[Sidenote:  Caxton.] [Sidenote:  Eth.  Bur.]

“But Gal.  Mon. saith, that Vigenius died after he had reigned 7 yeares, and then Peredurus seized all the land into his owne rule, and governed it with such sobrietie and wisedome, that he was praised above all his brethren, so that Elidurus was quite forgotten of the Britains.  But others write that he was a verie tyrant, and used himselfe verie cruellie towards the lords of his land, whereupon they rebelled and slue him.  But whether by violent hand, or by naturall sicknesse, he finallie departed this life, after the consent of most writers, when he had reigned eight yeares, leaving no issue behind him to succeed in the governance of the Kingdome.  He builded the towne of Pikering, where his bodie was buried.”

[Illustration:  BURIAL URNS AND OTHER VESSELS IN PICKERING MUSEUM.

They were found in barrows in the following places, reading from left to right, top row:—­(1) Blansby Park (containing bones and ashes); (2) Cawthorne; (3) Hutton Buscelmoor; (4) Cockmoor Hall Warren; (5) Snainton Moor; (6) Raindale, “No Man’s Land.”  Lower Row:—­(1) Blansby Park; (2) below Ebberston; (3) Newton Towers, near Helmsley; (4) Fylingdales (a food vessel); (5) Cawthorne (contains ashes.)

[Copyright reserved by Dr John L. Kirk.] ]

Whatever memorial was raised to this legendary king of the Brigantes, has totally disappeared.  It may have been a mighty barrow surrounded with great stones and containing the golden ornaments worn by Peredurus, but if it existed outside the imaginations of the Chroniclers it would probably have been plundered and obliterated during the Roman occupation or by marauding Angles or Danes.

Mr Bateman tells us that in 1853, two Celtic coins in billon or mixed metal of the peculiar rough type apparently characteristic of and confined to the coinage of the Brigantes, were found by quarrymen engaged in baring the rock near Pickering.

There may have been two British fortresses at Pickering at this time, one on the site of the present castle and one the hill on the opposite side of the Pickering Beck, where, as already mentioned, the circular ditches and mounds indicate the existence of some primitive stockaded stronghold.

At Cawthorne, a few miles to the north, there are British enclosures adjoining the Roman camps; and at Cropton, on the west side of the village and in a most commanding position, a circular hill-top shows palpable evidences of having been fortified.

Of the megalithic remains or “Bride Stones,” as they are generally termed in Yorkshire, it is difficult to say anything with certainty.  Professor Windle, in his list of those existing in the county,[1] mentions among others—­

1.  “The Bride Stones” near Grosmont (Circle).

2.  “The Bride Stones,” Sleights Moor (Circle).

3.  Simon Houe, near Goathland Station.

4.  “The Standing Stones” (three upright stones), 1-3/4 miles S.-W. of Robin Hood’s Bay, on Fylingdales Moor.