73 
IX.—Upton Casile—From 8. R. Pattison, F.G.S. 
WINTER Morning’s walk enables me to give a slight account 
of a ruin, of which, I can find no mention in the few works 
to which I can conveniently now refer. 
The Farm of Upton, in the parish of Lewannick, belonging to 
F. H. Rodd, Esq., extends from the Bodmin road near the Lodge, 
to the river Lynher which divides Lewannick from Alternun at 
the foot of the moors. The valley of the Lynher is here densely 
wooded. On a knoll in a flat bend of the stream, in the midst of 
the wood, stand the ruins to which I desire to call the notice of 
some person possessed of more leisure than falls to my lot. The 
knoll is a natural boss of rock, scarped and filled so as to be free 
on all sides. On its summit is an oblong inclosure surrounded by 
a wall of stones evenly laid (7.¢. with evident facings on both 
sides), but without any mortar. Around this is a shallow ditch 
and a distinct formidable walled parapet on the edge of the 
mound. Between the walls of the inner and outer enclosures 
there are, on one side, the remains of chambers; and on the side 
of the dyke nearest the flat portion of the valley, there are the 
remains of a gateway and covered way. ‘There are also traces of 
foundations, and made ground, in the little plain below. The 
aspect of the whole is that of a small keep without any outer 
defences or inclosure. If there were an outer court I failed to 
detect any remains of it. I could not perceive amidst the tangled 
underwood and under the grey lichens any cut stone, or any door 
or window places. 
The position is commanded from all sides and therefore cannot 
have been a military post. It is just such a defence as might 
have been erected to protect the possessions of a group of villagers 
in huts; or an establishment for smelting. The vicinity of tin 
streams on the river above, and the abundance of wood, may 
guide in searching for the traces of smelting operations here. I 
have recently seen, in the mountains between the Spanish pro- 
vince of Huelva and Portugal, the marks of small earthworks, 
