{96}

{97}

VII

FIRLE

In the autumn of 1906 Mr. G. G. T. Treherne and one of us found a curious earthen structure on the top of Firle Down in Sussex. Owing to its inconspicuous appearance, it has previously escaped observation.

Before attempting to describe it, we desire to point out that a period must have existed before man had devised any method of measuring time. This earthwork, whether by accident or design, supplies a method of doing so.

Early man naturally measured the year from the ripening of the crops of one year to the corresponding period in the succeeding year. Thanks to the investigations of Sir Norman Lockyer and Mr. Penrose, it has perhaps been established that this system of measuring time gave the early part of May as a starting point for the year in ancient Egypt, as it had been in Chaldea in a still more remote period. Sir Norman Lockyer considers that some of the stone alignments on Dartmoor and elsewhere are directed to the point on the horizon where the sun rose in the early part of May. At Stonehenge, not only is the May year indicated, but also the midsummer solstice. It is interesting to find that in Scotland, even at the present {98} time, the quarter days fall in accordance with the old May year. In England the dancing of the girls round the maypole and the decking of the trappings of the horses on the first of May are possibly survivals of the May year festivals. The custom of passing the wine around the table in the direction of the sun’s course may have an ancient solsticial origin.

We find on Firle Down what appears to be an extremely early and complete method of observing the position on the horizon when the sun rose and set in the early part of May, and also its rising, and setting during the midsummer and winter solstices.

Lying on the top of Firle Down may be seen a segment of a circular embankment rising only some eighteen inches or two feet above the general level of the ground. The diameter of this circle is about ninety feet; it may have been a complete circle when it was originally constructed, but there is evidence that a portion of it has been worn out of recognition by wheel traffic. Within this circular embankment there remain three segments of a concentric circle of approximately the same elevation as the outer circle, and about forty-five feet in diameter. In the centre of this inner circle, a square depression, the sides of which measure 27 feet, has been made concentric with the raised circles surrounding it.

At points lying outside this design are three small subsidiary figures.

We append a diagram.

{99}   XXVIII.—Plan of the earthworks on downs, near Firle, Sussex

{100} By taking the diagonals from the centre of the square through its north-west and north-east angles, and producing them to the horizon, we obtain the positions where the sun set and rose on the longest day of the year. By taking the lines from the centre of the square through the centre of the gaps of the inner circle (which do not correspond with the southern angles of the square), and producing them to the horizon, we obtain the positions of the rising and setting sun during the winter solstice. By taking the line from the centre of the crescent-shaped mound lying to the north-west, to the centre of the oval mound lying to the south-east, we find that it passes through the centre of the square. This line gives us the position on the horizon of the rising and setting of the sun at the beginning of the old May year.

It has been calculated that the foregoing orientations coincided with the rising and setting of the sun at these special times of the year at about 1900 b.c.

Such an extraordinary combination of solstitial bearings seems almost to preclude the element of chance. Its position amidst tumuli and other neolithic works certainly lends some probability to the antiquity of the structure, though, of course, it does not preclude it from being a comparatively modern work. If it does belong to the neolithic epoch, it is certainly an interesting discovery, for, as an observatory, it is more complete than Stonehenge or any other monument in this country of a like antiquity that has yet been discovered. {101}

The square in the centre is found to have its sides nearly to the true (not magnetic) cardinal points.

We should, moreover, like to point out that on the assumption that the structure is an ancient observatory, the astronomer, while squatting in the centre of the depressed square, would have his eyes on a level with the ridges of the enclosing circles. These circles were of equal height, and so long as he had the ridges of both of them in line he would possess fixed points by which to determine a level artificial horizon. The use of the gaps in the inner circle now becomes clear. Had the inner as well as the outer circle been continuous, the observer would have found difficulty in making certain that the tops of the two mounds were on a level with his eye. A gap in the inner ring would enable him to make sure that they were so, and a small mark placed on the outer ring would enable him to make sure that he was looking in the right direction. The arrangement would resemble the sighting of a rifle, the V-shaped backsight representing the gap in the inner ring, and the foresight the mark on the outer ring. But, in this case, the rifle would be fixed, and the man adjusting his line of sight to it, instead of vice versâ. Bearing in mind the limitations of a neolithic astronomer, we cannot suggest any improvement.

On the other hand, certain difficulties present themselves to our minds, and we are anxious not to lay more stress on this curious structure than the facts warrant. {102}

The grass with which it is overgrown does not look like the ancient down-turf which has not been disturbed since times of antiquity. Hence we regard it with a certain sense of suspicion, which is unfortunately further intensified by a tradition which exists in the neighbourhood. The belief in the minds of the shepherds, and the locally accepted explanation of the mounds which we have been describing, is that they have been left upon the site of an old windmill which no longer exists. Although the rustic mind is restless until it has been satisfied by some explanation of the apparently incomprehensible, yet it is never safe to reject summarily a local tradition of this character. On the other hand, when we find so many astronomical bearings accumulated in connection with these mounds it is certainly dangerous to attribute them to accidental coincidence. We should do so without hesitation if we found that only one, or even two suggestions of astronomical significance could be traced. But here the cumulative effect is so great that, if the observations are correct, coincidence is ruled out of court. Unfortunately the remains are so, ruinous that it is a matter of great difficulty to obtain really accurate measurements.

Even this does not show the full complexity of the matter. Three or four miles away on Mount Cabourne, is another very similar depressed square surrounded by a concentric raised circle of much the same dimensions, and at hand are other outlying works. {103}

Up to the present no investigation has here been made, but there is no astronomical significance on the face of it, and had we only had before us these works on Mount Cabourne we should have accepted the local tradition of the shepherds without hesitation. Even here the square-and-circle is not quite free from astronomical associations, for close by are two large raised circles in the turf, one of them traversed by a mound which, passing over the centre of the circle, runs true east and west. These circles are certainly free from the taint of the windmill, and as certainly have some bearing upon astronomy.

Thus we are compelled to leave the matter in doubt, only hoping that it may be submitted to a searching investigation by some one possessed of the necessary combination of the skill of the antiquary and of the astronomer.