By Mr. Cunnington. 105 
mainly supplied the materials for the walls of the adjacent 
village. ; 
Looking down upon the spot from the hill, the site of the ancient 
occupation is shown by irregular and indistinct traces of foundations 
surrounded by a slight bank, which encloses an area of about three 
acres. From the eastern side, and at right anglés to it, run three 
parallel banks of a furlong or more in length. These have been 
much mutilated, and their original purpose is not apparent; they 
may probably have been cattle pens. The square embankment 
surrounding the ruins would appear to be the remains of a wall of 
dry masonry; but the spot having supplied building materials for 
the adjacent modern village of Baydon, its present condition is 
much confused. Dispersed at various distances within the area, 
are thirteen or fourteen irregular hollows or pits of various 
diameters, and on digging into these we found the foundations of 
what were probably dwellings. Round the edges are abundance of 
sarsen stones and flints, and occasionally a few blocks of freestone 
piled up, without mortar or cement, and frequently exhibiting 
decided traces of the action of fire. In most of them were tiles, 
or fragments of tiles, formed of the thin sandstone of the Coal 
formation, and itis tolerably clear that these places when roofed in 
- were used as dwellings. The use of tiles from this stratum was 
common with the Romans at Corinium, and at North Wraxall, as 
mentioned by Mr. Scrope in his description of the Roman villa at 
that place. In the north-west corner (see plan) are the foundations 
of a passage about eight feet long, three feet wide, and five feet deep, 
with short branches right and left. In one part of this, near the 
open end, were remains of a fire-place, with abundance of soot. 
The sides are chiefly built of square masses of hard chalk, with 
now and then a block of oolitic freestone. Lord Craven employed 
a man to clear out the earth from this passage in the year 1858, 
but it appears that nothing was found in it. The purpose for 
which it was used is not apparent, but it is remarkable that an 
underground structure of very similar form was discovered near 
the house at Ashdown Park, about a mile and a half from Botley, 
1 Wiltshire Magazine, vol. vii., p. 66. 
