in British antiquities, are huge, broad, flat stones, raised upon other stones set up on end for that purpose. They are common in Anglesea; under which article a very large one is described. See Plate CLXIV.

These monuments are spoken of largely by Mr Rowland, by Dr Borlase, and by Wormius, under the name of Ara or altar. Mr Rowland, however, is divided in his opinion; for he partly inclines to the notion of their having been altars, partly to their having been sepulchres: he supposes them to have been originally tombs, but that in after times sacrifices were performed upon them to the heroes deposited within. Mr Keiller preserves an account of King Harold having been interred beneath a tomb of this kind in Denmark, and Mr Wright discovered in Ireland a skeleton deposited under one of them. The great similarity of the monuments throughout the north, Mr Pennant observes, evinces the same religion to have been spread in every part, perhaps with some slight deviations. Many of these monuments are both British and Danish; for we find them where the Danes never penetrated.

The cromlech, or cromleh, chiefly differs from the Kist-euen, in not being closed up at the end and sides, that Cromlech, that is, in not so much partaking of the chest-like figure; it is also generally of larger dimensions, and sometimes consists of a greater number of stones: the terms cromlech and kist-euen are however indiscriminately used for the same monument. The term cromlech is by some derived from the Armorican word crum, "crooked or bowing," and leu, "stone," alluding to the reverence which persons paid to them by bowing. Rowland derives it from the Hebrew words kerem-tauch, signifying a "devoted or consecrated stone." They are called by the vulgar coetan Arthur, or Arthur's quoits, it being a custom in Wales as well as Cornwall, to ascribe all great or wonderful objects to Prince Arthur, the hero of those countries.