ANCIENT EARTHWORKS and external fosse cut through the hard rock to a depth of from seven to eight feet. The removed material was thrown inwards so as to make the rampart almost perpendicular on its outer face. Inside, the slope leading up to the top of the rampart was gentle towards the southern end of the rampart, and within it are traces of earthworks, both parallel to the rampart and at right angles with it, which may have been parts of a supplementary defence of the south-eastern corner. One feature of the hill-top camps of Sussex which stands out with peculiar clearness is the insufficiency of many of the actual earthen ramparts and fosses, as they now exist, for any serious purpose of defence. Indeed, it must be evident to any one who carefully considers the ^ .f^:^ 9 ^A ^'Z'^ SECTIONS AT A B C-0. East HiLt, Hastings. question, that many of these camps or earthworks are not military works at all. They may have been extensive cattle-pens or enclosures, but their very extent, to say nothing of their inadequate bulwarks, is enough to show that they can never have been successfully defended against a powerful and resolute foe. The length of rampart could only have been held by such an army as would have been out of the ques- tion at the early age to which the earthworks obviously belong. The real purpose of such works as Ditchling Beacon, Wolstanbury, and Beltout, was apparently to provide a place of safety for cattle and men against wolves and possibly, human marauders. The thick, persistent hedge at the point on the slope of the Downs where pasture land meets 469
