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20 acres in its area — and in addition to the Camp proper, a still larger surface of 

 the hill is entrenched around, and was probably stockaded for cattle. 



Around the embankments stones are observed, and on the north side there is 

 a complete wall for a few feet. It is quite modern in construction, and looks very 

 much as if it had formed part of a shed for the protection of the animals grazing 

 on the hill before it was turned into the wood it is now. 



The commanding position of Aconbury Camp in the very centre of the county 

 must ever have rendered it a place of importance in troublous times ; not only 

 from its own strength and from the fact of its overhanging the central roads 

 through the county, but as a post of observation and as a signal station. The 

 prospect from it is very extensive. It ranges from the Clee Hills in Shropshire, 

 and the High Vinnals near Ludlow, on the north, to the Monmouthshire Hills, 

 headed by the Sugar Loaf Mountain to the south ; and from the Malvern Hills on 

 the east to the Hatterel Hills and Black Mountains on the west. It overlooks the 

 broad valley of the Wye, with the city of Hereford in its midst ; and in times of 

 warfare would be within easy reach by private messenger or signal communication 

 of many of the leading entrenchments of the county, as Dinedor, Caplar, 

 Dormington, Sutton Walls, Credenhill, not to mention more distant camps, and 

 the many smaller British and Roman stations scattered through the district. 



The early prehistoric history of this camp can only be gleaned from the 

 configuration of the entrenchments still remaining so visible on its surface ; and 

 these, as if to leave the imagination at more perfect liberty, are rounded on the 

 western side, with an approach to a rectangular shape towards the eastern end. 

 An observer, therefore, with British predilections may well consider it as a British 

 camp, and picture to himself its occupation by Cynobeline, his sons Caractacus 

 and Togodumnus, and their successors, who so bravely and persistently withstood 

 the Legions of Rome. Should the student of history have mental proclivities 

 towards the Roman conquerors of Britain, he may regard it as a summer camp 

 of Ostorius Scapula, (from whom Dinedor takes the traditional name of Oyster 

 Hill,) of Didius Callus, or of Julius Fontanus. Again a picture might be drawn 

 of the occupation of Aconbury at a later period by that fierce Mercian Chieftain, 

 Crida, who from his principal camp at Credenhill burnt and destroyed all the 

 Roman camps and stations in this and the neighbouring counties. Or yet, once 

 again, he might well imagine the occupation of this hill by Elystou Glodrydd, the 

 last of the Royal Tribes of Wales, who presided over this part of the frontier of 

 Ereinwg, the fertile land, or the district between the i~"evern and the Wye. He is 

 said to have derived his appellation from his godfather Athelstan, and has given his 

 name to Ayleston, Athelstone, or Addlestone Wood in Little Birch, a mile and a 

 half to the south of us ; as well as to Aylestone Hill at Hereford. Indeed it is highly 

 probable that all these suppositions would be right, for a large camp possessing 

 such advantages as this one does, would be seized naturally enough by any ruling 

 power that required it for temporary use. There is no proof of its ever having 

 been fought for or even held for any time on the defensive ; and indeed there are 

 no traces to be found either in the local names of adjoining places, or by the 

 existence of tumuli, of any serious warfare or bloodshed having taken place here. 



