Druidism Exhumed

Druidism Exhumed by James Rust is a polemical antiquarian work that argues against the then-prevailing view that Britain’s stone circles were merely sepulchral monuments. Rust contends that many megalithic structures across Britain and Ireland were Druidical temples, furnishing extensive etymological, historical, and linguistic evidence. The text examines Dr. Stuart’s Sculptured Stones of Scotland, challenging the assertion that stone circles are not temples and presenting a multifaceted defence: etymology of Gaelic place-names, descriptions of Danish and Gaelic influences, and citations from Caesar, Bede, Nennius, and later chroniclers to reconstruct the ceremonial purposes of circles, cromlechs, and related stones. The work is divided into extensive parts on the Gaulish Druidical system, circles of Scandinavia, early temple descriptions, Irish and Scottish superstitions, pagan practices denounced in ecclesiastical canons, and the use of circles as courts, with Part II expanding Gaelic topography. The author also engages with the broader Celtic world to propose a unified Druidic origin for these monuments, supplementing his case with archæological and linguistic analysis.