64 



fortification, %vhen those who were, as Tacitus says, "pro munimentis," or an 

 advanced guard, had been slaughtered — as they must have been, for there was 

 no retreat up a stiff and sheer wall — and served in their slain and trampled 

 heaps as steps to reduce the labour of scaling to the victorious assailants. The 

 utmost that remained was to contest the rampart while they might ; and then, 

 while a devoted few delayed the invincible legionaries for a brief space, to pour 

 forth at outlets and by-ways best known to themselves, and flee into the jjlains 

 below, where they would hurriedly gather their scattered remnants for future 

 resistance, according as pluck and occasion might suggest. 



It may be said that this picture is a draught on fancy ! Be it so ! What 

 else have we to refer to, or to build upon, where the actual facts are so dim, 

 distant, and unrecorded? One object of this brief paper is to provoke inquiry 

 and discussion ; to invite a consideration of the British Camps, in which Here- 

 fordshire and Radnorshire are so rich, on a system and as a whole ; and to 

 stimulate the study and preservation of old memorials, which deserve to be 

 had in honour, not only as monuments of national patriotism, but also as 

 valuable memorials of our primseval history. The scenery over which the 

 eye may range from the vantage-ground of this bold and grand out-look 

 is not strictly within the proposed scope of this paper, and even were it so, I 

 should be afraid that, as a native Silurian, I might, if I ventured upon descrip- 

 tion, be tempted to picture it too fondly, and with undue prolixity. But I 

 would just remark that, look which way you will, whether upon the wooded 

 kiioUs and smiling pastures of Herefordshire, or the wilder and more mountain- 

 ous districts of Eadnorshire and Montgomeryshire, traces in considerable num- 

 ber exist both of the Roman invader, and of the bold Briton ^vho resisted liini. 

 ()f some of the Roman Camps, such as Sutton Walls and Risbury (though 

 these, Mr. Hartshorne thinks, were later works), our club has already dis- 

 cussed the history and the topographic features. On the Radnorshire side, 

 however, there fs a large field for the antiquarian in vestiges of the gallant 

 defence, of which Waj)ley forms a section or chapter. Tomen Castle, near 

 New Radnor, Castell Cefnllys, Caer Ginon, another Tomen near Builth, 

 Castle Ring, South of Discoyd, and Burva Bank, these last within the range 

 of the eye, are some few of the British worlcs, which crown diverse eminences, 

 and recall the struggle of the middle of the first century. 



I may just remark for the information of the archaeological section of our 

 Woolhopian brethren, that the Cambrian Archaeological Association proposes 

 to hold its meeting this year at Knighton, in the week commencing on the 4th 

 of August, when, if they are minded to take the raU and visit that interesting 

 neighbourhood, the result cannot fail to be a better acquaintance with camps 

 and fortifications, Roman and British, than arises fiomthe contemplation of 

 an isolated specimen. 



Mr. Fowle, to whom you will all agree with me that the thanks of the 

 CluV- are especially due for furnishing the first plan, so far a£ I am awaie, tliat 

 h:vs ever been made at Wapley, has marked upon his plan certain elevations of 



