FORTIFIED HILL-TOPS
This class of fortress is illustrated by numerous examples in the
British Isles, many of which possess a very high order of merit. Class
I. is generally found associated with coast line or rivers with
precipitous banks; Class II. deals almost entirely with inland
elevations which, while having some natural advantages in the way of
steep ground or other defences of an inaccessible character, rely
chiefly upon the artificial additions which have been made to the
natural ones. With such a wealth of illustration it is somewhat
difficult to select examples, but those described may perhaps be typical
of every variety to be found in the kingdom. These camps of the plateau
type were the commonest prevailing before the Norman Conquest, and for
every great fortress like Cissbury, Maiden Castle, Dolebury, or
Bradbury there were hundreds of smaller examples.
These latter were, as a rule, much more liable to destruction by the
plough, being slightly constructed and generally at no great elevation
above the mean level of the land; the farmer, ever in search of good
rich earth, turned with avidity to the great banks of loose soil placed
ready to hand, and hence the destruction of small camps has been
excessive. The great fortresses, with their steep scarps, have defied
the ploughman, and to this we may ascribe the excellent preservation
they generally present.
These contour forts are undoubtedly an advance upon the earlier
promontory type and show an adaptation to the requirements of advancing
civilisation, pointing to coalescence and centralisation of
hitherto-divided communities, the protection of a settled area, and the
guarding of trade-routes. Hence they indicate the presence of larger
numbers and the possession of greater wealth.
_Hembury Fort, Honiton._--This is by far the most wonderful example of
the class to be found in Devonshire. It stands at a height of nearly 900
feet above sea-level and encloses a space of approximately 8 acres in
extent. Double valla, and their accompanying fosses, surround the whole
camp, the crest of the inner vallum averaging from 50 to 60 feet above
the bed of its fosse. To these formidable defences a third vallum has
been added, surrounding it upon every side except the east where it was
deemed unnecessary. It is prehistoric and probably British, but up to
the present time has not been excavated.
_Ham Hill_ in the south-east part of Somersetshire is a high mass of
rock standing detached from the neighbouring hills. The wonderful
trenches, too numerous to mention in detail, show a very high order of
military skill in fortification, and this is the more remarkable when we
discover that Neolithic man was probably answerable for their
construction, although the fort has been subsequently occupied by men of
the Bronze Age, and also by the Romans.
_South Cadbury_ lies five miles north of Sherborne. It is a huge and
extremely formidable fortress standing at a height of over 500 feet
above sea-level, and possessing no less than four lines of massive
ramparts, steeply scarped, some of them even penetrating into the hard
oolitic rock. There are two entrances into the large space enclosed by
the ramparts, and in each case protective mounds have been erected
defending them.
[Illustration: MAIDEN CASTLE, WEST ENTRANCE.]
_Maiden Castle_, about two miles from Dorchester (Dorset), easily holds
the premier place among the fortified camps of Great Britain, not only
on account of its vast extent and the cyclopean character of its works,
but also by reason of the marvellous military ingenuity displayed in its
construction. Our general conception of the intellectual calibre of
primitive man forcibly undergoes an alteration when contemplating the
colossal schemes which his brain was capable of producing and his hand
had the power of carrying into effect.
[Illustration: PEVENSEY CASTLE, SUSSEX.]
[Illustration: MAIDEN CASTLE, EAST ENTRANCE.]
The area enclosed is no less than 45 acres, while the whole fort
occupies a space of 115 acres. The circumference of this vast work
measures one and a half miles, and three enormous valla and fosses
stretch this distance; in many places the crest of a vallum above the
fosse beneath it amounts to 60 feet. But perhaps our chief admiration is
evoked by the complex arrangement, by means of which the two entrances
into the fort are protected. A glance at the plans illustrating these
will at once show that fortified mounds and bastions of the most
complicated forms are placed so as to impede the progress of stormers,
and there can be no doubt that every means of protection known at the
time were interposed between them and the besieged.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.
STOCKADE OF STONE AND RUBBLE, WITH PALISADE OF WOOD.]
