ENCLOSURES AT SMALLACOIVIBE. 13 



walling, apparently designed to enclose places of habitation, that 

 I have yet seen in Cornwall, exists at Smallacombe, near the 

 Cheesewring, in the parish of Linkinhorne. 



In the month of August last, I spent a day in examining these 

 remains, to attempt a description of which has been my object in 

 writing this paper. 



The locality abounds in primeval antiquities ; and the Cheese- 

 wring Carn itself is the site of an early fortification, of which the 

 ruined walls may yet be traced. On the west side of the Cheese- 

 wring a valley, extending northward, leads away into the moors 

 of Altarnun and Northill. A small stream, a mere rivulet, finds 

 its way along this hollow ; and there are numerous evidences of 

 its course having been worked for tin — probably at periods far 

 apart. On the west side of this rivulet, and about two miles from 

 the Cheesewring, at the base of a hill and extending some way up 

 its slope, are the remains of early habitations on the spot known 

 by the name Smallacombe. 



The enclosed spaces mostly approach to a rectangular form ; 

 but a greater squareness is given to many of the angles by the 

 erection, in more modern times, of structures on and adjoining 

 the old works. This fact is at once apparent ; and any one, even 

 with but slight acquaintance with primeval structures, would see 

 at a glance that there are here the remains of buildings of two 

 diff'erent periods. In later times advantage had been taken of 

 the ancient massive walls as excellent foundations on which to 

 raise buildings for some purpose not easy to explain, though pos- 

 sibly as places of abode. 



The spot is approached on the south, for the length of about 

 50 yards, by a well paved, or rather flagged, roadway, leading to 

 what appears to have been the principal entrance (a in the plan), 

 which is 6 feet wide, and carried through a wall 12 feet thick. 

 This opens into a space (b) about 20 feet square, protected on the 

 east by a wall now 5 feet high and 1 2 feet wide ; on the north 

 end occur the modern additions * in the form of a chamber (c), 9 

 feet by 27 feet internally, with walls 2 feet thick, of dry masonry, 

 consisting of small stones built with much care and with some at- 



* The black lines in the Plan mark the modern additions to the old 

 work. 



C 



