ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



J^^^!^. 



The most easy approach is on the south, and on that side, about 900 ft. in advance of the 

 camp, a long curved rampart and fosse runs from one steep natural escarpment on the south-east to 

 another on the north-west. In front of the southern entrance it is a bold strong outwork, also 

 pierced by a gateway ; this extends for about 600 ft., and within this point is a right-angular 

 defence. As it proceeds towards the east the declivity lessens and the ditch is lost. 



Clovelly (O.S. xvii, 16). — Clovelly Dykes, Clovelly Dickens, or Dickenhills, was pronounced 

 by Camden to be the largest Roman camp in the county. Whether it originated with that people 

 or not, it certainly is of great size, embracing over 20 acres, although the area of the camp on Milber 

 Down surpasses it. 



This immense series of entrenchments is situated on high ground 2 miles south of Clovelly 

 at the junction of the road from the fishing village with that between Bideford and Hartland. 

 The innermost entrenchment is an irregular oblong, tapering towards the south, with its axis 

 360 ft. and 300 ft. respectively ; surrounded by a vallum 6 ft. in height from the interior, but 8 ft. on 

 the exterior, except at the north-west corner O where it is 1 1 ft. high. Around it is a flat court 

 averaging no ft. in width. The second entrenchment — losing its rectangular form — consists 

 generally of a vallum and fosse, the former varying in height from fifteen to twenty-three feet, perpen- 

 dicular measurement, from the base of the latter. At the north-west corner this vallum widens 

 into a broad platform ; but the fosse, very wide at this point, with a bank on the edge of the 

 counterscarp, is gradually lost, and 

 ceases altogether around the southern 

 course. The area outside this second 

 vallum is entered by a sunk road at 

 the north-west and by a narrow neck 

 on the east ; but at the south-west 

 it widens into a well-protected court, 

 and in the extreme angle N is a 

 recess in the outermost agger which 

 rises 10 ft. from the interior. 



The third or middle rampart 

 on the west side (G — H) has a dry 

 wall of stone on its outer face, with 

 a depth of 8 ft. into another court 

 of a lower level ; this, however, ex- 

 tends only along the west side, and 

 at the northern termination it has the 

 protection of a ditch. The fourth 

 line of defence is a rampart 4 ft. high 

 from the interior, falling 7 ft. on the 

 exterior ; this has extended round 

 the north and east, but a portion of 

 the north side has largely perished, 

 while the road to Clovelly has severed 

 the eastern portion from the body of 



the fort. The fifth or outermost defence on the west consists of a vallum 9 ft. high, with an 

 interior breastwork of 3 ft., and a wide fosse strengthened by a low bank on the height of its 

 counterscarp ; this continues round the south, and originally joined the severed portion on the east. 

 On the north, where there was an entrance to the outer court, it is strengthened by two additional 

 ramparts before merging in the single vallum of the fourth defence, an arrangement which transforms 

 the interior oblong into an external round-angled triangle. 



The extreme eastern defences of crescent form comprise a double vallum and fosse with the inner 

 rampart from fifteen to twenty feet high and wide. 



It will be seen that the north-west corners of the successive ramparts are of additional strength, 

 and there lies the main entrance ; another probable entrance is through the heavy agger on the 

 south at point S, where the works incurve. A study of the entries from one court to another is 

 interesting and exhibits great strategical foresight. A comparison of the various levels also demon- 

 strates the gradual rise to the central camp. 



Various conjectures have assigned these works respectively to the Britons, Romans, and Saxons. 

 Doubtless the expanse of the enclosures provided ample accommodation to those herds of cattle 

 which both Caesar and Strabo tell us the Britons collected within their fortifications. 



CoFFiNSWELL (O.S. cx, 1 3 and cxvi, i). — Milber Down Camp lies partly in the parish of 

 Cofiinswell and partly in Haccombe with Combe. This important camp is situated on the highest 

 part of Milber Down, on the declivity of the hill sloping in a westerly direction, 2 miles south-east 

 of Newton Abbot. 



I 593 75 



p. wi*ii<t5 r*"\ 



Clovelly Dykes. 



