EARTHWORK9 NEAIt BRUTON. 59 



outer defences, opens into the moat, between the inner 

 ao-o-er and the one next to it; the path over the inner 

 agger being steep and narrow, and probably strongly forti- 

 fied. This opening of the road into the moat, 5s a feature 

 very commonly to be observed in British fortifications, and 

 seems to have been intended to lead an attacking force to 

 points where they might be overwhelmed from above, and 

 forced down the steep side of the hili by a charge of the 

 troops who occupied the higher ground. This seems to 

 have been the case in this instance, as in many places the 

 top of the second agger is not raised above the level of the 

 moat, through which the road led. At the South West 

 angle is the main entrance, which leads through all the 

 entrenchments, up to the area of the place. There are 

 here evident vestiges of flanking works ; and I think the 

 whole descent was commanded by platforms for slingers. 

 There also appears to have been a smaller opening on the 

 North side, leading through the entrenchments to the 

 spring which supplied the place with water, and is situ- 

 ated low down among the fortifications of that side ; but 

 the entrenchment on the North has been so tampered 

 with by modern fences, that I cannot speak positively 

 about it. At the highest point of the ground within the 

 fortifications, there are still vestiges of what may have 

 been the foundations of an interior fortification. 



It certainly seems extraordinary that the learned Cam- 

 den should have mistaken such a work as I have described 

 for one of Roman construction, and still more so that he 

 should have been led to this conclusion by so fallacious a 

 guide as the presence of Roman coins, which would cer- 

 tainly be no proof that it was not of Romano-ßritish con- 

 struction, Roman money having been in circulation in 

 these Islands long after the departure of the Romans 



