228 



contained objects of later date, and the examination of the rampart is scarcely 

 sufficient to base any conlusion upon. He quite concurred with the author of tlie 

 paper as to tlie long mounds not being barrows ; he felt satisfied that if Mr. Price's 

 explanation of them tallied with his own, they were artificial rabbit burrows ; the 

 supposed breach on the west side was clearly produced by natural causes. We had 

 yet to determine to what extent, if at all, keeps or citadels in the interior of works 

 were in use in pre-Roman times. Double and treble lines of defence were un- 

 doubtedly common. The scientific exploration of these camps is only commencing, 

 and we were as yet without sufiBcient data for generalisation. 



BRONSIL CASTLE, EASTNOR. 



[Read by G. H. Piper, Esq,, F.G.S., at a joint meeting of the Malvern and 

 WoolhoiJe Clubs, on the 20th May, 1880.] 



At various times the name of this place has been spelled Bronsill, Bransill, 

 Brantsill, Bramstill, Bromeshill, and in other ways. 



Several derivations are suggested for the name. It may have originated 

 from the Kymric word "Bryn,"a hill, the Saxon synonym having been sub 

 sequently added, but this, though of frequent occurrence, is here improbable. 

 The common broom (Cytisus Scoparius or Planta Genista) grows in the neighbour- 

 hood, and may have left its name here. In the Ordnance Map it is spelled 

 " Bransill, " which may have come from "bryn,"or from the name of the early 

 British christian, Bran ; but, unfortunately, the orthography of the Ordnance 

 Survey is not reliable, and the place is not called " Bransill " by the people. A 

 derivation more probable than any of these is the Kymric word "Bron," a 

 breast; a rounded hill, " The Bron," may well be supposed to have been the early 

 name of that which is now called Midsummer Hill, under the shadow of which the 

 castle nestles. A station too conspicuous and important to have remained un- 

 named by its original possessors, who certainly did not call it Midsummer Hill. 

 The Old English suffix " hyl," a hill, being added to the primitive " Bron," would 

 natui-ally become softened into " Bronsill," which name passed phonetically from 

 generation to generation of the old inhabitants, and is still in use. 



Bronsil Castle, formerly a baronial residence, in the parish of Eastnor, on the 

 eastern side of the county of Hereford, is certainly the most modern of the castles of 

 the middle ages within the county, and partook less of the character of a fortress 

 than a defensible place, or castellated mansion. The ruins are near the western 

 base of Midsummer Hill, an imposing and highly interesting feature of the Mal- 

 vern range, crowned by earthworks of great antiquity and extent, protecting the 

 once important British settlement on its own slopes, and on those of Hollybush Hill, 

 distinct traces whereof may yet be found ; and dominating the Gullet and Holly- 

 bush passes. The castle, now represented by the present ruin, was erected upon 



