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To those wlio have never visited the point known as Painswick 

 Camp, or whose residence at a distance may make them for the 

 first time acquainted with the character of the great western 

 escarpment of the Cotteswolds, it would be difficult to find in 

 the whole range of mountain scenery a prospect more striking 

 than that which greets the eye from that exalted station. 

 Those old prse-historic tribes, who had their fortified camps on 

 every commanding height, never selected a position better 

 adapted either for defence or observation than this, where an 

 enclosure of triangular form sufficiently protected on the western 

 face by the precipitous nature of the ground, is defended on the 

 other two faces by a double line of rampart and foss, which, 

 stockaded as they probably were, must have presented an 

 obstacle almost insurmountable by the rude assailants to whom 

 they would be opposed. The ground in the interior of the fort 

 is disturbed and thrown into heaps and hollows, which at first 

 sight would seem to be the effects of quarrying, but inasmuch 

 as the rubbly beds of ragstone are not adapted for road material, 

 and on the slope close by are freestone beds, easily worked and 

 of suitable character, it is not probable that materials for such 

 a purpose would be sought within the circuit of the camp in 

 preference to more easily accessible localities outside its pre- 

 cincts. The probable interpretation is that the disturbed con- 

 dition of the floor of the camp is due to the exfoliation of 

 materials for the construction of the ramparts, and that from 

 some cause the ground was never levelled. Some of the 

 depressions bear considerable resemblance to rude hut-circles, 

 and one more profound than the rest, towards the western face, 

 may have been intended for the collection of rain-water, on 

 which alone the occupants must have relied for their water 

 supply. This is probably an ancient British camp — whether afc 

 any time occupied by the Romans there is nothing to shew, 

 though it is more than probable that all these outposts were at 

 one time or another occupied by that people. 



From hence a pleasant drive through Cranham Woods 

 brought the party to the Potteries, where a manufacture of 

 common earthenware has been carried on from a very remote 



