Bibliographical note

The version of Arthur Lawton’s essay “Mysteries of Ancient Man” published on this website is scanned from a 10-page typescript which was bought from a book dealer and contains no bibliographical information.  It does not appear to be the edition which Paul Screeton published in 1971 (thanks to Paul for this information). 

Lawton’s essay was submitted to the Straight Track Club in 1939.  (Some writers say 1938, but the essay refers to material not published until 1939.) As far as I can discover, it was not published in Lawton’s time, and probably it was only circulated among members of the Club. 

It appears from the text that the essay was accompanied by a plan of the Avebury circles and perhaps one of Netley Abbey in Hampshire.  Although the scanned copy does not include these plans, it has been possible to reconstruct them from the following sources. 

Avebury: Alexander Keiller, “Avebury: summary of excavations, 1937 and 1938”, Antiquity, 13, 223–233 (1939).  Plan on fold-out facing p. 224.  This plan agrees with Lawton’s text and may well have been the basis of the official plan that he refers to. 

Netley Abbey: I could not find a copy of the official guide, which Lawton probably used, so I have used the plan in the Victoria County History of Hampshire, vol. 3, fold-out facing p. 472. 

MB, Dec. 2012