A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



north side the contiguous ground is nearly on a level with the area inclosed 

 by the vallum : but on the east and west, where the trench is single but of 

 great depth, it declines rapidly. On the south, where are two fosses, the 

 ground immediately contiguous is nearly on a level with the entrenchment, 

 but soon gradually declines. Along this part of the camp is the course of 

 an ancient road. 



The general conclusions formed by Lipscomb from his examination of 

 the camp are that it is a work of Danish origin, 3 and that originally it was 

 constructed as a single vallum round the top of an eminence, advantage 

 having been taken of the irregularities of the ground. He saw traces of 

 only two entrances, but a subsequent writer 3 succeeded in finding definite 

 traces of four entrances. 



There is a good pond inside the area of the camp, which like West 

 Wycombe and Castle Thorpe incloses the church of the parish. 



DESBOROUGH CASTLE. This important earthwork, popularly called ' The 

 Roundabout,' lies on the top of a hill a little to the south-west of the road 

 which leads along the valley from High Wycombe to West Wycombe. 

 The camp must have been one of considerable strength in ancient times on 

 account of its important strategic situation and the arrangement of its 

 defences. 



Originally the top of the hill appears to have been occupied by a 

 pre-historic camp inclosing a considerable area of ground. Subsequently a 

 smaller camp, oval in outline, and consisting of an outer fosse and an inner 

 rampart of great height and strength, was thrown up. A writer on this 

 camp, Mr. R. S. Downs, of Wycombe (Rec. of Bucks, v, 249), regards the 

 older camp as outworks of the newer camp, in which, he remarks, there can 

 be little doubt that there was a building of considerable strength, as the 

 remains of old tiling, hewn stone, and masonry plainly indicate. 



Whilst felling trees which grew here about 1743 (he writes) portions of stone gothic work 

 were dug up resembling the jambs of a church window. Of the once-famous Desborough Castle, 

 nothing now remains but the name and the tradition that such a building once existed here. 



The earlier earthworks at Desborough Castle have become much modi- 

 fied since the period when they were thrown up. Flint implements have 

 been found upon the site. 



Numerous attempts have been made by different writers to show that 

 Desborough Castle is of Saxon or Danish origin, but these theories appear 

 to be merely speculations based on no solid or sufficient evidence. It is sig- 

 nificant, however, that Desborough Hundred derives its name from this castle. 

 Desborough * was also probably a place of popular meeting or folk-mote, 

 and from every point of view was a central and locally important place ; 

 but an inspection of its interesting earthworks is sufficient to suggest that its 

 importance began at a far earlier time than the Saxon or Danish periods. 



HEDGERLEY : BULSTRODE PARK. The chief feature about this camp is 

 its size, which is unusually large for Buckinghamshire. The entrenchments, 

 it will be noticed, are double on the north-east side, treble at one or two 

 points, and inclose an area of 2 1 acres of land. The breaks on the north- 



' Of this we can find no evidence. ' Rev. W. Hastings Kelke, Arch. Journ. xiv, 273. 



4 Rec. of Bucks, viii, 464. 



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