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steep ascent ; on the other, the south-east, a long and gentle slope. It is situated 

 chiefly in the four parishes of Aconbury, Much Birch, Little Birch, and Much 

 Dewchurch. The wood which now crowns the summit and is obstructive to the 

 view is of modern origin, having been planted about 50 years ago by the owners — 

 the Governors of Guy's Hospital — on land formerly occupied as a farm ; the inner 

 camp, however, having been surrounded by a wall for a rabbit warren, — a fact 

 still indicated by the name of a farm close at hand called "The Warren." On the 

 south slope of the hill in past time there was an extensive common, on which were 

 built many cottages, with large gardens enclosed from the waste. The common 

 itself was enclosed by Act of Parliament in the early part of the present century. 

 King's Thorn Common, on the west slope of the hill, still remains, and is celebrated 

 in the annals of the neighbourhood as a meeting place where the inhabitants have 

 listened at diflferent times to the teachers of the Primitive Methodists and of the 

 Salvation Army, to the delegates of the Labourers' Union, and to candidates for 

 the House of Commons. The cottagers of Aconbury Hill are a thrifty race, and 

 from their well-cultivated gardens a good store of flowers, vegetables, strawberries, 

 and other fruits are produced for the Hereford market. The women and children 

 collect in their season mosses and wild flowers for decoration, elderberries and 

 cowslips for wine, nuts, chestnuts, &c., selling them in Hereford market, thus 

 turning an honest penny to supply household wants. Of the surplus population, 

 not a few of the " young men " enter the militia, while the " maidens " find in 

 household service the means of earning an honest livelihood. The people of Acon- 

 bury Hill may not have much book learning, but I have never met with any 

 labouring people who have learned better than they have how to earn a frugal 

 living by honest thrifty labour." 



The Rev. R. A. Chudleigh then referred to the conjecture that hill-top 

 entrenchments were constructed for purposes not exclusively military, but were 

 meant to serve also as "agricultural camps," or places of security to which tribes 

 that existed in a state of border warfare could betake themselves and their cattle, 

 for safety during the night, against the depredations of their neighbours. He 

 further remarked that whereas many of the theories concerning fortresses of the 

 Aconbury type rest on little else than their own inherent probability, it can be 

 said in favour of the idea that they were agricultural camps, that just such 

 camps exist for just such purposes in some parts of the world at the present day. 

 He told how some New Zealand colonists on being shown an ancient earthwork 

 in the south of England at once recognised and indicated its likeness to a Maori 

 pah, with its winding slope leading up from the pasture below to the stockaded 

 enclosure above, which afforded nightly protection to the tribes and their cattle. 

 The introduction of fire-arms and other causes are now rendering these elevated 

 pahs less desirable than heretofore for either peace or war, and the Maories are 

 selecting less elevated positions. Similar changes have operated elsewhere in the 

 same direction, so that Aconbury itself is no longer the populous and important place 

 that it probably used to be. Still, it can scarcely be doubted that these positions of 

 natural strength would in time of war be of great importance ; for no general could 

 aSord to leave them unoccupied, or risk their falling into the hands of the enemy. 



