308 On Devizes Castle. 



in its centre, stands the high mound on which was erected the Castle 

 of Devizes. The old inhahitants characteristic alike of Celt and 

 Teuton — of Belgae and Cymri, seized in ages past on this mound of 

 green sand ; they threw out the soil on one side to make a rampart, 

 and on the other to increase the already formidable height which 

 forms so conspicuous a feature in the landscape. On this height, 

 when the people were becoming somewhat reconciled to the rule of 

 a Norman king, Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, built a noble castle, 

 for the glory of the Church and the advancement of his power. 

 Its plans did not differ greatly from that adopted by military archi- 

 tects of the period, and by a comparison with the remains of con- 

 temporaneous structures which still exist they could form a tolerably 

 exact idea of its plan and the mode of its defence. 



Ere, however, I enter upon the existing remains, I would dwell 

 for a few brief moments on the origin of these great entrenchments, 

 and trace their progress and development through their subsequent 

 history. It is, and has been, too much the fashion to pronounce 

 this entrenchment British, or that Roman— the other Saxon or 

 Danish, as the case may be; but in reality military positions of 

 great strength would commend themselves to any nation who had 

 property to be defended or who were in a hostile country. It is not, 

 however, every entrenchment that is a fortified post. Some that 

 we see around us were only cattle pounds, whilst others were the 

 fortified ramparts of a sept or tribe who owed allegiance to their 

 chosen king. Others, like the mound of Devizes, and Old Sarum, 

 were probably the strongholds of a nation and the chosen gathering- 

 place of the clans. Kent, we know, had four of these tribal or 

 separate kings, and the remains of the Dane John at Canterbury 

 (with the entrenchments which have been so interfered with by the 

 railway works) were a type of a fortified mound like that of Devizes. 

 I use the word fortified mound advisedly, for there are mounds 

 existing, which, though used for interment, were like those of 

 Beowulf, erected also as landmarks — posts of observation or speculi. 

 Many of you will doubtless recollect that our late treasurer, Mr. 

 Gordon Hills, had a theory that many, if not all these were either 

 of Roman construction, or had been adapted by that people for the 



