CASTLE NEROCHE. 47 
may be supposed to have been silos, or subterranean 
granaries. 
But perhaps the most remarkable discovery which has 
been made in connection with the fortress of Neroche, 
remains to be mentioned. The name of the parish in which 
this eurious entrenchment is situated is Staple Fitzpayne, 
the first part of which a local antiquary of great research 
derived from the Latin Stabula, and considered it to indicate 
the vieinity of a Roman cavalry station. And in confir- 
mation of this opinion, the workmen engaged in draining 
a field at about the distance of a quarter of a mile, discovered 
an immense heap of einders and scori®, such as might be 
expected near a very large forge, and among them a 
considerable number of horse shoes, evidently of very 
ancient date. One ofthem, being shewn to a groom of great 
experience, was pronounced by him to be a shoe of excellent 
construction, and to have the plate sloped away, so as to 
protect the sole of the foot from pressure, which is generally 
supposed to be an improvement of modern veterinary 
science. So true it is, that there is nothing new under the 
sun. 
I have now only to draw attention to the deep indenta- 
tions on the side of the beacon. These are modern 
ravages, and their true history is as follows : About a 
hundred years ago, a number of laboring men, urged on by 
the love of filthy lucere, and not having the fear of Arch»- 
logical societies before their eyes—not induced thereto by 
any hope of increasing their antiquarian and historical 
knowledge, but simply that they might obtain money— 
with sacrilegious spade and pick-axe, violated the sanctity 
of this mysterious hill. But before they had found a 
single coin they were seized with a panic fear, renounced 
