74 PAPERS, ETC. 
not very strong. That between the eastern enclosure and 
the keep appears to have been purposely made rough, 
and crossed with deep trenches, in order to render the 
approach to the rectangular fortification as difficult as 
possible. 
There is one feature of this very remarkable relic of 
antiquity to which Ihave not yet adverted; I mean those 
curious eircles of from twenty-eight to thirty feet in 
diameter, which Mr. Rutter mentions as existing in 
considerable numbers towards the western extremity of 
the fortification, and considers them difhicult to be ac- 
counted for. These, though no doubt many of them have 
been disturbed and nearly obliterated, by the planting of 
the area, may still be: seen as described by him, and are 
undoubtedly the foundations of the huts in which the 
primitive inhabitants of the place resided more than two 
thousand years ago. Wherever the site of a British town 
is ascertained, the area of which has escaped mutilation 
either from tillage or planting, these cireles are almost 
certain to be found. The most perfeet specimens of which 
l am aware, are those on Dartmoor, whose fastnesses 
offered little temptation to foreign invaders, while the un- 
productive nature of the soil has preserved them from the 
ravages of the plough and spade. These primitive habi- 
tations appear to have been constructed by forming a 
circular excavation of a few feet in depth, the sides of 
which were built up of loose stones, without mortar, and 
the floor was probably formed of earth or clay trodden 
hard. These walls appear to have been raised but a small 
height above the surface of the ground, most likely on 
account of the instability of dry walls, unless built of far 
more substantial proportions than these seem to have been. 
A frame-work of wood seems to have been raised on 