And here perhaps we may mention that the defences of an ancient
earthwork can hardly be judged adequately at the present time without
imagining the subsidiary structures which once crowned the works. These
auxiliary aids cannot with certainty be described, because of the
perishable character which generally signalised them, and the very
meagre references which occur in the most ancient of our writers. It is
generally accepted by authorities upon the subject that some stockade or
other defence was invariably added to the summit of a rampart, and that
this depended in character upon the nature of the country. In districts
where stone was abundant, uncemented walls of large blocks were erected,
generally with battering surfaces, the hollow portion between the two
faces being filled up with earth or rubble as in Fig. 1. More primitive
still would be the single wall with a bank of retaining earth behind it
for support (Fig. 2), while more complicated would be one strengthened
by a central core of masonry (Fig. 3). Remains of these walls have been
found in various places still _in situ_. It is quite possible that a
palisade of sharpened stakes or of wattle surmounted these stone walls,
thus still further adding to their efficiency. In a "soft" country,
where only earth or chalk is available, timber would naturally take the
place of stone. The Gallic defences of this nature, which gave so much
trouble to Caesar's legions, appear to have been made of tree-trunks
lying side by side upon the ground with the second course of trunks
superposed at right angles, the whole of the interstices being filled
with stones and earth tightly rammed (Fig. 4). It will readily be
perceived that a rampart constructed of alternate courses similar to
this, and approximately 10 feet in thickness and of considerable height,
would be quite impervious to the missile weapons of the period, and
indestructible by fire, even if the assailants succeeded in filling up
the deep vallum below the base of the wall with combustible materials.
Whether this method of the utilisation of timber for barricades was
ever introduced into the British Isles for strengthening valla we have
no means of ascertaining, owing to the perishable nature of the defence,
but considering that the ancient Britons were of undoubted Celtic
origin, we are perhaps justified in assuming it. On the other hand, a
row of thick vertical planks driven deeply into the soil and placed
closely together upon the summit of a rampart would prove a very
formidable obstacle after surmounting 60 feet of steep escarpment under
a hail of missiles. The small mounds so often placed as defences near
the entrances of fortified hill-tops were clearly intended for a ring of
palisades upon their summits, and isolated bastions similarly placed
were doubtless treated in the same manner.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.
SIMPLE STOCKADE OF STONE AND EARTH, RETAINED BY WOODEN STAKES.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.
STONE STOCKADE, WITH INNER CORE OF MASONRY.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.
WOODEN PALISADE OF TREE-TRUNKS, STRENGTHENED WITH EARTH.]
There are no less than five lines of defence upon the south and
south-east of Maiden Castle, and a feature of the work is the large
amount of room provided upon the summits of the valla to afford
accommodation for great bodies of defenders to stand and use their
weapons.
_Badbury Rings_, four miles N.W. of Wimborne.--This may be classed among
the greater hill fortresses inasmuch as it encloses a space of 18 acres
and is furnished with three valla and their accompanying ditches. The
scarps are in places very steep and 40 feet above the fosses. The
eastern entrance is reminiscent of Maiden Castle, a bastion-like
obstruction being thrown forward to obstruct ingress, while the great
area of standing-room provided for the defenders may be looked upon as
characteristic of west country forts as it is repeated in a number of
others--Cadbury Castle, near Tiverton, and Shoulsbury on Exmoor, for
examples. In the outer area a mound occurs, and ponds also have been
formed within the fort. Investigations have brought Celtic antiquities
to light and also proved its occupation by the Romans. It affords a
magnificent prospect from the summit. In historic times it has been
utilised, as in A.D. 901 Æthelwald the Ætheling mustered his men there
after Alfred's death, upon the occasion of a popular rising.
[Illustration: BADBURY RINGS, DORSET.]
_Cadbury Castle._--This is a good example of a contour fort crowning an
isolated hill 800 feet in height. Upon three sides are formidable
natural precipices, and the ramparts enclose an oval inner space, which
is approximately level. The valla are continuous except upon the south,
where a scarped drop occurs of about 30 feet to the level of a wide
berm, on the outside of which a gigantic rampart rises to the height of
more than 20 feet above the berm.
[Illustration: THE BERM OF CADBURY CASTLE.]
_Cissbury_, north of Worthing.--This great fortress was constructed by
men of the Flint Age, and indubitable proofs of its occupancy by a
permanent population engaged in a staple trade are afforded by the
immense remains of flint chippings within its area, the product of many
generations of flint-knappers. The deep and wide pits within it were dug
for the purpose of obtaining flints, the raw material of their industry,
and these excavations were subsequently utilised for dwelling-places.
The fort is advantageously situated upon the trading route between the
inhabitants of the Great Forest of Anderida, covering the Weald of
Sussex, and the maritime population of the southern littoral; and this
fact appealed not only to Neolithic man but also the men of the
Bronze and Iron Ages, who occupied it in succession. It is a camp of the
plateau type with an inner vallum rising nearly 50 feet above the fosse
and 20 above the inner area. General Pitt Rivers estimated that 5000 men
would be required to man the ramparts effectually.
[Illustration: THE BEAUCHAMP TOWER, TOWER OF LONDON.]
