EARLY MAN 



midst of marshes which were barely passable and were on the banks 

 of a tidal river. The tide was blocked out and the marshes only drained 

 within the last half-century. 



Bredon Hill, the next elevation to the east, was the great defensive 

 post in the south of the county, it commanded both the Severn and 

 Avon valleys and probably was more or less fortified from the earliest 

 times. The division of the counties of Worcester and Gloucester passes 

 across the hill, so it is not always easy to say which earthworks are in 

 which. They all however formed part of one defensive system. The 

 two most important are the camps of Conderton and Kemerton. 



(7) Conderton is an irregular oval entrenchment measuring 163 

 by 7 1 yards with a single rampart. The entrance is from the north-east. 

 This has been called a Danish camp — why it is not easy to say, except 

 that pirates usually called Danes came up the estuary on various occa- 

 sions. Some Roman coins are said to have been found in the neighbour- 

 hood. It is probable that this camp or fort is but a part of the series 

 of forts on this hill. 



(8) Kemerton is in Gloucestershire (fig. 5). It is an entrenchment 

 of a triangular shape well defended on the north and western sides by 

 the very steep escarpment of the hill. On the south and east the line of 

 entrenchment is double. Nash, writing at the end of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury, states that ' it was ploughed two or three years ago, and several iron 

 weapons found of so rude and bad workmanship as bespoke them rather 

 Danish or Saxon than Roman.' No description of these weapons exists. 

 A landslip occurred early in the nineteenth century, when a quantity of 

 wheat of a burnt appearance was found in this camp. These grains were 

 black or nearly so ; a slight pressure between the fingers reduced them to 

 powder. As the chasm caused by the landslip opened, it exposed a vein 

 of black earth about 4 or 5 inches thick immediately under the soil, 

 which in some places was not more than 6 inches deep, but varied to 1 8 

 inches or 2 feet. Quantities of perfect grains of wheat were found in it ; 

 there was no appearance of straw or ears of corn. 



In this camp is a remarkable mass of rock. It is formed of the 

 oolite of which the hill is composed, and has been made by excavating 

 all round the mass. It is near the side of the camp facing Malvern 

 and not far from the edge of the escarpment. It is locally called the 

 Bambury Stone. 



Bredon completes the list of camps in the district at present known. 

 A glance at the map will show that they form a defensive line on the 

 west and south of the county, while the east is entirely unprotected ; that 

 at the south-eastern corner there was a strong fort guarding both the Avon 

 and Severn, which was connected with the Malvern line by Eldersfield. 

 The absence of forts on the east and north, assuming that after careful 

 search none are found, would seem to indicate that it was not from those 

 quarters the dwellers in the county apprehended danger. It was down the 

 Avon valley the invaders came, and Bredon was fortified to close that line 

 of approach. This may seem to explain why it is no finds have been 



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