A HISTORY OF KENT 



bourhood is undulating, in many places reaching a greater height than 

 this hill. The entrenchments consist of a fosse with the ballast thrown 

 inward to form a rampart, of no great power at any point, constructed 



with little regard 

 to natural defences. 

 For instance, at 

 the section A-B 

 in the north-east, 

 where the land is 

 level, the barricade 

 is but a ditch and 

 rampart, perhaps 

 rather wider in base 

 and better defined 

 than the ditch and 

 rampart of the part 

 cut by the section 

 J-K, where the hill- 

 side forms a natural 

 protection, yet it is 

 but a single en- 

 trenchment where 

 we should expect to 

 find a much stronger 

 defence. The work 

 is in a very poor 

 state of preservation, 

 the north portion 

 generally being 

 under cultivation, 

 while the south part 

 of the enclosure, 

 together with the 

 sides of the hill, is 

 covered with tim- 

 ber and underwood, 

 and is exceedingly 

 difficult to examine. 

 As a stronghold it is 

 of no great strength, 

 but it is large, and 

 should be compared 

 Hamdon Hill, Somersetshire : 



Oldbury Camp, near Ightham 



with Borough Hill, Northamptonshire 

 and Nottingham Hill, Gloucestershire. 



The handiwork of neolithic man has been found in caves and on 

 slopes on the skirts of Oldbury. Hence some have claimed a like remote 

 age for the ' camp,' and, indeed, we have no proof to the contrary. 



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