Mr. Tate on Yeoering Bell, &c. 435 



hill which is conical, and spreading out at the base like a 

 hell ; and this name seems to be of modern origin. Other 

 hills in the neighbourhood have the same designation, as 

 Hebron Bell and Heathpool Bell, neither of which affords 

 any trace of a Druidical temple. Of the old name Ad-gefrin, 

 I can offer no probable explanation.* 



To help to cleai up the mystery of Yevering Bell, the great 

 wall was examined by excavations in three places, the gate- 

 ways were cut into, the inner Fortlet and ditch were explored, 

 and several of the scattered circles were opened out. 



Walls. The stones which formed the great wall are now 

 spread over a width of more than 20 feet, but the excavations 

 shewed that it originally was from 10 to 12 feet in breadth. 

 It had been built of porphyry blocks, without lime, as in 

 other ancient British walls ; but the structure was much ruder 

 than that of the Greaves Ash Oppidum. Large blocks were 

 used for the foundation, esj)ecially in its outer face, and 

 smaller stones were piled upward, not perpendicularly, but 

 with a slope on both sides, so as to form a pyramidal wall. 

 As the ground generally rises towards the interior of the 

 Fort, the wall is for a few feet built against the hill-side. 

 A " dry stone wall " of a similar kind of the present period, 

 3 feet broad at the base, and 15 inches at the top, and 5 feet 

 high, forms a good boundary fence ; we may therefore 

 infer, that the great wall around Yevering, notwithstanding 

 its rude structure, would present to the enemy a massive de- 

 fence not less than 7 or 8 feet in height. 



While looking over the wild and singular scene on the top 

 of the hill, a frame of mind is generated with a tendency to 

 exaggerate ; and hence astonishment has been expressed at 

 the quantity of stones " borne by human hands to erect this 

 wall;" but there is really nothing wonderful in this; for be- 

 fore the wall-builders began their work, the summit and 

 sides of the hill would be covered by stones, quarried by na- 

 ture and adapted for the purpose ; because the porphyry rock 

 is naturally fissured and jointed, and wherever a cliff is ex- 

 posed small blocks tumble down and accumulate in vast 

 numbers. 



Gateways. There are four gateways or entrances ; one on 

 the west ; another 9 feet wide on the east ; a third on the 

 northj also 9 feet wide, leading down to an oak forest, which 



* " In Celtic cyfrin signifies secret, and the name Yevering appears to have 

 heen substituted Irom its resemblance to the old uoid." Sir Gardner Wilkinson, 

 British remains atDi.rtmoor, p. 11,^ 



