POWERStOCK CHttRCH AND CASTLE. 139 



no doubt will be a most interesting one, ' On the Camps, Ancient 

 Trackways, British Villages, and Roman Roads.' Mr. Warne 

 visited your neighbourhood about seven years ago, accompanied 

 by a very experienced antiquarian. Perhaps it will prove 

 interesting to you if I here briefly state what I have learnt from 

 these gentlemen and from other sources respecting Powerstock 

 Castle. The earthworks which surround the hill (Castle Hill) 

 are believed to be Celtic ; that it was in fact a Celtic fort in all 

 probability much more ancient than the camp of the Durotriges 

 at Eggardon, which Hutchins and other antiquarians attribute 

 to the Romans. Within the Celtic fort at Powerstock in sub- 

 sequent ages a castle was built. Hutchins says there was a 

 tradition that Athelstan had a summer palace there. I am not 

 aware of there being any historical evidence to support this 

 tradition. In Plantagenet and probably in Norman times a castle 

 undoubtedly stood there. I have it on good authority that there 

 is in the British Museum an Itinerary of King John, a very rare 

 book, in which it is recorded that John visited the Castle four or 

 five times during his reign in order to enjoy his favourite sport in 

 the adjacent forest. On one of his visits he arrived at Bridport 

 on Saturday, spent Sunday in this town, and started for Power- 

 stock Castle on Monday morning. I have said that the Celtic 

 fort which surmounts the ruins of the Castle is probably much 

 older than the camp at Eggardon. If I am not trespassing too 

 much on your valuable time, I will venture to state briefly my 

 reasons. If you stand on the easternmost rampart at Eggardon, 

 about the middle of it, you will discover an ancient British 

 trackway coming across the Down from the east ; it is intersected 

 by the outer fosse, but may be traced within and through the 

 camp, and is covered also by the rampart at the western side. 

 This trackway, therefore, is older than the camp. I have, as I 

 believe, been able to follow the course of this trackway nearly to 

 Castle Mill, where all further traces have been no doubt long 

 since obliterated. A Celtic scholar informs me that the word 

 Nettle or Nettell, in Nettlecombe, means a toll or a place where 

 toll was taken, that is, in modern language, blackmail. From 



