EARLY MAN midst of marshes which were barely passable and were on the banks of a tidal river. The tide was blocked out and the marshes only drained within the last half-century. Bredon Hill, the next elevation to the east, was the great defensive post in the south of the county, it commanded both the Severn and Avon valleys and probably was more or less fortified from the earliest times. The division of the counties of Worcester and Gloucester passes across the hill, so it is not always easy to say which earthworks are in which. They all however formed part of one defensive system. The two most important are the camps of Conderton and Kemerton. (7) Conderton is an irregular oval entrenchment measuring 163 by 7 1 yards with a single rampart. The entrance is from the north-east. This has been called a Danish camp — why it is not easy to say, except that pirates usually called Danes came up the estuary on various occa- sions. Some Roman coins are said to have been found in the neighbour- hood. It is probable that this camp or fort is but a part of the series of forts on this hill. (8) Kemerton is in Gloucestershire (fig. 5). It is an entrenchment of a triangular shape well defended on the north and western sides by the very steep escarpment of the hill. On the south and east the line of entrenchment is double. Nash, writing at the end of the eighteenth cen- tury, states that ' it was ploughed two or three years ago, and several iron weapons found of so rude and bad workmanship as bespoke them rather Danish or Saxon than Roman.' No description of these weapons exists. A landslip occurred early in the nineteenth century, when a quantity of wheat of a burnt appearance was found in this camp. These grains were black or nearly so ; a slight pressure between the fingers reduced them to powder. As the chasm caused by the landslip opened, it exposed a vein of black earth about 4 or 5 inches thick immediately under the soil, which in some places was not more than 6 inches deep, but varied to 1 8 inches or 2 feet. Quantities of perfect grains of wheat were found in it ; there was no appearance of straw or ears of corn. In this camp is a remarkable mass of rock. It is formed of the oolite of which the hill is composed, and has been made by excavating all round the mass. It is near the side of the camp facing Malvern and not far from the edge of the escarpment. It is locally called the Bambury Stone. Bredon completes the list of camps in the district at present known. A glance at the map will show that they form a defensive line on the west and south of the county, while the east is entirely unprotected ; that at the south-eastern corner there was a strong fort guarding both the Avon and Severn, which was connected with the Malvern line by Eldersfield. The absence of forts on the east and north, assuming that after careful search none are found, would seem to indicate that it was not from those quarters the dwellers in the county apprehended danger. It was down the Avon valley the invaders came, and Bredon was fortified to close that line of approach. This may seem to explain why it is no finds have been 189
