Page:VCH Rutland 1.djvu/165

 ANCIENT EARTHWORKS of the church are the remains of a camp of great strength, the small part yet existing being remarkably perfect. The southern and western parts are utterly destroyed, but the northern portion of the north-western side appears to be almost in its original state ; here the rampart is 6 ft. high, and 1 6 ft. broad at its base. It has a scarp 6 ft. deep on to a berme 1 2 ft. wide, and another escarpment 7 ft. deep into a flat-bottomed fosse 33 ft. wide, the counterscarp being also 7 ft. At its northern angle the fosse is 10 ft. in depth, but at the eastern side of the corner a modern cart road into the fosse has misshapen its formation. At the northern angle the rampart no longer remains, but the berme and the fosse continue for 300 ft. towards the south-east, beyond which the works have been delved out of all recog- nition, but the presence of a former rampart is indicated where the dotted The Camp, Great Casterton line in the plan takes a south-westerly course. It is situated by the River Gwash, which defends two sides of the stronghold. Hambleton (ix, 8). — North of Edith Weston, and 4 miles south-east- by-east from Oakham, close to Half-moon Spinney is an oblong camp. It is situated above the confluence of two rivers upon a high roundly-curved hill in the midst of other similar heights of scarcely inferior altitude. The long axis is 234ft. from east to west, the shorter sides measuring 120 ft. on the west, and 132 ft. on the east. The south, west, and eastern sides are distinct, and have a rampart rising from 2 ft. to i ft. 10 in. in height with a scarp 6 ft. 6 in. deep into a fosse i i ft. wide, and with a counterscarp 4 ft. 6 in. on the east, 3 ft. 8 in. on the south, and 5 ft. 4 in. on the west. The northern side has gone, but may still be traced by a series of depressions where the fosse has not been entirely levelled. 109