TYPES OF ANCIENT BRITISH EARTHWORKS. 71 



the north- west, the interior of which is also flanked by 

 a double trench and rampart; and still higher up two 

 more ramparts and ditches occupy the face of the hill, 

 from one precipitous eide to the other. On the south side 

 of the beacon is a deep trench, dividing it from the main 

 fortress, and round the top of the beacon itself reniain 

 fragments of a mala of wall, which has been pronounced 

 by a high authority to be of Eoman construction. The 

 strongest part of the fortress is situated imniediately to 

 the south of the trench, and is defended on the west by 

 the main rampart of the place, which is here carried along 

 the very brink of the precipice, and is divided from what I 

 may be permitted to call the inner bailey by a deep trench 

 and agger, through which, from the north-east rampart, is 

 the approach to one of the smaller entrances ; and one of 

 the original gates, probably the main entrance, may, in 

 spite of modern mutilations, be traced at the north-west 

 corner of the smaller enclosure. From this gate the ex- 

 terior fortifications, consisting of two very deep trenches 

 with aggers of corresponding magnitude, extend to a con- 

 siderable distance towards the south-east, and, turning 

 with an easy curve to the east, the external rampart of the 

 two finishes near the approach to the modern cottage 

 from the south-east, while the interior is continued quite 

 up to the steep descent of the hill on the north-east. The 

 external defence of the place, consisting, like the internal 

 work, of a very deep ditch and lofty bank, beginning at 

 the precipitous side of the hill on the east, extends towards 

 the south-east in a direction nearly parallel to the two 

 interior lines, forming on this side a third line of defence of 

 very great strength, and extending considerably beyond 

 the exterior lines, encloses an area of several acres, and was 

 probably intended for the reeeption of cattle. There can, 



VOL. VIII., 1858, PART II. 7C 



