324 List of Prehistoric, Roman, and Pagan Saxon Antiquities, 



STOURTOK 

 Barrows. 



1. Mound in centre of Stourton part of area of White Sheet Castle, 

 shown but not marked " tumulus " on O.M. Hoare thought it 

 modern. O.M. 57 S W. ; A. W. I. 43 plan. 



2—4. Three small mounds close together in line just outside outer 

 rampart of White Sheet Castle on N. Opened by Hoare, found 

 to be " not sepulchral." O.M. 57 S W. ; A. W. I. 43 plan shows 4 

 mounds. 



Earthworks. Stourhead Park, W. of Six Wells Bottom. Camp nearly 

 circular, double rampart on N., single on S. Entrances E. & W. 

 Area 7 acres. Slope of vallum where deepest 27ft. Hoare's plan 

 shows a division ditch cutting off about \ of the area on W. side. 

 " Occupies the whole ridge of the hill and is naturally defended on 

 each side by steep and precipitous ground." O.M. 56 SE. ; A. W. I. 

 38, 39, plan p. 43. 



On " New Park Terrace " another camp, oblong, not quite so large, 

 placed on ridge of hill. The Somerset boundary runs through centre 

 of camp. O.M. 62 NE. ; A. W. I. 39 note. 



On steep promontory overlooking the Stour opposite to Zeals Row, in 

 extreme S. point of parish, an earthwork. " An elevated keep and 

 an oblong outwork unlike any of the Camps on our Chalk Hills and 

 very similar to many I have observed in Wales " (Hoare). O.M. 62 

 NE. ; A. W. I. 38. 



White Sheet Castle, partly in Mere. A single ditch follows the line of 

 the steep escarpment. On the down side 3 ditches and ramparts 

 with considerable intervals between them. Entrances through these 

 ramparts. The middle ditch by far the deepest, outer ditch shallower. 

 Circuit of outer ditch 4 furlongs and 152 yds. Area of inner en- 

 closure 15 acres. O.M. 57 S W. ; A. W. I. 43, plan. 



Large ditch cuts across the narrow ridge of the hill and the trackway 

 from side to side a little N. W. of the camp, half in Stourton, half in 

 Kilmington. O.M. 57 SW. ; A.W.I 43, plan. 



Pen Pits. In extreme S.E. corner of parish and county in wooded 

 ground at Bottles Hill, S. of Casper Hill, W. of Zeals Row, a portion 

 of " Pen Pits." These pits originally covered some 700 acres, says 

 Hoare, in Stourton, Penselwood, and Zeals. Hoare thought them 

 habitations, and Kerslake calls them " a British metropolis." Gen. 

 Pitt Rivers proved by excavation that they are pits dug to procure 

 hard greensand rock for querns which are often found in them. O.M. 

 62 NE. ; A. W. I. 35, plan. 

 Finds. Bronze Age. Stone perforated axe head 9jin. long. Evans' 

 Stone 179. 



Greenstone hammer with perforation begun on one side. Evans' Stone 

 lT\,fg. 124. 

 Finds, Late Celtic. British uninscribed gold coin, type Evans PI. I. 

 fig. 6, found at Brewham Forest, near Alfred's Tower, cir. 1867. 

 W.A.M. xxix. 227. 



