A HISTORY OF DEVONSHIRE 



viding a sunken road to the edge of the hill, the natural scarp of which is assisted by man's 

 handiwork for 500 ft. along the south of the camp. The entrance through the rampart 

 lies between the two branches of the fosse, but the path descending from this point is evidently 

 modern. 



BuCKERELL. — Buckerell Knap, with Bushy Knap, is supposed by Mr. Orlando Hutchinson ^ 

 to have been an outpost to Hembury Fort, near Honiton. Occupying the north-west extremity of 

 a lofty ridge is a circular mount about 200 ft. in diameter, rising with the natural scarp of the 

 height. The ridge extends to the south-east, and on this side the mount is protected by three great 

 ditches, cut in crescent form across the whole width of the ridge, the ends of them being supported 

 by the steep declivity. These enclose two small base-courts, and the two inner ditches have each a 

 bank on the edge of the counterscarp. 



From the outer fosse the plateau on the top of the ridge gradually descends towards the south- 

 eastern extremity, known as ' Bushy Knap,' where another mound of smaller dimensions occupies 

 the point. 



BucKFASTLEiGH (O.S. cxiv, 2). — Hembury Castle, on the brow of Hembury Hill, which is the 

 southern spur of the same range as that on which Chase Castle is situated, has been described as 

 an irregular oblong, but its plan is that understood as kidney-shape. It lies 2 miles north-west of 

 Buckfastleigh, on ground gradually sloping to the south, on the west side of the River Dart, where the 

 natural escarpment greatly conduced to its strength. 



The mount locally called ' Dane's Castle,' at the western side of the camp, is some 44 ft. in 

 diameter, and 28 ft. at its greatest height, with a hollow centre 12 ft. in depth. An entrance to 

 the centre on the south-east is probably worn by the feet of latter-day campers, who have left ample 

 evidence of their picnics. A fosse encircles the base of the mount, and beyond it are the broken 

 bounds of the first court. In Polwhele's time he tells us that five or six passages led to the praetorium 

 — or mount — from different parts of the camp, but that the fosses had been destroyed and could not 

 be traced ; it can therefore be understood how far more difiicult it is at the present time. The 

 outer court, enclosing more than 7 acres, is protected on its most assailable side by a fosse 20 ft. deep 

 and a heavy agger. Possibly the mount with its base-court is later than the great enclosure which 

 encompasses it. 



A bronze celt and sling stones have been found within this stronghold, and many flint implements 

 were discovered in an adjoining field. 



Exeter. — The earthworks of Rougemont, the celebrated castle of Exeter, though not strictly 

 of the mount and court type, are kindred thereto, the essential feature being a high knoll, scarped and 

 banked. Clark describes the work thus : — 



The sides of the knoll have been scarped, and at the foot of its upper part a deep and broad ditch 

 has been excavated, beyond which, to the north, a second scarp descends to the bottom of the valley. 

 Towards the south, where the ground allowed of and required it, there was a second and outer ditch. 

 The contents of the inner ditch were carried upwards and inwards to form a high bank round the 

 original summit of the knoll. . . . The main ditch towards the north-east and north-west has been filled 

 up and converted into a broad public walk and garden, but the outer or second scarp still remains, and 

 descends to the valley side occupied by the L. and S.W. Railway. Towards the south-east and south 

 the ditch remains unaltered. . . . Towards the east it seems to have been filled up.' 



We need not here refer to the Norman gatehouse, the bastions, or the masonry erection 

 against the upper bank. 



Highweek (cix, 2). — Castle Dyke, 1 1 miles north-west of Newton Abbot, is the remnant of 



a mount and bailey fort, on the summit of a hill known as Castle Field. It is the smallest of this 



class in the county. The top of the mount is surrounded by a rampart, and 



. the entrance to it is on the south-west. The entrance to the bailey was 



^'' ' ^}.!f/^ originally on the north, but half the outer rampart has perished, as according to 



^ '*Vi\^ * P^^'* '" ^^^ ^rcZitffff/ij^/a, xix, 313, the bailey surrounded the mount. 



5 LoDDiswELL (O.S. cxxvi, 14). — ' The Rings,' Black Down Camp, is a 



■^_, ^v strong and extensive fortification on Black Down, nearly 650 ft. above the 



'''/ftnl^^ sea at its highest part, 2 J miles north of Kingsbridge. This earthwork consists 



Castlk Dyke, of a mount and two baileys. 



Highweek. The mount, with an interior hollow, is surrounded by a fosse crossed by 



a shallow earthen causeway, giving access to the inner bailey, enclosing about 



one acre. The latter is defended by a rampart with an escarpment 14 ft. high perpendicular 



measurement, and a broad fosse which joins the ditch of the citadel ; two outlets, equidistant 



from the centre, give egress to the outer court. The outer bailey, containing i o acres, assumes an 



irregular elliptical form, and is surrounded by a very strong agger rising in places 16 ft. from the 



' Jni. Assoc. Joum. xviii, 62. ' Clark, Mediaeval Mifitary Architecture (1884). 



618 



