Page:VCH Herefordshire 1.djvu/288

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE declivity on this face of the camp is about 200 ft. in 250 ft. very little entrenchment was here necessary. There are three low mounds, possibly sepulchral barrows, in a line within the camp, the western sufficiently distinct, but the others nearly destroyed. Near the southern base of the hill are three similar mounds placed in line from north to south.*" Wapley is in a commanding position, the view extending to the Brecon Beacons on one side, and to the Malvern range on the other ; indeed, few spots in England affijrd so striking a prospect of hills and mountain summits. It is believed that this ancient camp was utilized by Owen Glendower in his contests with the forces of Henry IV. Sutton St. Michael : Sutton Walls. — This large stronghold is situated 4 miles north -by-east of Hereford, occupying a hill 330 ft. above sea level and 160 ft. above the River Lugg, which flows half a mile west and Enrranct f '^^Y Sutton Walls, Sutton St. Michael south. The hill not being steep the position is but slightly defended by the slopes. The earthwork consists chiefly of a powerful scarp with a ledge below. On the south, at the section C D, is an inner rampart, and on the east is also a rampart, hence it would appear that the inner rampart was once perfect on all sides, but the summit of the inclosure being under the plough has been destroyed. The ledge at the foot of the scarp may once have been a fosse, but with the exception of a slight rise at one point there is nothing to indicate an outer bank. The ' dell ' is styled on the 25-in. Ordnance Survey map ' King's Collar,' and is marked with ditch and rampart, but these do not exist ; the artificial gullies north and south near this dell form approaches to the summit, but may once have been a dividing entrenchment. The scarp is mostly covered with underwood, and the edge of the summit is protected by a thick hedge. The principal entrance was probably from the east. The north, south, and west openings through artificial gullies are probably modern farm ways. " Trans. Woolhope Field Club (1895-7), 39. Gough, in his additions to Camden's Britannia (ed. 1789), ii, 459, refers to 'a camp called the Warren or Wapley Hill,' and gives sections and an incorrect plan of it on plate xiv. The hill, being used for the purpose of a rabbit warren, is still known as the Warren. 220