_Ravensburgh Castle, Hexton, Herts._--The northern escarpment of the
Chiltern Hills is marked by numerous deep ravines leading down with
winding courses to the lowlands. This has the effect of leaving bold
bluffs of chalk standing up between them, and upon one of these this
remarkably fine hill fortress is placed. In addition to the two ravines
lying at the sides it is still further isolated by a third running at
right angles between the others. The castle occupies 16 acres of the
western half of this plateau, and possesses double ramparts on three
sides and triple on the north. The section AB shows the steep descent
into the ravine upon the south side, and DE indicates the same, while
clearly showing the three lines of defence formed by the two ditches.
The scarps are remarkable for their clean and smooth surfaces, the chalk
presenting the appearance of having been cut with a huge knife. The
entrances into the defence lie at nearly 500 feet above the sea-level.
[Illustration: RAVENSBURGH CASTLE, HEXTON, HERTS.]
One of the most prominent examples of the class is _Mam Tor_, a great
hill rising to a height of 1700 feet above sea-level, and dominating
Castleton and Edale, Derbyshire. Upon the summit of this eminence is a
remarkable earthwork enclosing about 16 acres of land, round which the
original rampart must have been nearly three-quarters of a mile in
length. Natural defences of a very marked character are upon two sides
of the triangular enclosure, consisting of steep slopes which descend
for a considerable distance. Upon the summit of these slopes two
formidable ramparts with an accompanying fosse have been constructed,
thus adding still further to an almost unassailable position. The
agricultural inhabitants of the district often term it "The Shivering
Mountain" from the many little avalanches of shale which are dislodged
from its sides. Upon the northern part the natural defences are not so
apparent, as the ridge of an adjoining hill approaches at that point. An
entrance to the Fort occurs there at the present time, as shown in the
plan, but not in its primitive condition. The only method of entering
was by means of the narrow passage shown at the S.W., defended by a
fortified mound at its inner mouth, which in turn was defended by a
larger mound lying to the N.W. A small spring of water still rises
within the enclosure and escapes through the N.W. break. The interior
has not been levelled, and a central spine of rock traverses it from
north to south. Undoubtedly Mam Tor furnishes us with one of the finest
examples of a fortified hilltop to be found in England.
[Illustration: MAM TOR, DERBYSHIRE.]
The following are a few instances of artificial defences which, although
they stand upon higher ground than the surrounding land, are less
dependent upon their elevated position.
_Ambresbury Banks, Essex._--These banks are situated in Epping Forest,
at the side of the road between Epping and London. They are of British
origin, as has been definitely proved by excavations carried out by
General Pitt Rivers and the Essex Field Club, thus definitely disproving
the assertion previously prevailing of their supposed Roman origin. The
outline approaches a square form, and this probably gave rise to the
supposition. Only a few pieces of crude pottery and some flint chippings
came to light during the excavations. A feature, however, was disclosed
in the fosse, the lower part of which was originally of an angular
section; in it a depth of silt approximating to 7 feet had accumulated.
The scarp was inclined at an angle of 45°, and the counterscarp probably
rose at almost the same angle; the width of the fosse was over 20 feet,
and the depth above half that measurement.
[Illustration: HUNSBURY, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.]
_Hunsbury, Northamptonshire._--This earthwork is about one and a half
miles from Northampton, and may be cited as an example which falls
naturally into this subdivision, inasmuch as the hill upon which it
stands possesses such an easy slope that it does not tend to help to any
marked extent the formidable defences upon the summit. These lie nearly
200 feet above the river Nen, and 370 feet above sea-level. It is a
small enclosure, the single fosse of which is well preserved with the
exception of a portion upon the north, which has been quarried for
iron-stone, much in demand in that district. The defences were
undoubtedly of great power originally, but have been much degraded; the
interior of the camp has been ploughed, and the earthworks planted with
trees. The original opening is that lying to the S.E. The name upon the
Ordnance Survey is "Danes Camp," though upon what authority is not
apparent. Camps of a very similar nature may be found at Ring Hill in
Essex, and Badbury in Berks, while Whelpley Hill in Buckinghamshire is
almost an exact replica.
[Illustration: YARNBURY, WILTS.]
_Yarnbury_ lies about three miles to the west of Winterbourne Stoke in
Wiltshire and is allocated to this division, being one of the largest
and best of its kind. The area enclosed is about 20 acres, encircled by
three valla and two or three ditches. The inner rampart rises at times
to over 50 feet above the fosse. There are a number of entrances, but
only those to the east and west are original, each being defended with
outworks, the eastern gate by bastions similar to those at Maiden Castle
and Badbury Rings.
[Illustration: CORFE CASTLE, DORSETSHIRE.]