A HISTORY OF DERBYSHIRE base of the vallum is 1 2 yards.' His plan discloses a spring nearly in the centre of the enclosure, but it is not now visible on the surface. Mr. J. D. Sainter took the following careful measurements of this fort and its defences in 1 877 : feet. Length of fosse and ramparts . . . . .547 Width of outer fosse at top of cutting .... 30 Depth of ditto from level of ground . . . .10 Height of first or outer rampart from bottom of outer fosse ......... 20 Width of inner fosse at top of ramparts . . . 50-65 Depth of ditto from top of ditto. . . . .10 Height of inner rampart . . . . . .10 Length of west side of camp . . . . .450 Length of north-north-east side of ditto . . .466 Length of entrance to camp, including the path . , A 366' A useful paper on Comb Moss fort was contributed by Mr. I. Chalkley Gould to the journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological Society. 3 He therein states that ' Certain depressions of the surface have been thought to indicate stone huts, but their presence does not vitiate the theory of the early " refuge " purpose of Comb Moss, for such a wet and windy exposure would necessitate shelter during even the most tempo- rary occupation.' 3. MARKLAND GRIPS CAMP (xix. 11). This is one of the most remarkable and peculiar examples of Class A of defensive earthworks in the whole kingdom. Considering the striking and exceptional character of this considerable and extensive fortress, it is not a little remarkable that it appears hitherto to have escaped even the barest mention in print; and this notwithstanding that the first Ordnance Survey marks the site as a 'camp,' and that for the last few years it has been encircled with railways. 8 In the parish of Elmton, a mile to the east of Clowne church, and a mile and a half to the west of the village of Cresswell, is a large old mill-dam fed by two streamlets flowing through the respective ' grips ' of Hollinhill and Markland, which here unite. Their waters, hence- forward called the Wollen, pass on from this point for a mile or two to the east, and then enter the glen of Cresswell Crags, now so famed for its 1 Sainter's Rambles round Macclesfield (1878), p. 10. Most of these measurements have been recently tested and found accurate. In this volume (now a rare book) is a striking but rather fanciful plate of the entrance to the fort, and also a ground plan. Mr. Sainter likewise mentions 'a good spring of water in the centre of the area.' 8 Vol. xxiii. 108-114. 8 Dr. Spencer T. Hall in his Peak and the Plain (1853) gave a picturesque description of the ravines of Markland Grips, which has been copied with and without acknowledgment by several guide- book makers ; but though he scrambled up on to the very ' table-land ' of the fortress at the junction of the Grips, the fact of it being an ancient refuge-camp or fortress quite eluded his attention.
- The old term ' grip ' is described in Murray's New English Dictionary as ' a small open furrow or
ditch, especially for carrying off water ; a trench, or dam.' 364
