ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



The camp is kite-shaped with 

 the point towards the south, and 

 broad top running north-west, 

 somewhat similar to Hembury Fort. 

 The two sides and the point follow 

 the formation of the hill, which 

 declines precipitously, but the broad 

 end cuts across the ridge where the 

 ground slopes at a more moderate 

 angle, and the lack of natural pro- 

 tection is compensated by artificial 

 works. The area, 800 ft. long 

 and 370 ft. wide at the broad end, 

 is surrounded by a double vallum 

 and single fosse, except on the north- 

 west, where there is a double fosse. 

 The inner vallum, 6 ft. at its 

 highest point from the interior, has 

 on its north-west side an escarp- 

 ment of 14 ft. perpendicular mea- 

 surement, a fosse 2 ft. deep, and a 

 platform defended by an outer 

 rampart 4 ft. high, an escarpment 

 14 ft., and a fosse 5 ft. 6 in. deep. 

 Around the other portions of the 

 inner vallurti is a narrow platform 

 divided into two terraces ; the lower 

 one only has the imperfect remains 

 of an outer rampart on the edge of 

 the natural descent, which rises to 

 6 ft. in height at the southern point. 

 At the entrance on the east, 

 about 120 ft. from the northern 



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Membury Castle. 



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DuMPTON Great Camp, Luppitt. 



angle, the inner and outer ramparts on the north 

 merge into one. Here the inner ramparts inflect, 

 and are carried nearly 100 ft. into the body of the 

 camp, forming a passage in which an intruding foe 

 would be exposed to a crossfire. Beneath the entrance 

 is a crescent-shaped defence, and yet lower another, be- 

 fore which are the remains of a well-defended entrance. 



A mound, very like a tumulus, almost in the 

 centre of the camp where the contour is marked, is 

 said to have been thrown up by the Ordnance sur- 

 veyors to obtain a level for their instruments, though 

 no irregularities are around to show where they 

 obtained the earth. 



Membury (O.S. Ix, 9). — Membury Castle, 

 3 miles north of Axminster, one of the border 

 fortresses of the Dumnonii, is of irregular oval form, 

 surrounded by a single vallum enclosing between 

 2 and 3 acres. The rampart surrounding the crown 

 of the hill varies in height, averaging 4 ft. from the 

 inside except on the east side, where it rises but 1 ft., 

 and that height is partially gained by the earth 



583 



