A HISTORY OF KENT ^^j^, ^ L, £^ft?<ivF enrrance The northern arm (about 550 ft. in length) is a trifle better preserved, but it is not evident how much further it extended towards the west, as the scarping on that side (shown on plan) may be com- paratively recent work, and the opening in the rampart on the north (though it appears an original entrance) may have been made for farm purposes. Perhaps this camp was never completed, and it may possibly be the Saxon work (geweorc) which the Chronicle tells us was stormed in A.D. 893 by the Danes, who found only a half-constructed [satnivorht) fastness in which a few countrymen (cyrlisce men) were stationed. Keston : HoLWooD. — These entrenchments (about three miles south-east of Bromley) stand upon undulating ground 450 to 513 ft. above sea-level. The position is to a certain extent naturally defended on the west by a gully, and beyond that by a ridge some 1 5 to 20 ft. high forming a natural l rampart. On the north ' there is a gentle slope H outside the earthworks, y, which command an ex- W tensive view north-west. V The entrenchments con- ' .. sist of two fosses dug in '• sandy clay and gravel,
- with their ballast thrown
/ inward to . form two ramparts, a third ram- part being formed on the west by the counter-scarp of the outer fosse. Be- yond a rampart and fosse on the north, there is no trace of further entrenchments to form a complete enclosure, and Hol- wood House with its garden no doubt destroyed the southern continua- tion of the earthworks. Comparing the mode of entrenching with other existing works of the same construction, such as Clare ' Camp ' in Suffolk and Cholesbury in Bucks, the track of the east and south sides should be as shown on the plan.' No doubt in the perfect condition of the work the fosses were much deeper and the ramparts higher. This is not the place in which to enter fully into the arguments • The plate in Hasted's History of Kent is dated 1775, and thereon it is stated that the ' S.E. part of the vallum has been lately grubbed and levelled.' 398 XS,i%t HoLwooD Camp, Keston.
