THE HILL-FORTRESS CALLED EGGARDUN. 31 



enters the second or inner wall 250 feet farther to the south, 

 involving a separation of the ditches to the extent of more than 

 100 feet. That no additional interior work was thrown up here, 

 as in the other case, may have been due to the fact that this 

 westerly approach had to climb the steeps of the spur, which, as 

 Hutchins says, " with great difficulty a man can get up ;" 

 whereas that from the east ran over the open down. 



A remarkable feature of the fortification remains to be con- 

 sidered. A hundred and fifty feet beyond the two western 

 ditches and their walls, is a trench which traverses the pro- 

 montory from side to side. It is Warne's "advanced fosse." 

 It has a wall on each margin, and that which is nearer the 

 camp is much higher and evidently less ancient than the other. 

 This entrenchment is so far away from the main defences 

 of the camp that it could have added little to their strength, 

 and against an agile foe might have proved even a source of 

 danger. 



On the other hand it is common to find the area of a spur 

 fortified on its plateau side by a traversing trench and wall. 

 The promontory of Cerne Hill may be cited as an example. 

 In many particulars it much resembles the promontory of 

 Eggardun. It emerges from an eastern plain and projects 

 boldly into a western valley. It is occupied by pit-dwellings 

 and barrows. It is traversed from side to side by two walled 

 trenches that serve to isolate the spur from the heights that 

 spread behind. These two works on Cerne Hill are not of the 

 same age. The older is the nearer to the point of the spur 

 from which it is only 700 feet distant ; and it isolates a present 

 area of about six acres. At a later time, for a larger popula- 

 tion, the other cross-trench and wall were constructed, eleven 

 hundred feet farther back, which isolates a much larger area. 

 The reason why no fortification can now be traced round the 

 edges of the spur is sufficiently obvious. Promontories that 

 are narrow and steep are being perpetually diminished by sub- 

 aerial denudation, by wash and slip. The edges of the ancient 

 slopes and all that was on them are vanished. The transverse 



