I 



243 



that people, but on 'reference to the Map (Plate I,) it will be 

 seen to be difficult to construct a road on a straight line of any 

 considerable length without coming near ancient Camps, The 

 Eev. H. M. ScARTH has pointed out that several of the ancient 

 Camps of Somersetshire are in the vicinity of Wansdyke, 

 implying their connection with that very ancient line of demar- 

 cation, but in fact in every hilly district these strongholds and 

 hill-forts abound, so that little can be proved by the proximity 

 of certain Camps to either roads or dykes. 



It is very difficult to assign to simple earthworks the period 

 of their construction, a thorough and careful examination of 

 their materials may bring to light some relics, such as flint 

 implements, pottery or coins, but these do not prove the age of 

 the earthworks, for such objects may have been scattered on 

 the soil prior to its having been used in the formation of the 

 mounds. Neither do the objects found in the area of these 

 Camps prove who were their constructors, though the}'^ may point 

 to their occupation by certain peoples. There can be little doubt 

 that these ancient works are referable to various ages, some 

 possibly to pre-historic times, whilst others are probably Saxon 

 or Danish, or even later. 



The finding of a few Roman coins within a Camp, or even in 

 its vicinity has in the case of many of our Gloucestershire 

 strongholds been held as proof that the Camp was Roman, but 

 Roman coins are found throughout the county, in the soil of fields, 

 in gardens, in woods, remote from Camps. Some writers have 

 strangely mistaken the forms of various Camps, and described 

 them as regular in outline, when thei'e is not a straight line or 

 right angle in them. Fosbrooke gives a drawing of the Camp 

 on Bredon hill, and figures it as a polygonal structure. Mr. 

 Baker describes Horton Castle as having an irregular four- 

 sided figure. The greater number of wi'iters on this subject 

 have treated them as Roman, the idea that a chain of Camps 

 was constructed here by Ostorius, founded on an assertion of 

 a Latin writer that it was the intention of Ostorius so to do, 

 runs through the arguments of Antiquaries, and the attempt to 

 connect our Camps with the stations of Antonine's Itinerary, 

 has been made the groundwork of many a theory. Even 



