Title: The Victoria history of the county of Devon;
Identifier: cu31924028099152 (find matches)
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Page, William, 1861-1934, ed
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: London (Constable)
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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ANCIENT EARTHWORKS J^^^!^. The most easy approach is on the south, and on that side, about 900 ft. in advance of the camp, a long curved rampart and fosse runs from one steep natural escarpment on the south-east to another on the north-west. In front of the southern entrance it is a bold strong outwork, also pierced by a gateway ; this extends for about 600 ft., and within this point is a right-angular defence. As it proceeds towards the east the declivity lessens and the ditch is lost. Clovelly (O.S. xvii, 16).—Clovelly Dykes, Clovelly Dickens, or Dickenhills, was pronounced by Camden to be the largest Roman camp in the county. Whether it originated with that people or not, it certainly is of great size, embracing over 20 acres, although the area of the camp on Milber Down surpasses it. This immense series of entrenchments is situated on high ground 2 miles south of Clovelly at the junction of the road from the fishing village with that between Bideford and Hartland. The innermost entrenchment is an irregular oblong, tapering towards the south, with its axis 360 ft. and 300 ft. respectively ; surrounded by a vallum 6 ft. in height from the interior, but 8 ft. on the exterior, except at the north-west corner O where it is 11 ft. high. Around it is a flat court averaging no ft. in width. The second entrenchment—losing its rectangular form—consists generally of a vallum and fosse, the former varying in height from fifteen to twenty-three feet, perpen- dicular measurement, from the base of the latter. At the north-west corner this vallum widens into a broad platform ; but the fosse, very wide at this point, with a bank on the edge of the counterscarp, is gradually lost, and ceases altogether around the southern course. The area outside this second vallum is entered by a sunk road at the north-west and by a narrow neck on the east; but at the south-west it widens into a well-protected court, and in the extreme angle N is a recess in the outermost agger which rises 10 ft. from the interior. The third or middle rampart on the west side (G—H) has a dry wall of stone on its outer face, with a depth of 8 ft. into another court of a lower level ; this, however, ex- tends only along the west side, and at the northern termination it has the protection of a ditch. The fourth line of defence is a rampart 4 ft. high from the interior, falling 7 ft. on the exterior; this has extended round the north and east, but a portion of the north side has largely perished, while the road to Clovelly has severed the eastern portion from the body of the fort. The fifth or outermost defence on the west consists of a vallum 9 ft. high, with an interior breastwork of 3 ft., and a wide fosse strengthened by a low bank on the height of its counterscarp; this continues round the south, and originally joined the severed portion on the east. On the north, where there was an entrance to the outer court, it is strengthened by two additional ramparts before merging in the single vallum of the fourth defence, an arrangement which transforms the interior oblong into an external round-angled triangle. The extreme eastern defences of crescent form comprise a double vallum and fosse with the inner rampart from fifteen to twenty feet high and wide. It will be seen that the north-west corners of the successive ramparts are of additional strength, and there lies the main entrance ; another probable entrance is through the heavy agger on the south at point S, where the works incurve. A study of the entries from one court to another is interesting and exhibits great strategical foresight. A comparison of the various levels also demon- strates the gradual rise to the central camp. Various conjectures have assigned these works respectively to the Britons, Romans, and Saxons. Doubtless the expanse of the enclosures provided ample accommodation to those herds of cattle which both Caesar and Strabo tell us the Britons collected within their fortifications. CoFFiNSWELL (O.S. cx, 13 and cxvi, i).—Milber Down Camp lies partly in the parish of Cofiinswell and partly in Haccombe with Combe. This important camp is situated on the highest part of Milber Down, on the declivity of the hill sloping in a westerly direction, 2 miles south-east of Newton Abbot. I 593 75
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p. wi*ii<t5 r*"\ Clovelly Dykes.

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