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the hill and its steepness on almost all its sides -would seem to 

 render artificial fortifications the less necessary ; nevertheless the 

 present remains, though much stone-work has been removed for 

 road-mending, testify to the care and industry with which nature 

 was supplemented by art. This is particularly observable at the 

 western entrance. The other entrance, on the south-east, appears 

 to have owed its position to the neighbourhood of a well, and to 

 the necessity of gaining access to a trackway leading to the river. 

 But of the roads about this camp I shall speak presently. 



The camp on Hampton Down is in close proximity to the 

 Wansdyke. A. plan of it is given in " Phelps' History of Somer- 

 setshire •" but if this was accurate at the time it was made, several 

 changes in the remains presented to view must have since taken 

 place. We may obtain from this plan some knowledge of the 

 indications of ancient works, which existed when Mr. Phelps wrote 

 and have now disappeared, such as the camp he speaks of, near 

 Cottage Crescent, and the eaithworks he places on Sion Hill. Of 

 the Hampton Down camp Mr. Scarth says (Somersetshire Arch, and 

 Nat. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, vol. v., p. 106j : — "It consists of a 

 bold projecting promontory, cut off from the adjoining portion of 

 I the hill by a deep trench and mound. The circuit enclosed is 30 

 racres. The northern entrance and the road or trackway leading 

 it is very perfect. The point towards Bath has been scarped, 

 fwhile traces of a rampart are still visible. The divisions into 

 which the settlement has been formed are very distinctly marked. 

 [Each family or clan seems to have had its allotted space, which 

 [was enclosed by a mound, and no doubt either on or in front of 

 [that mound was a palisade. There are also remains of hut circles, 

 [several barrows, and there seems to have existed an avenue of 

 kBtones." Mr. Scarth concludes that here was a spot for religious 

 [worship, and also a place for the administration of justice ; 200 

 [or 300 yards from the fosse there seems to have been a small 

 [Boman camp. 



Lansdown presents not one fortification, but several. The 



