Note 169 — Chapter IX

Cf. Grimm, “Teut. Myth.” p. 962, quoting Harry, “Nieders. Sagen”; Jahn, p. 228, quoting Temme. Many of the sanctuaries of the Celts were upon mounds, which were either barrows of the dead, or were expressly made for temples; and the god was called in Irish Cenn Cruaich, in Welsh Penn Cruc (now Pen Crûg), both meaning the Head or Chief of the Mound (Rhys, “Hibbert Lectures,” p. 201). Many mounds in England, now crowned by churches, have been conjectured to be old Celtic temples. See an able paper by Mr. T. W. Shore on “Characteristic Survivals of the Celts in Hampshire,” Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vol. xx. p. 9. Mont St. Michel, near Carnac, in Brittany, is a chambered barrow surmounted by a little chapel. From the relics found in the tomb, as well as the size of the barrow itself, some person, or persons, of importance must have been buried there. The mound may well have been a haunted, a sacred spot ever since the ashes of the dead and their costly weapons and ornaments were committed to its keeping far back in the Neolithic age. Instances might easily be multiplied.