292 



time of actual war, this larger work was probably an established 

 settlement of a British tribe, who first constructed with a slight 

 mound the Amberley Camp, and then extended it as their need 

 required. Of the eastern inclosure of 600 acres a small part 

 has remained common land, and it is noteworthy that no pit- 

 dweUings are traceable there, but from its great extent, its 

 southern aspect, the abundant springs of water it contains it was 

 well fitted for a cattle-camp. If this was its use, it would be the 

 means, in conjunction with the streams on either hand, yielding 

 fish, and the covert offered for wild animals by the adjacent 

 wooded valleys, of providing the means of subsistence to a 

 numerous community. 



In endeavoviring, in the absence of historical data, to assign 

 an age to these camps, there is in addition to the character 

 of their earthworks, one other item of evidence bearing lapon 

 the question, namely, the relics which are found in connection 

 with them. It has been shown in the foregoing remarks how 

 scant is the evidence these have afforded in the case of the 

 earthworks on the hills round Nailsworth. The pottery met 

 with only as fragments in the camps and pits of Minchin- 

 hampton Common, although of rude material and often im- 

 perfectly burned is with one or two exceptions, "wheel-made." 

 The paucity of flints is remarkable considering how abundantly 

 they lie scattered on other high-lands of the district. These 

 evidences therefore appear to lead to the conclusion, that the 

 works on Minchinhampton Common were constructed and occu- 

 pied by a people about, or shortly prior to the first Roman 

 invasion of Britain, when by intercourse with the Continent, 

 the Britons had acquired the knowledge of the potter's- wheel, 

 and when in the construction of weapons and implements, flint 

 had been superseded by metals. 



It has been mentioned that the small inclosure marked on 

 my map as Hazlewood Copse Camp was probably the work of a 

 very early people, as evidenced by the numerous worked flints 

 found in its immediate neighbourhood ; careful investigation 

 may lead to a similar conclusion respecting the age of other 

 camps on our hills. That Roman coins and other Roman 



