Page:VCH Kent 1.djvu/488

 A HISTORY OF KENT Whatever the date of its origin is, there can be no question that this is an interesting work, worthy of the care bestowed upon its pre- servation by the present Lord Darnley. It is situated on the northern skirt of Cobham Park within about 450 ft, of WatUng Street, and is largely covered with timber. Old workings for sand have much destroyed the southern slope of the hill. Colored Camp. — The church stands within the lines of an ancient fortress, which is about 370 ft. above sea-level, and 50 ft. above a valley a quarter of a mile westward. The entrenchments consist of a fosse with the ballast thrown inward to form a rampart, the whole of some power, but not in a good state of preservation. An ancient well is said to have been found when cutting the modern roadway which bisects the en- closure. It has been claimed that Ceoldred, King of Mercia, fought near here with Ine, King of Wessex, in 694, and gave his name to the place, but as various relics of Roman age have been found, it is perhaps not unlikely that the for- tress is of the Romano- British period, notwith- standing the peculiar semi-rounded form of the north-western end. Entrance ways remain ^'^ on three out of the four positions usually adopted for that purpose in Ro- man castrametation, and one may have existed on the north-west, though not now traceable. Hasted gives an engraving of the fortifications and shows a considerable mount on the south-east side of the modern road but a quarry has destroyed all traces.* Darenth Wood. — Both on the south-east and south-west sides of the wood are traces of scarping and banking, which appear to indicate the former presence of some sort of defensive work, but the remains are obscure. Harbledown : Bigbury. — About three miles west of Canterbury, the pre-historic track, known as the Pilgrim Way, runs through an enclosure locally denominated Bigberry, or Bigbury Camp. The Ordnance Survey (25" scale map) shows the course of the principal trenches, but the remains are so hidden by brushwood, and, in Co/ SCALE OF FEET 100 200 The Camp, Colored. Hist. Kent (1799), iv. 394