A HISTORY OF DEVONSHIRE 



MoRETON Hampstead (O.S. xc, z). — Cranbrook Castle is in one of three great camps which 

 dominate the River Teign by Fingle Bridge, being if miles distant from Wooston and f mile 

 from Prestonbury, and about three miles north-west of Moreton Hampstead town. It is — broadly 



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Cranbrook Castle, Moreton Hampstead. 



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speaking — square in plan with rounded angles, 600 ft. by 550 ft., crowning an eminence 1,100 ft, 

 above the level of the sea. 



The approach from the south is not difficult, the eastern and western ascent is steeper, but the 



northern side is above a precipitous descent to 



//• ' Fingle Bridge. 



-:| Easy of assault on the south, that side is 



\ \ more strongly defined than the others ; here we 



Jl find a double vallum and a double fosse with 



// ^ an inner and outer berm, or platform, one on 



.-/ S either side of the fosse. The inner vallum, 



-.\ 9 ft. high and 21 ft. thick, was originally built 



with stone on the exterior to above half its 

 height ; outside this is a platform, then a fosse 

 1 1 ft. deep, an outer platform varying from six 

 to sixteen feet wide, another vallum, and lastly 

 a shallow fosse. 



The main entrance is at the south-west, 

 where the inner rampart slightly incurves and 

 broadens. To the south of it a causeway across 

 the entrenchments provides a narrow exit, and 

 to the north of the entrance the outer fosse and 

 vallum become shallow and almost give place 

 to a broad platform of no great height. On 

 the east side the same thing occurs ; the outer 

 vallum and fosse terminate at the bend and are 

 replaced by a wide platform. 



At either side of the south-east curve the 

 inner vallum is pierced by a path giving access 

 to the first platform. 



In the middle of the east side is another 

 entrance, at each side of which the entrench 

 ments bend inwards. On the north of this gateway the agger and fosse only continue 120 ft. 



The north side, we have seen, is the most difficult of access, and here there are no entrench- 

 ments, only a line of rubble, collected probably some 1,800 years since, to form the core of a 



598 



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Wooston Castle, Moreton Hampstead. 



