14 TArERSj ETC. 



at the Burnt IIousc turnpikc-gatc, whcre it also cuts the 

 antient fosse road. Here it is tliat for a space it has bcen 

 levellcd and reduced to the size of an ordinary hedge 

 bank. The work has however happily stopped aftcr a 

 field's length, and the provident farmer of old or modern 

 thnes, (for I know not to what period to assign the dcmo- 

 lition) found better cmployment for bis labourers. The 

 portion betwixt the Cross Keys to within a ficld of the 

 Burnt IIousc turnpike-gate, is very clearly marked by a 

 wall running on the top of it. Very distinct traces of it 

 exist in the valley beforc you enter Breach wood, on the 

 way to English Combe, at which latter place it is to bc 

 seen to the greatest advantage in Somersetshire, and it 

 appears in its pristine condition in a ficld or two just 

 beyond the church. It is ^isible again in some pasture 

 lands leading to Newton Farm, but in the pasture adjoin- 

 ing Newton Farm is lost. From hence it runs direct for 

 the Fortress of Stantonbury, and forms the North rampart 

 of that hill camp ; which is the second fortress on its course 

 through Somersetshire. 



Hence it may be traced without difficulty in its descent 

 to Compton Dando, and at its entrance into which village 

 it presents a bold and well-prcserved appearance. It is 

 much oblitcratcd in the district betwixt Compton Dando 

 and Macs Knoll, but may be recognised in its approach to 

 that eminence. As it ascends the side of it, the foss ap- 

 pears in a waggon road tili it reaches the summit, where 

 the dyke fonns, as elsewhere, the Northern boundary of 

 this the third camp in its course through Somersetshire. 



From this camp it cannot now be traced with any 

 degree of certainty, although Collinson in his History of 

 Somerset has poinced out its course until it terminates at 

 Portishead on the Severn Sea; and as he was vicar of 



