Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/508

312 ROMAN ROADS, CAMPS, AND EARTHWORKS, CASTLE STEADS Ls the name of a camp above Dalton, in the parish of Kirkby Ravensworth ; it is in good preservation, though immersed in plantations, and difficult to survey. See the accompanying Plan. It stands on an elevated promontory, being about 800 feet above the sea, and at the junction of a small brook with the Dalton Beck. The sides of the liill have been scarped down, apparently to strengthen the position, originally strong by nature, and, to give room for a large force, the terre pleine has been extended towards the south 300 yards, so as to join the higher parts of the brook by a strong entrenchment running from the small stream to the Beck, a distance of about 270 yards. In this rampart, tow^ards the east end, is a gateway, to which there is an inflexion of the line of defence. The area of the whole is about 30 acres. No remains have been found to aid our conjectures as to the origin of this camp ; but, as great care appears to have been taken to make the irreo;ular line of the oround conform to a general curve, particularly on the east side, where, to preserve the line of the ditch, a sort of counterscarj) and short cjlacis have been formed at each end, the construction is probably not British, or, if British, more recent additions, the work of Saxons or Danes, have been made to it. It much resembles one of those promontory camps on the coast of Cornw^all, which, according to Borlase, were made more as a defence against the inhabitants by the sea kings, than for the defence of the people themselves. Though there have not been found any remains in the entrenchment, there are tumuli in the neighbourhood, which have been accidentally opened, and skeletons found ther-ein. The stone pillar, called Stone Man, which is about a mile south west of Castle Steads, was a stone tumulus, which, being destroyed to form the fences at the general enclosure of the moors, was found to cover a skeleton ; the resident proprietor at Gayles Hall (Mr. Wyclifle) had the bones replaced, and the present irregular structure raised over them.