A Medicevcd Earthwork near Morgan's Hill. 591 



here seen in its finest proportions, and a little to the west towards 

 Morgan's Hill is the spot where General Pitt-Rivers cut his Section 

 1 in 1889. 1 



The earthwork consists of a single hank and ditch : on the north 

 the hank is slightly higher than on either of the other sides, and 

 on the south it appears lower than elsewhere, hut excavation 

 showed that this latter is largely due to the slope on which it is 

 huilt. As is often the case in more or less rectangular earthworks, 

 •the banks are heightened at the corners. 2 Its area is said to be 

 seven acres one rood; along the crest of the bank it measures 607 

 feet on the north side, 645 feet on the south, 628 feet on the east, 

 and 620 feet on the west. The enclosure lies on the northern 

 slope of the combe and has therefore a southern aspect; its lower 

 and southern boundary is in, and parallel with, the bottom of 

 the combe. Its position is thus, a fairly sheltered one, but could 

 never have been chosen for defensive purposes. 



There are an unusually large number of very noticeable gaps or 

 openings through the rampart. Even Dr. Stukeley noticed them 

 and they are shown in his woodcut dated 1720. 3 It will be seen 

 on the accompanying plan (Fig. 1) that these openings occur at 

 irregular distances on all four sides, but are scarcer on the south. 

 On the south and east sides there are well-defined openings only 

 23 feet and 26 feet apart respectively. All these openings are 

 well marked, and cannot be mistaken for a mere wearing away of 

 the earthen rampart. In every case the ends of the rampart are 

 clean cut, and their appearance suggests that the rampart was at 

 first continuous and that the openings were cut through it subse- 

 quently. The gaps are fairly uniform in width, namely, about 9 feet 

 across at the top of the bank, narrowing from 2 feet to 4 feet on the 

 level. The slope of the ends of the rampart appear too regular to be 

 the resirlt of spreading, and they seem to have been cut intentionally 



1 Excavations, Vol. III., p. 246. 

 - As there is necessarily a greater length of ditch in proportion to that of 

 the hank at the angles, the extra material thus obtained may. account for 

 the increase in the size of the banks at these spots ; they need not have 

 been increased intentionally for extra strength. 



3 Abury Described, p. 48, plate XL 



