ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 





.>'5 



••o 



ii 



/=»/a n fa tion ^^^% ^^Z- 



N. 





A curved line of rampart about 250 ft. in length has an escarpment of 20 ft. perpendicular 



measurement, at the most perfect part and averages 35 ft. in width at the base. The slope of this 



agger almost coincides with the angle of 

 w^fc^ the hill as it rises from the valley. The 



^tr;>" - fosse outside is filled nearly to the level ; 

 •^'~' »!•-"' and beyond it is a plateau about 40 ft. 

 wide. A succession of aggers at the 

 northern extremity indicates a strongly de- 

 fended entrance near this point. Mr. Hut- 

 chinson suggests^ that an entrance was 

 gained from a road which has now perished. 

 He draws attention to traces of an ancient 

 road from Sidbury to High Peak, passing 

 by Beacon Hill, Bulverton Hill, and Peak 

 Hill, and lost on the edge of the cliiF; 

 but on the other side of the gap, at the 

 foot of the cone of High Peak, it is again 

 in evidence, following a westerly course 

 to Otterton and Woodbury Hill Camp. 



The irresistible sapping of the waves 

 has destroyed much of this camp, but 

 when it was constructed the clifF probably 

 extended to the now detached rocks at 

 sea. 



This destruction has revealed certain 

 details of the dwellers here, for in 1862, 

 at the north end of the great agger, about 

 3 ft. down the face of the clifF, a deposit 

 of charcoal was exposed to view ; the 

 charcoal was of oak and fir, and the deposit 

 extended for about 50 ft. Sling stones 

 and pounders were found ; fragments of 

 pottery, coloured bufF, dull red, and brown, 



unglazed and decorated with incised lines ; and pieces of haematite, the dust of which, mixed 



with grease, is supposed to have provided the natives with war-paint for their bodies. 



The disintegration of the cliff carried various relics of those early times down to the beach, 



where many coins have been found at various times, among them a Constantine, a Claudius, 



and a Bactrian coin ; while in 1 840, a bronze Roman centaur was picked up near the mouth 



of the Sid.2 



Parkham (O.S. xviii, 14). — On the edge of the cliff washed by the waters of Bideford Bay, 



facing due north, some 4 miles east of Clovelly, is an irregularly formed camp approaching an oblong. 

 An agger rising 3 ft. from the interior with an escarpment 8 ft., perpendicular measurement, 



defends the short eastern side and a portion 



of the south ; the entrance on the east 



is a modern piercing. About the middle 



of the south side the breastwork is lost, 



but the ground declining towards the 



west, the camp assumes a commanding 



height of 23 ft. at the south-west. 



The entrance is of a complicated 



character : a sunken path commences at 



C, between an outwork on the left and 



a circular chamber on the right, and wind- 

 ing round the south-western height enters 



the camp on the west, where the path 



gradually rises between two banks for a 



distance of 60 ft. to the interior camp 



level. The outwork on the left of the 



path beginning at C broadens into a 



platform, with an outer vallum on the edge of the natural declivity, and another agger at right 



angles widens into a strong defence outside the entrance. 



SCALE or fEET 

 100 loo 



1 ' 



High Peak, Otterton. 



^:^\\' lit! V \ '. ' ' 'c i)\nyr\ } .•;;t>' » " N." ' 





Ulll 



^)!>ii,v,, 



10)' 



( i.Ui ' r 



n 

 |« 



SCALE OF FttT ^ 



300 at 



100 



eoo 

 I 





f\ 



Camp 



Parkham. 



' Gent. Mag. Feb. 1 849. 



Engraved in the Gentleman's Magazine, June, 1843. 



