Page:VCH Berkshire 1.djvu/349

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

BUSSOCK CAMP, CHIEVELEY. ANCIENT EARTHWORKS extent disappeared, the inner vallum alone remaining. On the other sides two valla are distinctly to be seen, with a deep fosse between them, and to the east, for a short distance, a second fosse is found. It has been said that there are four entrances, but only three are clearly visible, all of which are to the east ; the other breaks in the vallum appear to be modern. The defences were, in all probability, originally much stronger on the south and east sides, as here the ground is on a level with the camp. Nothing of interest has been found in the camp except some ' half-calcined flints,' which, it has been suggested, might have been used as pot boilers. 1 COMPTON, PERBOROUGH CASTLE. On the top of the hill on Compton Cow Down, at the extreme south of the parish, lies the camp known by this name. It is nearly circular in form and was surrounded by a fosse between two valla, but the greater part of the outer vallum has been ploughed away, leaving only faint traces of the inner one and a steep escarpment. On the north, however, the defences remain in a very fair state of preservation, though the banks are not so steep as they must have been formerly. The original entrance is said to have been on the north-east, and was fortified with a double ditch, but there is no double ditch to be seen by the present entrance on the northern part of the east side. Throughout the area are several deep pits and ponds of varying dimen- sions, which have been thought to be the remains of primitive pit-dwellings. They have not, however, been explored recently. On either side of the north-eastern gateway were the foundations of two towers, built of sarson stones laid over a layer of flints. Stones are also said to have been discovered in the vallum, by testing with an iron bar. Several cellars are said to have been found, containing a quantity 1 Trans. Nnobury Dist. Field Club, ii. 14-17. 255 PERBOROUGH CASTLE, COMPTON.