2J uiNCIENT FORTIFICATIONS In 



afcertain the sra in which thofe fortifications were conflrudled, 

 fome ufeful light might be thrown upon the ancient hiftory of 

 this country, and the condition of fociety in thofe remote pe- 

 riods. This I fhall now attempt ; and, in the courfe of a fhort 

 difqulfition upon that fubjed, fliall have occafion to mark the 

 progrefs of architedlure in Britain, from its firft introduction 

 into the fouthern parts, till it had attained to confiderable per- 

 fedlion, and the knowledge of the art of building had extended 

 itielf, in fome degree, to the reraoteft quarters of the illand. 



At the time when thofe fortifications were reared, it is evi- 

 dent that the ufe of mortar was unknown. As it mud be fup- 

 pofed that the builders exerted the utmoft of their archite(5lural 

 flcill (fo far as ftrength was concerned) in fabricating thofe 

 ftrudures, we cannot doubt, that, as the country abounded in 

 lime-flone, had its ufe been known as a cement, it muft have 

 been employed in fuch works. This brings them at once up 

 to a period of time prior to the Roman eftablifhments in the 

 northern parts of Britain. The Romans employed mortar in 

 all their buildings, of which many remains are at prefent exifl- 

 ing in thofe parts of the ifland where they are known to have 

 formed fettlements. They taught the Britons the ufe of that 

 cement, of which, till then, they were ignorant. 



At the time of Cesar's invafion of Britain, the inhabi- 

 tants of the fouthern, and probably the mod civilized part 

 of the ifland, lived in huts conftruded with turf, or with the 

 branches of trees. Their towns or villages were nothing 

 more than an inclofed part of a wood, furrounded by a ditch 

 and rampart, within the circle of which they reared their 

 huts. " Oppidum vocant Britanni cum fylvas impeditas val- 

 " lo atque foffa munierunt." C^s. de Bell. Gal. lib. 5. cap. 21. 

 Thefe inclofures or towns were but a temporary refidence, and 

 probably reforted to, only when it was neceflary to defend 



themfelves 



