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ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



INTRODUCTION 



The study of the earthworks of Great Britain has been a much neglected 

 branch of archaeology, and with few exceptions antiquaries have failed 

 to use the mass of material still left to us to increase our knowledge 

 of the defensive works thrown up by the early inhabitants of Britain to 

 withstand the raids of neighbours or the invasions of foreign foes. 



Thanks to the labours of a commission appointed by the Congress of 

 Archaeological Societies we are now enabled to pursue this investigation on 

 more systematic lines, and in considering the earthworks of Devonshire we 

 follow the classification adopted by the Congress and published in 1903. 



Class A. — Fortresses partly inaccessible, by reason of precipices, clifB, or water, additionally 

 defended by artificial works, usually known as promontory fortresses. 



Class B. — Fortresses on hill-tops with artificial defences, following the natural line of the hill ; 

 or, though usually on high ground, less dependent on natural slopes for protection. 



Class C. — Rectangular or other simple enclosures, including forts and towns of the Romano- 

 British period. 



Class D. — Forts consisting only of a mount with encircling ditch or fosse. 



Class E. — Fortified mounts, either artificial or partly natural, with traces of an attached court 

 or bailey, or of two or more such courts. 



Class F. — Homestead moats, such as abound in some lowland districts, consisting of simple 

 enclosures formed into artificial islands by water moats. 



Class G. — Enclosures, mostly rectangular, partaking of the form of F, but protected by stronger 

 defensive works, ramparted and fossed, and in some instances provided with outworks. 



Class H. — Ancient village sites protected by walls, ramparts, or fosses. 



Class X. — Defensive works which fall under none of these headings. 



Of Class A Devonshire has examples of a purely promontory type as on 

 Bolt Tail, and also of others constructed on the edges of cliffs which are not 

 exactly promontories, as may be seen at Berry Cliff, in Branscombe parish. 



Class B is represented by many excellent examples, and the words of 

 Tacitus describing a British position on a lofty hill the easier slopes of 

 which were fortified with ramparts of stone,^ coupled with those of Caesar, who 

 tells us that high ground was chosen by the Britons admirably fortified by 

 nature and art,* come forcibly home as we gaze on the stupendous ramparts 

 of Hembury, near Honiton, or nature's defences at Hawkesdown ; or note 

 the strategical skill displayed by the engineers of Dumpdon. When the 

 entrances of such strongholds were closed by felled trees,* these fortresses 

 may have been well-nigh impregnable. 



Those falling under the second division of this class are very numerous ; 

 in some are curiously complicated entrances, including pit-falls, as at Holne 

 Chase Castle ; in others we find successive defences enclosing large tracts of 

 land divided into various courts providing ample accommodation for cattle, &c. 



Class C includes camps which are square, such as Berry Castle in 

 Witheridge parish, and the almost obliterated Broadbury Castle at Beaworthy; 



' Annals, xii, 33. ^ De Bello Gallico, v, ix. » Ibid. 



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