequently met with during the examination of the villages at all depths. In the majority of instances there has been no arrangement or apparent reason for their presence apart from the purpose of augmenting the foundation. Exceptions however occur ; for instance in Mound XXXIV there was a distinct pavement near the centre of floor iv, and another pavement was noticed in the foundation of Mound
XXIV. Many pieces were undoubtedly water-worn, and although carefully examined no block or fragment of has has so far shown any sign of a tool or axe-mark. The exact locality from which the stone was procured has not been ascertained, but the whole ridge of Meare island is composed of lias. It is known the stone was quarried in the eleventh century, and through the ages down to a comparatively recent date. It can be realized, therefore, that the Lake village people had not far to go to obtain the stone they required. The writer is not aware that any stone quarry has been worked since the year 1910, when in a small recently disused quarry, now filled in, an amber bead and a baked clay sling-pellet, probably of lake village workmanship, were discovered in the soil capping the stone. Lias stone occurs in the bed of several boundary ditches of fields near the village, and in summer when free from water, if not actually exposed to view may be felt by probing with an iron rod. For some distance east and west of Meare Church the River Brue flows along an artificial channel cut through solid beds of lias. This is part of a very significant piece of drainage work engineered in monastic days, and of incalculable value at the present day.

At the commencement of the occupation the hydrographical conditions of the Lake Village sites and surrounding swamps were different to those that existed towards the end. The earliest dwellings required substantial timber foundations to support the clay floors and prevent subsidence into the soft peat. The peat consisted of rushes and reeds which imply watery conditions. As time advanced the swampy state must have changed considerably, for the peat surface is covered in places with layers of sphagnum moss. Towards the end of the occupation the surface of the peat had consolidated to such an extent that timber understructures were not required, and the clay floors were placed upon the bare surface of the peat. It is now hard and compressed with cracks and fissures filled with the soft black earth of disintegrating peat. Occasionally the stump and roots of alder and willow trees are met with near the peat surface showing a still further advance in the stage of swamp reclaiming.

Again apparently towards the end, or soon after the villages were deserted, but before any deposit of flood-soil had been laid down over the dwelling-floors, a very decided change must have taken place in the surrounding swamps, producing deeper water conditions. This was not due to a temporary flooding but must have continued for a considerable period, for it has been noticed that mixed with the black earth covering the hard peat there are numbers of mussel and other fresh-water shells near the marginal dwelling-mounds. The shell layer continued from the edge of a mound and passed over the surface of the clay floor towards the centre for a variable distance. The shell layer did not pass under the clay floors, and the mussels were not brought there for food as double shells were frequently met with, apparently unopened. On the upper surface of a mound in the Meare Fast Village a human skeleton was found together with that of a dog lying by its side. The centres of the long-bones were filled with black earth in which fresh-water shells were embedded (Bythinia ten taculata and Limnaea peregra), Near the marginal dwelling-mounds drift-wood and silt were also noticed. Nothing of this kind has ever been seen on the lower floors or in the deeper strata of peat.

Regarding the question as to when the alluvium was deposited that now covers the villages and adjoining fields, it is not unlikely that this has taken place in comparatively recent times and is still being added to at the present day. it is due mainly to the embanking of the rivers and streams enabling muddy storm-water to be brought down quickly from the uplands with the consequent over-flow and flooding. As far as the writer's observations have been carried it is only in the locality of rivers that the alluvium occurs and the peat swamps elsewhere have no covering of flood-soil.
As regards to the people who inhabited the Lake Villates. it is not improbable that as some of the earlier dwellings were rectangular and the later houses round we may be dealing with the habitations of two distinct sets of people. how-ever, the owners of the former appear to have been a small farm or community compared with the later comers. If two styles of dwellings were built by one and the same people, why was the design of the house changed ? These are questions that are asked but cannot be answered in the present state of our knowledge. In the old maps of Somerset, dating from 1575 onwards, Meare pool is always a prominent feature. Blaeu's map dating 1648 and Blome's map of 1673 the Mere is shown, and near it is printed The Belgae , in capital letters. Why was 'The Belgae' introduced in this position when the northern and eastern parts of the County were available, and as far as is known more suitable. Ptolemy informs us 13 that the Belgic territory extended as far west as Aquae Sulis (Bath) and isehalis (Ilehester) in Somerset. If there were lingering traditions that Belgic colonists occupied these swamps, then why was: that information omitted from the earlier maps. In Kitchin and Jeffreys' map of 1749, and Bowen's map of 1762 Meare pool has disappeared, and in Cary's map of 1787 a road is shown running from Glastonbury to Wedmore passing through Meare Village and the hamlet of Westhay. The Belgae were the last Celtic invaders to migrate from Gaul. But other and earlier Celts had crossed the Channel probably from many points. It is therefore with some earlier Celtic invasion that we should associate the Somerset Lake Village folk, and it is within the bounds of probability that they came from Brittany. At any rate there is evidence of closer relationship with the people of Western Gaul than of Eastern Gaul. Dechelette was the first antiquary to point out that the incised pottery found at the Glastonbury Lake Village was analogous to that found in the Celtic cemeteries and oppida of Finistere.

13 Evans, Coins of the Ancient Brftons,

Apart from the inforrnation given by Ptolemy about the Beigae we have in the locality of the Lake Villages two important earthworks, one across the isthmus of Glastonbury at Ponter's Ball, the other spanning the narrowest part of the Polden Hills near Butleigh. Both earthworks run N.E. and S.W., and are nearly in line, having the ditch towards the east, and were evidently parts of a well arranged and thought-out scheme of defence. The object of these works was to protect the Polden ridge and the Glastonbury island, and there is little doubt that the earthworks were engineered during the prehistoric Iron Age. During an examination of the vallum and ditch at Ponter's Bail in 1909, fragments of pottery were obtained from the lowest part of the ditch similar to some found at the lake villages. The old turf line under the vallum also produced pieces of pottery some of which were considered by the late Sir Hercules Read to be of Bronze Age date. If these fortifications were constructed in the prehistoric Iron Age they were clearly not made by the Belgae, and the only conclusion we can arrive at is that they were made by people wishing to prevent their advance. We believe these people to have been the inhabitants of the lake villages or their relations farming the hill lands. It may be mentioned that many notable Celtic objects analogous to those from the lake villages have been found in years gone by on the Polden Hills as well as in the turbaries.

It is unfortunate that so far no definite indication has presented itself regarding the mode of burial practised by the Lake Dwellers. It is only possible to assume from the archaeological evidence in other parts of Britain that cremation took place. At the Giastonbury Lake Village the ashes of a cremated body, probably the bones of a young adult, were found scattered over a small area in the peat outside the palisading. Whether the distribution in this position was accidental or intentional cannot be proved. Parts of a second cremated body were discovered in another part of the Village. Burials of infants by inhumation have been found on several occasions in or under the clay floors of dwellings. It may be asked do these facts indicate that both forms of burial were in force? And have we to look for some superstitious belief in the inhumation burial of the infants? Graves of La Tene ii and iii date have been found in the south of Britain furnished with funeral urns containing cremations. No burial mounds exist in the neighbourhood of Meare or Glastonbury ; neither should we expect to find them associated with the Lake Villages. With such a considerable population as undoubtedly the villages accommodated, it cannot be otherwise than supposed that the cemeteries occupy important areas somewhere in the immediate locality. The largest group of graves containing cremations was found at Aylesford in Kent. The sites of these tombs were unrecognized from the surface as no mound was raised over them, and if conclusions can be drawn from Aylesford, Swariing, and other urn-field burials of a like date elsewhere, the Lake Village cemeteries will be brought to light by chance, and possibly in the same manner as were the cremation tombs at Aylesford.

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