Page:VCH Herefordshire 1.djvu/284

 A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE continues above the 400-ft. contour line for three-quarters of a mile north- west, and stands 250 ft. above a stream half a mile to the east. Though the hill is not lofty or difficult of approach, the position of the camp is naturally more or less defended upon the east and south by the slope of the ground, but the hill-side is not very steep at any point. The strong- hold is divided into two inclosures, the smaller portion being upon the higher land. The entrenchments vary according to the actual needs of the portion to be defended, those of the larger inclosure consisting mostly of a fosse or, in places, a level shelf ; the smaller and stronger inclosure being protected by a rampart, and on the north-west by two ramparts with a fosse between. We may add a few particulars from the pen of the late Dr. H. G. Bull : — The camp. . . has two main entrances ; one from the north, through the outer portion, called ' Fluck's Close,' and another from the cast — this entrance is approached by a deep fosse road, or covered way, from the north, and it is also defended by a traverse and deep fosse in front of it. The camp is supplied with water from a spring close to the ramparts, and by two ponds on the southern side of the outer fosse. . . . You will observe an entrance on the western side ; this is not an original entrance.^" Leintwardine : Brandon Camp. — About a mile south of Leintwardine and the River Teme rises a hill, of no great altitude above its surroundings, the western portion of which is occupied by the camp. The north and west sides had a slope of sufficient steepness to materially aid defence, but elsewhere pro- tection must have been wholly artificial, yet we find on the east and south only a single rampart, and that not above 12 ft. high from the outside at any point. It may be that this rampart has been lowered and the material thrown into an outer fosse, but hardly a trace of the latter exists. Probably the rampart was com- plete on the north and west of the camp, but, as the plan shows, only two lengths remain. One cannot avoid the surmise that the principal guard was against an enemy on the north or west, a surmise partly strengthened by the position of the camp in relation to the Teme on the north-east and east. Gough refers to four entrances (apparently one at each point of the compass), but the only one distinctly evident is on the east, though certainly the gap in the rampart at the extreme north point may possibly indicate another, but the mere depressions in the bank on the south and west hardly suggest entrance ways. The slightness of the earthwork protection, absence of any considerable fosse, and finds of Roman or Romano-British relics in or near, may of course be regarded as evidence in favour of the Roman theory, but pending careful examination by the aid of pick and shovel, we cannot be sure that Brandon possesses any true claim to origin at that period. fl,,';'"i"iii.,.>....>.i""." ""',V, iiM^^"' ■-.^Po Brandon Camp, Leintwardine Trans. Woolhope Field Club (1883-5), ^4- 216