Page:VCH Berkshire 1.djvu/346

 A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE The ditches or dykes form a very obscure subject, and all that can be done in the present state of our knowledge of them is to give a list of them with a short description of each. In the case of tumuli the same arrangement has been followed, though in some instances it has been possible to ascertain, with very fair precision, the purpose for which they were thrown up. As, however, a very large number have not been explored, they have not been classi- fied except by their outward form, and have been set down in the alphabetical arrangement adopted in the case of the defensive earth- works. The distribution of the earthworks is interesting, and the same remarks apply to all forms except the homestead moats. Earthworks are found most abundantly upon the Downs, more particularly upon those portions which have never been subjected to the action of the plough. Many, too, are to be found, though in a less perfect state of preservation, in the area lying between the Berkshire and Hampshire Downs, and a few in the Vale of White Horse. In the eastern part of the county, however, they are very scarce, and nearly all those on that side of the county lie within a space of four miles, not far from the track of the Roman Road from London to Silchester, which probably follows approximately the line of an earlier route. This is all the more remarkable since this part of the county is to a great extent primeval forest, and the evidences of former civilizations can scarcely have been destroyed by cultivation. We can only suppose that the Bagshot Sands were then as now too barren to cultivate, and consequently remained uninhabited. HILL FORTS, ETC. [CLASS B] Under this heading are included, not only those camps which are situated on the highest points of the Downs or on elevated gravel plateaux, but some few which, though lying on lower ground, resemble those situated at higher levels. On the range of Down to the south of the county lies Walbury camp, which is one of a series, the remainder being in other counties ; on the ridge dividing the valleys of the Kennet and the Lambourn is an- other, while the long range of Down to the south of the Vale of White Horse contains the greatest number, though many are on its southern spurs. North of the Downs there are but few. Badbury stands on the only hill of great size in the north-west of the county, while Cherbury lies on low land in the middle of a large plain. Sinodun, on a chalk hill, seems to have been formed in a somewhat different manner, prob- ably at another period. Caesar's Camp, Easthampstead, is almost the only example east of Reading, and resembles Bussocks and Grimsbury. A large number of these camps lie quite near to one of those ancient tracks that are found along the tops of the Downs in the south of 252