246 On the Ancient Earthwork Enclosures 



vestiges of a ditch or perhaps a hollow road or trackway leading 

 from one or more sides of these enclosures ; and sometimes they 

 may be traced to a considerable distance beyond it, while in some 

 instances two or even three of such lines of communication from 

 more distant parts may be observed. In size they vary quite as 

 much as in shape : some assuming the goodly dimensions of 220 

 yards in diameter, and thus enclosing a large area ; while others 

 are dwindled down to a diameter of 18 yards, embracing but a 

 diminutive space. Then as to 2)Obition \ while some are placed on 

 the sheltered side of a hill, as if seeking protection from the cold 

 winds, which in early times as now, blew keenly over those broad 

 downs, others seem to occupy the more exposed crests of the lower 

 ranges of hills ; though I have never seen a single instance of 

 such an enclosure on any of the highest ridges. Level ground 

 was not an object in choosing their sites ; indeed generally they 

 are placed on the sloping side of some hill, sometimes including 

 the very base of a gully, and a portion of its two opposite sides. 

 Neither does there seem to have been one common rule of strength 

 required in the formation of the bank and ditch ; for while some 

 present but very slight and indistinct marks of the enclosure, 

 others stand forth after the lapse of ages still broad and perfect : 

 and that this difference is not wholly attributable to other accidental 

 circumstances, of injury in the one case and preservation in the 

 other, may be at once seen by the breadth which these defences 

 occupy, the banks and ditches of some measuring 18 feet in 

 diameter, while in others they measure barely 6 feet. 



I proceed now to exemplify the above remarks by calling atten- 

 tion to the plans of certain of these earthworks, which I have 

 selected from a large number, and which I have drawn from 

 different parts of our downs, choosing those which presented peculiar- 

 ities or varieties of shape or position. 



No. 1, represents the largest enclosure of the kind with which 

 I am acquainted. It is situated on the Bishops Cannings Downs 

 very near Wansdyke, within about one hundred yards of that 

 rampart, at about the distance of a quarter of a mile nor^th of Old 

 Shepherd's Shore. It is an exact square, each side measuring 



