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'e early British fortifications seem to have been little morean mere entrenchments of earth. Cmsar, however, penetrated, ot ^ ar enough to know the true nature of the British har-asses ; and in his work, De Bello Gallico (lib. v. section 17),s given only the description of a lowland camp. In all• rt s of England, there is a vast number of strong entrench-«nts of a very peculiar kind, situated chiefly on the tops off et . Ula and which can be attributed to none of the dif-
ent people who have ever dwelt in the adjacent country,diff *^ le anc * ent Britons. That they may have been used atWent times, and occupied upon emergencies, by the sub-hut nt 'Habitants of the island, is no more than probable;the ^' ere are man y> an d undoubted reasons, for deemingthe strong posts and fastnesses of the aboriginal settlers,•Had 1 " 6 Bieir wives, formed their garrisons, and
for® their stand. That the Britons were accustomed tod e - r ? Uc h places, we have the authority of Tacitus , who,tac IJlng tlie strongholds formed and resorted to by Carac-q U ®>. says, “ Tunc montibus arduis, et si qua clementerlib P oteran t> in modum valli saxa prcestruit.” —Annal.Wnv'1 Sect ‘ One of these entrenchments still makes aof \r ®l e appearance on a mountain hanging over the valesitu annerc h, in Flintshire, called Moel-Arthur. But theirw at atl0n being so high that they could have no supply ofhutp 1 exce P t from the clouds, they were often liable to beq able for a considerable time together.
Co Un " e ^' e most important of these fastnesses in our own
g 0l ,i ,‘y. is the Herefordshire Beacon, situated on a spot that- .a not 1--i.:--* a. ...-. ..
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„ but be an object of the utmost attention to theW-4 a '^habitants of those territories, which afterwardsd ivi3i dserned distinctly England and Wales , from the veryhittV 011 here formed. It is on the summit of one of thelU etlt . °f the Malvern hills, and is known by the name justth e ^'° ne< l- It has been by turns attributed to the Romans,hold ‘ l ? ons > and the Danes, but its construction as a strong-adj a bows it was designed as a security for the wholeb'easeg • countr y on any emergency, Another of these for-ty at Bruff, in Staffordshire , which has been describedeXa ct ] ’ xetln:l nt, in his Journey from Chester, p. 47, and8|, b>tnrt a f S ' Vers ’'be account of Tacitus . It is placed on thetatn part° a b'bj surrounded by two deep ditches, and has a^Ir. pp formed of stone. Other instances are adduced byfirst v n . nan t, in his Tour in Wales , and by Mr. King, in the'"stance Ut " e t ’*e Munimenta Antigua: but a stronger^^ditio " lan a b’ perhaps, is given by Mr. Gough, in theh'Ue q to Camden, vol. ii. p. 404, where he shows that thehrieg ® r Caradoc, the very fortress alluded to in the sen-sn’bSj sg p laVe fl uote< l> which, if not the royal seat of Carac-m ° to have been at least his stronghold, was in
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ejj, * two miles south of Clun,
point V ar ge camp, three times as long as it is broad, on the
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"°rth 8 ;j a b’ll> accessible only one
way,
and defended on the
^bst 8 ^ 6 ^7 very deep double, ditches, in the solid rock;' 'Pfegnabl^ 1 ® east ’ ^ le steepness of the ground renders it
re'a UJle ' the south it has only one ditch, for theIer ri e( ] °ti: and the principal entrance is on the west side,? v et\ f erj b * double works ; whilst to the south-west it isI' Cnv ever p w '’b triple works. The most extraordinary,’h’^otish' "b these kinds of fortresses, is situated in Caer-i e plan' re ’ C£, bed Tre'r Caeri, or The Town of Fortresses.tLS'Ven ari( l elevation of this ancient stronghold and abodeOn ^ r " Bennant, in his Tour in Wales , vol. ii. p.of st t le acc essible side it was defended by three rudeand J- 116 ’ t ' le upper ones being lofty, about fifteen feetij,^ lx teen broad; exhibiting a grand and extensive’°le J 8 p®. s P a ce on the top is an irregular area; but thee d with cells, some round, and some oval, and
some also oblong or square. Several of the round ones werefifteen feet in diameter; which brings to mind the houses ofthe ancient Gauls, described by Strabo ; and of those that wereoblong, there was at least one even thirty feet in length. Ofthe same kind of fortresses were Penmaen Mawr, in Caernar-vonshire, Warton Cragg, in Lancashire , Old Oswestry, inShropshire; the irregular encampment of Maiden Castle , nearDorchester; and probably Old Sarum, whose character wasnew-modelled by the Romans. Mr. King, in the MunimentaAntiqua, vol. i. p. 63, considers the dens in the mountains andthe thickets, of Scripture, as strongholds or hill-fortressesof the kind described. When Samson had made a greatslaughter of the Philistines, we are told he went and dweltin the top of the rock Elam; where we find, afterwards,three thousand men of Judah went up to confer with him.That hill-fortresses were used in the earliest ages, there canbe little doubt. The Israelites , when their land was invadedby Jabin, the king of Canaan , in consequence of an exhorta-tion from Deborah the prophetess, assembled to make theirstand upon mount Tabor. Among the Indians of SouthAmerica , strongholds, of a similar nature to those ofBritain , have been frequently discovered. Ulloa’s Voyage toSouth America , vol. i. p. 503-504. And a very curiousinstance of the attack and surrender of one in Sogdiana , inAsia, in the time of Alexander the Great , is related byQuintus Curtius, lib. vii. chap. xi. The anecdote is worththe reference of the reader.
The British mode of warfare appears to have received butlittle alteration from the introduction of Roman tactics. Tillfinally subdued, their princes showed abilities both in thecommand of armies and in the conduct of war; they chosetheir ground judiciously ; formed able plans of active opera-tions ; and availed themselves of all the advantages of localknowledge: but to the fortresses described, if we may relyon the testimonies of our ancient writers, they did not veryfrequently retire. Their deficiencies both in the attack, theconstruction, and the defence of such places, must have beenvery obvious even to themselves; and as they delighted tolive, so they usually chose to fight, in open plains. Theirimpatient courage, and their aversion from labour, madethem unable to endure the delays and fatigues of defending orbesieging the castles of their time ; and they often reproachedthe Romans with cowardice, for raising such solid worksabout their camps and stations. See Boadicea ’s famousspeech to her army, in Xiphilin, ex Dione in Nerone.
Of the Roman military works in this country, they werefor the greater part temporary; many, however, werestationary posts; and some few, to the retention of which thegreatest importance was attached, became walled castra.
Csesar, in the work already quoted, De Bell. Gall. lib. vii.describes one of his camps as fortified very much in the man-ner of a walled city. A few of the Roman stations in ourown country assist in throwing light on the description ; and,in short, such as were so surrounded, appear to have beenthe link of connection between the British earth-work andthe feudal castle.
Richborough, Portchester, and Pevensey , are the threegreatest fortresses the Romans have left us. Richborough,the very earliest in order of time, is supposed to have beenbegun in the year 43, in the reign of Claudius ; but not tohave been completed till 205, under the direction of emperorSeverus. There are in this distinguished fortress, says Mr.King, ( Munimenta Antiqua, vol. ii. p. 8) still plainly to betraced all the principal parts of one of the very greatest andmost perfect of the stationary camps. The upper divisionfor the general and chief officers, and the lower division forthe legion. In the former, the praetorium with its parade;