A HISTORY OF KENT 



^^j^, ^ L, 



£^ft?<ivF enrrance 



The northern arm (about 550 ft. in length) is a trifle better 

 preserved, but it is not evident how much further it extended towards 

 the west, as the scarping on that side (shown on plan) may be com- 

 paratively recent work, and the opening in the rampart on the north 

 (though it appears an original entrance) may have been made for farm 

 purposes. 



Perhaps this camp was never completed, and it may possibly be the 

 Saxon work (geweorc) which the Chronicle tells us was stormed in 

 A.D. 893 by the Danes, who found only a half-constructed [satnivorht) 

 fastness in which a few countrymen (cyrlisce men) were stationed. 



Keston : HoLWooD. — These entrenchments (about three miles 



south-east of Bromley) 

 stand upon undulating 

 ground 450 to 513 ft. 

 above sea-level. The 

 position is to a certain 

 extent naturally defended 

 on the west by a gully, 

 and beyond that by a 

 ridge some 1 5 to 20 ft. 

 high forming a natural 

 l\ rampart. On the north 



'\ there is a gentle slope 



H outside the earthworks, 



y, which command an ex- 

 W tensive view north-west. 

 V\ The entrenchments con- 

 ' .. sist of two fosses dug in 

 '• sandy clay and gravel, 

 ; with their ballast thrown 

 / inward to . form two 

 ramparts, a third ram- 

 part being formed on the 

 west by the counter-scarp 

 of the outer fosse. Be- 

 yond a rampart and fosse 

 on the north, there is no 

 trace of further entrenchments to form a complete enclosure, and Hol- 

 wood House with its garden no doubt destroyed the southern continua- 

 tion of the earthworks. Comparing the mode of entrenching with 

 other existing works of the same construction, such as Clare ' Camp ' in 

 Suffolk and Cholesbury in Bucks, the track of the east and south sides 

 should be as shown on the plan.' No doubt in the perfect condition of 

 the work the fosses were much deeper and the ramparts higher. 



This is not the place in which to enter fully into the arguments 



• The plate in Hasted's History of Kent is dated 1775, and thereon it is stated that the ' S.E. part 

 of the vallum has been lately grubbed and levelled.' 



398 



XS,\i%t 





HoLwooD Camp, Keston. 



