302 Mr. Tate on the Celtic Town at Greaces Ash. 



the hill from the gateway of the Western Fort to the Breamish ; 

 but it is not traceable on the other side of the river. It has 

 the character of an ancient British road, being hollow to the 

 depth of two or three feet, and defended on both sides by a 

 mound of earth and stones. From the west side of the Fort 

 another road — Plate 4, F — goes westward towards liinhope 

 burn, and is protected by a stone wall, which is coeval with 

 the outer rampart, being built through it. A trackway, but 

 indistinctly traceable, leads from the north-eastern gateway 

 to the other forts ; and another starts from the hollow way, E, 

 and, after passing the Eastern Fort, skirts the base of the hill 

 in front of the Upper Fort. Throughout the whole of its 

 course, this trackway is defended on the south by a strong 

 rampart — Plate 4, G. 



Though the three forts are somewhat detached, they never- 

 theless form one assemblage of dwellings and fortifications ; 

 for not only do the general arrangements connect them 

 together, but a sameness of structure marks the whole. They 

 constitute, indeed, a primeval fortified town — one of the 

 ancient British Oppida — differing, it is true, from our modern 

 notions of a town ; for here there are no rows of rectangular 

 houses, with windows and chimneys, no straight streets and 

 lanes ; the dwellings are simple circular huts, placed singly, 

 without order, but sometimes in groups, — the passages be- 

 tween are indistinct trackways ; but the rude defences are of 

 a massive strength capable of defying the assaults of the 

 elements as well as of enemies. Obviously, therefore, this 

 town was not raised hastily for a temporary purpose ; it has 

 been erected by great labour and no little art, and designed 

 as a permanent place of residence which might last for ages. 

 The huts are now roofless, the fires of the hearths quenched 

 for ever, the fortifications levelled; yet these ruins have out- 

 lasted the erections of more civilized times, and they still 

 lemain to tell us something of the busy population who 

 hunted, tended flocks, tilled the ground, and quarrelled and 

 fought, at a very distant period, in the valley of the Breamish. 



On looking at the position of the town in relation to the 

 adjoining hill, we cannot but be struck with its insecurity 

 from an attack on the north, for in that direction it is com- 

 manded by Greenshaw hill; and this is especially the case 

 with the citadel or Upper Fort, since the hill rises from it 

 very steeply, and so completely overlooks it, that there seems 



