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WOLDBUEY, OE CAPLAE CAMP. 

 By Dr. Bdll. 



The hill on which this camp is situated is variously named Capler, Caplar, 

 Capiller, or Capillar, and the origin of the name has been derived from still more 

 varying sources. Mr. Flavell Edmunds, in his Names uf Places, derives it from 

 the British word "cop," a summit, and " le," a place, a derivation that would 

 apply to every hill, and he therefore supposes the hill to take its name from the 

 camp; others suppose the name " Capler " to be derived from the old family of 

 Caple, or Gapell, who for so many centuries held the adjoining manors of How 

 Caple and of Fovvnhope ; though they seem only to have had a small part of this 

 hill in their possession. The most common belief, the version of the guide book, 

 thinks the name a corruption from the second name of Ostorius Scapula, and sup- 

 ports it by an old tradition. Ostorius Scapula is said to have attacked Caractacus 

 when he was about to cross the Wye by a ford near C'aradoc, to have been defeated 

 by him, and to have been obliged to retire and entrench himself on the summit of 

 this hill. There is certainly a large tumulus, or " tump," as it is called in Here- 

 fordshire, near the church of King's Caple, which usually indicates the scene of a 

 battle, but there is no historic record of any battle having taken place at King's 

 Caple. If the Koman general was beaten there, however, he would not be likely 

 to record the defeat. Roman historians seldom did so, and no other record of the 

 period exists. The origin of Capler from Scapula is really too remote to be 

 probable. 



The most likely derivation of the name is given by Mr. Cooke, in his excellent 

 continuation of Duncumb's History of Herelordshire. He thinks it simply an 

 abbreviation of capitulai ias, a dtsignation having reference to the early owners of 

 the manor, the Deans and Chapter of Hereford. They still hold the manor, and it 

 may be stated here that from the quarry at the foot of the hill, near the river, 

 much of the stone required for the construction and repairs of St. Ethelbert's 

 Cathedral at Hereford has been obtained. 



The British names of the camp, or the hill, have been lost, and the earliest 

 distinctive name which has come down to us is the purely Saxon name of " Wold- 

 bury," and this seems to have been nearly lost also, for the Ordnance and other 

 recent maps do not give it, and it is scarcely ever alluded to elsewhere. This 

 name is given on the old maps, however, and it is just mentioned incidentally in 

 local histories. Two large fields on the south-western slope are also named ''Upper 

 Walboro " (containing some 35 acres), and " Lower Walboro " (28 acres), on the 

 maps of the estate, whilst the small parish in which the camp is situated is called 

 Brockhampton — a name equally Saxon in derivation. 



There is no historical record of the Romans having occupied this camp ; some 

 authorities would attribute the sally-ports from the inner camp to the trenches to 

 them. It is extremely probable that they did occupy it, though there is no trace 



