ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



I o ft. in depth, a fosse 8 ft. in width, and a counterscarp of 3 ft. About 200 ft. from its south- 

 western extremity is an entrance, and at a further distance of 300 ft. the vallum takes an inward 

 curve and widens for the protection of an entrance at this point. From the angle of the curve, at 

 the other side of the entrance, another vallum and fosse take a semicircular curve until they abut on 

 the edge of the cliff. Within this vallum are an agger and ditch 130 ft. long, and of great strength, 

 the agger being 16 ft. high from the bottom of the ditch. A portion of another mound outside 

 this extremity remains on the margin of the cliff. 



Hartland (O.S. xvii, 7). — Windbury Head. A second camp in Hartland parish is upon a 

 bold promontory, also known as Windbury Point, projecting northwards into the Bristol Channel. 

 The remains of the camp — which was certainly of larger proportions before the subsidence of the 

 land into the sea — consist of half an ellipse, the edge of the cliff now forming its longer axis. At 

 the west end is a fosse 40 ft. long and i o ft. wide, which evidently extended in former times to a 

 greater distance than at present. The remaining defence is an artificial table-land which rises to 

 9 ft. at its highest point ; but even that is almost levelled at its eastern extremity. 



' "y^/j' 







w 



SCALE OF FEET ""*■>$ « 

 o 100 loo SOO '*'J?^0'.» 







'''%^^ 







k-.. 



Earthwork at Ilfracombe. 



XV 



Ilfracombe (O.S. v, i). — To the east of Ilfracombe, on the verge of the cliff, are two terraces 

 formed on the inland slope ; each of them has an escarpment of 1 2 ft., with an intermediate berme or 

 platform 12 ft. wide, extending side by side for 550 ft., when the lower work, at its eastern 

 extremity, inclines to the south-east for a distance of nearly 200 ft., with a final curve inwards at 

 the entrance. A corresponding bank continuing at the other side of the entrance has a lower 

 escarpment with a yet lower berme, which is lost in the slope of the hill. The highest work, 800 ft. 

 long, returns to the edge of the cliff", and probably enclosed a wider area when the cliff was in a 

 more perfect state. At the eastern end of this is a large mound, and a pile of natural rock supplied 

 another mound defending the entrance. 



The berme at the western extremity, which abuts on a precipitous cliff, has a bank on its outer 

 edge for about 80 ft., and a similar bank in the middle of the uppermost work extends 150 ft. 



LuNDY Island. — Marisco Castle. Lundy Island is geographically included in the county of 

 Devon, although 12 miles distant from Hartland Point, the nearest mainland, and 15 miles from 

 Clovelly. 



At the southern end of the island are the ruins of Marisco Castle, naturally defended by lofty 

 and precipitous rocks, inaccessible except at a well-defended landing place on the eastern side. The 

 castle was strengthened by considerable earthworks ; on the north side a moat and portion of a 

 rampart remain, which cannot be ascribed to a date earlier than that of the thirteenth-century outlaw 

 by whose name it is known. 



I 577 73 



