ANCIENT EARTH- WORKS. 109 



origin the popular beliefs are that " battles had been fought on 

 their sites," or that "the walls had been thrown over, and that 

 the Castle had sunk down out of sight in the middle." But the 

 Board Schools are teaching the people not to heed such idle tales, 

 with the result, I am sorry to find, that even the sites of the 

 parish "rounds" are now often unknown to cottagers who live 

 close to them. Masons and roadmakers are allowed to quarry 

 under their old ramparts for stone and no newspaper thunders, or 

 judicial lightning flashes upon them. 



In my perambulations through north-eastern Cornwall in 

 search of these old " Rings " I have seemed to live in a new land. 

 The Rings generally stand some distance from the modern highway 

 and are approached by old trackways which I had never 

 traversed before, and always lead to some hill slope commanding 

 magnificent views. Just as in these days we travel from a tiny 

 cluster of cottages to a spreading town, so these " Rounds," their 

 old-time predecessors, vary in size, those inland enclosing areas 

 of from one to fifteen acres, and those which are on the sea-cli:ffs 

 from 30 to 100 acres, and even more. Their age, therefore, 

 cannot be gauged by their dimensions, for social groups varied 

 then as now, but the larger may be assumed to be the later 

 examples from the implied magnitude of the population. 



With regard to their forms, some few have two rings of 

 ramparts and ditches, the inner one being of fairly regular 

 contour, and the outer irregular, but the majority have only one 

 rampart and ditch. Some are oval, others circular, and others 

 square with rounded corners. Their entrances generally face 

 towards the north-east or south-west. Many have two entrances, 

 one opposite the other, but most of them have only one, and 

 that one at the lowest point, so that the rain fall should drain off 

 freely from the spaces enclosed. The skill with which their sites 

 were selected and outworks planned so as to cover the most 

 vulnerable points of attack is truly remarkable. They always 

 stand on the slopes or summits of hills which either overlook the 

 landward ends of deep coombs near trading spots along the 

 coast, or some inland river ford and valley. Projecting sea 

 cliffs were also used as safe places for encampments, for there are 

 many such promontories in Cornwall with ramparts stretching 

 across from cliff to cliff, and a ditch outside them on the land 



