on the Dotcns of North Wilts. 247 



about 220 yards, and on every aide there are from five to eight 

 narrow entrances, though whether these are coeval with the forma- 

 tion of the enclosure may be doubted. The bank is still con- 

 spicuously high at all the corners, and even elsewhere a section of 

 the bank and ditch now measures no less than 18 feet; so that in 

 its original state it must have presented a strong barrier, whether 

 to keep in the cattle, or to keep out the foe : though from its 

 immense size, the extent of its defences, which seem unnecessarily 

 large for enclosing cattle, and from its position, I am inclined in 

 this one instance at all events to assign it a military origin, and 

 conjecture it to have been a camp. Towards the south side it 

 contains a small irregular earthwork measuring about 47 yards by 

 30, which is also marked out by a bank and ditch, the intention of 

 which I am wholly at a loss to determine. It is very snugly 

 situated in a hollow below the Wansdyke facing due south, and 

 well sheltered from the north and west, though fully exposed to 

 the east winds, which at times blow over these downs with exceed- 

 ing keenness, but for which (if we may judge from the aspect of 

 many of these enclosures) the early Britons had not the same 

 horror which their modern, more susceptible, if not degenerate 

 successors entertain. 



No. 2, also on the Bishops Cannings Downs, but a mile or more 

 to the south of the last, and about east-south-east of Shepherd's 

 Shore, is of irregular shape, of comparatively small dimensions, 

 and in every respect unlike the preceding. It measures about 80 

 yards by 60, has somewhat of an oval form, a bank and ditch with 

 a sectional diameter of nine feet, the bank at one point being 

 remarkably elevated. It faces east-south-east, is well sheltered 

 from the north, and lies within half a mile of Wansdyke. 



No. 3. On the same downs and on the side of the next ridge a 

 little to the south of that last described, may be seen a group of 

 these earthworks, and though a considerable portion of the con- 

 necting ditches is obliterated so that it is impossible to trace out 

 the original plan, enough remains to show two perfect enclosures : 

 one circular, measuring about 50 yards in diameter, the other, 

 an irregular square, 60 yards in length by 50 in breadth. There 



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