Page:VCH Herefordshire 1.djvu/276

A HISTORY OF HEREFORDSHIRE weak spots an outer rampart adds to the defence, while on the north-east the fall of the hill was sufficiently steep to render a fosse unnecessary. On the extreme north there was probably an outer rampart, but it has disappeared. The earthworks are of powerful construction, and the centre of the inclosure rises above the rampart, forming in many places an inner ditch. The ponds of water within the inclosure and below the rampart form an unusual feature in a hill-fort. Of the three openings two may be entrances of early date, that upon the south-east appearing the oldest, the one on the north side seemingly modern. Croft : Croft Ambrey or Ambery. — This remarkable elliptical fortress is situated 6 miles north-west of Leominster, and occupies a tongue of land jutting from a hill which continues 2 miles north-east and i mile south-south- west, the position being strongly protected on the north and south-west by the -ipniiif ..;:7V H/'V>[^n^ MP^^I!'-^' -:^fauiK) 111 ;.'- 1$ '^ .„, s(mN^ini(/j///(//////////'".(,'/,;i;;;.v-"-""-: ^| n>y parr r,se, JW^-k^^'^-'P' ■1 about- 373 f. above .•$'aWV.vS":W <si^ ^sSMS^ fo about 3y5f"'- above Sea Level o' "' ^ 1P=^' /■ ,.^ mSssss^^/ Croft Ambrey fall of the hill. The entrenchments vary, the north having an inner scarp only, forming a rampart by the slope of the hill, and a fosse with the rise of the hill towards the centre. The southern entrenchments are very strong, an outwork also protecting this naturally weak side. The work stands some 500 ft. above the land three-eighths of a mile distant north and south, and commands the country round. The entrance was probably at the south-west angle, and possibly another was on the eastern side. Croft Ambrey is locally regarded as one of the camps upon which Caractacus fell back before Ostorius Scapula, but we find no evidence to verify this supposition. Though it is to that period we owe the construction of some Herefordshire camps this may not be one of them, as there are indica- tions about the work which suggest an earlier origin. It is said that Owen 208