spelt differently in each case, can be no other than the old British word Dinas' (a fortified or walled town), and as such the remains show provisional arrangement for the needs of a large population-at least as large as was usual at that early period. There is ample space for 20,000 inhabitants to enjoy the protection afforded by its defences and inaccessible cliffs. One of the indispensable requisites of life, water, has been provided for by the formation of a tank, or pool, in the hollow of an upland valley, about two furlongs from the townwall, and immediately in front of the great central gate. The slight depression in which we find this tank is pounded up by a broad dam; through this a stream trickles and accumulates into a well-conditioned mountain rill, long before it reaches the base of Breidden." -Late Mr. H. H. Lines. Gaer Fawr. 'Opposite Breidden, on the west, the Vale of the Severn suddenly expands to the width of two miles, by the addition of a small lateral valley, Guilsfield. On 1 Din, a fortress, rather than dinas, a fortified town.-ED. 2 "The Breidden Hill Camp, and other Camps in the Vicinity." -Mont. Coll., vol. xxiii, p. 327. The following note by Mr. Lines is written on the back of his plan of "Crowther's Camp": "Crowther's Coppice is the remains of an ancient primeval forest, intersected by the foss roads of its early inhabitants. The position of this camp in Crowther's Coppice commands the entire course of the Severn, from Buttington to Llandrinio, as it flows along the west escarpment of Breidden: there are two fords only ten minutes' walk from the camp, its size and construction are those of a small guardpost or station, evidently placed to secure the fords of the river: it appears to occupy the ground of a prior camp, probably a castra explorata, the ends of which project beyond the ramparts of the station on the north and south; the castra was a slight work, merely consisting of terraces, which would be defended for its temporary needs by an abattis of the trunks of trees. The ramparts of this station are not more than 5 ft. high from the ditch. There are foss roads leading from the camp through the coppice for more than half a mile west and south, also down the scarp towards the Severn.” the western side of this valley rises a well-wooded hill, upon which is seated Gaer Fawr, or the Great Camp, overlooking the combined debouchment of the two vales as they open out into the broad plain of Shropshire. The intervening distance between the two fortresses is exactly four miles, perfectly flat, with the Severn flowing between them. The Gaer is in a most perfect state of preservation. Its dimensions, including its double ramparts and fossa, 1,100 ft. by 550 ft. The shape is that of an irregular ellipsis, with its south-western end much larger than its north-eastern. The camp-gates, of which there are two, are placed at the end of the ellipsis, and a line taken through the camp from one gate to the other gives one-third of its space on the south-eastern and two-thirds on the north-western. I am inclined to think this camp has been widened out on its north-west side. to the extent of one-third, leaving the original area of the camp standing up as standing up as a terrace high above that part which has been added, and which must in its original condition have formed the double fosse upon that side. If I am right in my conclusion, the camp in its first form must have been very symmetrical; but the addition has thrown the two gates too much on one side. Both these gates are remarkably different the one from the other. Both are curved extensions of the upper ramparts, which at the western gate are continued across the upper fosse and join the second rampart, giving a covered and steep ascent up to the camp-gate of 120 ft. On the northern side of this covered way, and within the camp area, we find a triangular space with the corners rounded off. Two sides of this triangle measure 125 ft. each, the base-line being 150 ft. I imagine this space was set apart for some special purpose, when a large assemblage had to be accommodated. The ramparts are entirely of earthwork, and the style of the camp perfectly corresponds with that of the oldest works of the ancient Britons. The interior above the inner fosse is formed into terraces, without ramparts, except at the gates; while exterior to this we find two ditches 50 ft. wide, and two ramparts." "I am doubtful of this hill-fort having been a dependency of Breidden, being so completely cut off from that place by the Severn. Its garrison may have acted in conjunction with that of Breidden, by protecting the left bank of the river while Breidden held possession of the right bank. I must mention that the view from the area of the camp over the valley of the Severn and the far-extending plain of Shropshire, with the Craig of Breidden uprising abruptly like an angry giant on the sunny vale of lingering Sabrina, cannot be surveyed without admiration; while, upon the west, all the peaks of the principality, from Plinlimmon and Cader Idris to Snowdon, fringe the horizon with waves of mountains."-Late Mr. H. H. Lines.1 Other Camps. Besides the important hill-fortifications of the Gaer Fawr and Crowther's Camp, there are, dotted about the parish, some smaller earthworks, which we shall now briefly enumerate. First of all, there is the Moat, near the village: a considerable mound, surrounded by a ditch filled with water. The Moat may be considered more as a "point of surveillance" than as a "camp" (using the latter term in its strict sense), and must have been an outlook, or gwylfa, to guard the entrance of the gorge through which the Belé passes before it enters the more open country at Guilsfield. Then, there are the camps in the neighbourhood of Maesmawr, guarding sundry passes leading to Mathraval, the ancient palace of the Princes of Powys: these camps severally are situate at Cefn-du, Clawdd Llesg (Eliseg's Dyke), Pen Broniarth, and Bwlch Aeddan (Aeddan's Pass). Each camp is on a hill-top, com 1 "The Breidden Hill Camp, and other Camps in the Vicinity."-Mont. Coll., vol. xxiii, p. 336. |