A HISTORY OF DEVONSHIRE 



The Mount 

 Sire of Keep 





,^ 



SCALE or rCET 

 100 too 



300 



I 



^Bampton 



Bampton Castle. 



The mount, with an escarpment 



of 40 ft., is slightly hollowed at the 



top, having a breastwork 2 ft. in 



height. This occupies a position on 



the south-west of the site of the base- 

 court, which is of rectangular form / 



500 ft. by 400 ft., with its long axis ' 



north-west and south-east. The } 



bailey largely depended for its defen- V 



sive boundary on the natural height » 



of the hill ; but the artificial protec- * 



tion on the east is of great strength, 



at which point the natural scarp is 



50 ft., a broad fosse, and a counter- 

 scarp of 6 ft. is again strengthened by 



a natural escarpment of 30 ft. 



Entrance was probably gained at 



the south, where the remains of an 



inner work above an incurved scarp 



immediately beneath the command- 

 ing height of the mount indicates 



strategical engineering. The incom- 

 plete state of the courtyard defences, 



however, forbids further surmise. 



On this site a castle was erected 



in 1336 by one of the Cogan family. 



Bridestowe (O.S. Ixxxvii, 8). — Upon the verge of a bold spur of hills of great height, at the 



foot of which flows the River Lew, is one of the strongest fortifications on the west side of Dartmoor. 



Within the dense growth of Burley Wood, north of Woodhead and east of Foxcombe Wood, we 



find not only a mount 

 and bailey, but other 

 extensive works which 

 are marked as two 

 separate camps on the 

 Ordnance Survey. 

 These formed but one 

 camp originally, but it 

 is now difficult to trace 

 all the entrenchments. 

 On the margin' 

 of the height stands a 

 mount and ditch, with 

 a bailey on the north- 

 east, of crescent-shape, 

 defended by a fosse 

 which joins the circu- 

 lar fosse at its two 

 extremities. On the 

 opposite side — the 

 south-west — is a large 

 court of irregular oval 

 form, surrounded by 

 vallum and fosse ; but 

 the latter, on the 

 south-east, extends a- 

 round an almost quad- 

 rangular area, some- 

 what similar to that 

 which will be seen on 

 Milber Down. At 

 the southernmost 

 point the fosse again 

 branches forth, pro- 





SCALE OP re CT 



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Camp at Bridkstowb. 



616 



