224 



looked a likely place for finding remains in. Two fragments of red pottery were 

 thro^vn out, but we came upon the rock at 2J feet down, so closed up the trench. 



Pits 6 and 7 were slight hollows on the north-eastern side, a few feet from 

 the rampart of the citadel. Nothing but a few pieces of black pottery, just 

 beneath the turf were found, so the holes were filled in. 



September 12th being a wet windy day, two men were told off to make a 

 trench across the outer ditch on the north side of tha citadel. This cutting was 

 12 feet long by 3 feet in breadth. At 2 feet the old surface line was found strewn 

 with fragments of charcoal (some of it was from thorn wood), pieces of Upper 

 Llandovery sandstone flags, and a rounded quartzite pebble. It is surmised that 

 these pebbles, which are not met with nearer than the Severn, may have been 

 sling stones. 



The next section was made in the outer ditch on the western side of the 

 camp, where the level of the ditch and top of the rampart are equal. I may as 

 well state that the whole of this side of the citadel has much suffered from the 

 effects of denudation ; that the action of frosts and rains have so disintegrated the 

 rocks, that it has from time to time crumbled away and fallen into the ditches, 

 and for the distance of some 70 yards or so, quite filled them up ; the ramparts 

 have likewise suffered, and are, in consequence of denudation, very low and weak 

 on this side of the camp. On all the other sides, the terrace walks on the top of 

 the ramparts vary from 40 feet to 20 feet in width, whereas on the western side 

 they are under 6 feet, but gradually widen and become higher towards the north 

 and south sides of the earthwork. There is very little doubt, that the western side 

 was never so strongly fortified as the others, as there was less need of deep ditches 

 on that side, on account of the natural steepness of that part of the hill, and the 

 fact of its overlooking the country of the Silures, who were, in all probability, the 

 people who defended the Beacon Camp against the enemy coming up from the 

 plains of Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. 



Tacitus informs us that the Silures were the most determined of all the 

 tribes of Britain. He describes them as being of swarthy complexion, curled hair, 

 of great ferocity and audacity ; and, being of a warlike nature, gave the Romans 

 much trouble. 



They were finally subdued under Ostorius Scapula, A.D. 70—78, before 

 which they abandoned their own country for that of the Ordovicians (the people of 

 North Wales). They took post upon the ridges of some lofty mountains, where 

 the sides were gently inclined and approachable ; they piled up stones as a rampart. 



It has been asserted by certain local archaeologists, generally looked up to as 

 authorities, that the reason for the weakness of the ramparts, and the breaches on 

 the west side, is due to the camp having been stormed, and the ramparts thrown 

 down. 



Mr. Lines states that we find a much greater breach on the western vallum 

 of Midsummer Hill, extending 600 feet, from which it is probable the two forts 

 were dismantled at the same time and from the same quarter. 



