grew there in abundance, and so also the curious tway-blade, some beautiful vetches, the woodruff, and many other wild flowers. In remembrance of youthful days one gentleman set to work to dig up the tubers of the common Earth nut, Bunium flexuosum, which were very fine there. Pigs are very fond of them; and it is said to be in searching for these nuts by their scent that they root up the grass so freely, and have to be "ringed" to prevent them from doing so.

The outer camp was soon reached, and, passing through its rush-grown damp woods, the entrenchments of the camp proper, which are of a much more decided character, were crossed. It required some energy to get through the masses of underwood to examine the agger properly, and truth to say very few did it. They preferred admiring the splendid views between the trees of the distant hills, or gathering some of the many flowers around them, the masses of deep red Campion, Lychnis diurna; the splendid tufts of Aira caespitosa, Hassocks, or Rough caps, as country people call them; or the fine growth of Wood Spurge, Euphorbia amygdaloides, with whose acrid milky juice one or two "bit their tongues." The botanists who did go to the northern agger were charmed with the masses of the beautiful Wood vetch, Vicia sylvatica, with its elegant thickly clustered spikes of faint purplish white, with darker veins. Scott says of it

And where profuse the Wood vetch clings
Round ash and elm in verdant rings,
Its pale and azure-pencilled flower
Should canopy Titania's bower.

The wild Raspberry, Rubus idaus, was very luxuriant in both the inner and outer camp; and a ripe Strawberry, Fragaria vesca, was presented to the President, of a size almost worthy of a garden. A tall Hawthorn bush was a picture from its masses of beautiful blossom; the Moneywort, the Wood rushes, and other wild flowers grow in abundance.

Long work it were,

Here to account the endlesse progeny

Of all the Weeds that bud, a blossom there;

But so much as doth need must needs be counted here.

SPENSER.

The trysting point was the tall pole of the Ordnance Survey, raised on the summit of the camp; and after examining the bold entrenchment, at the eastern end of the camp nearly straight, here at half-past twelve the members clustered around to listen to the following paper :

ACONBURY CAMP.

Aconbury, or Acornbury as it is spelt in old maps and deeds, by facile philology means the Acorn Camp, an entrenched hill camp surrounded by oak forests, a very natural description of this camp. It occupies the summit of the hill, and its height above sea level Mr. Isbell found to be 916 feet-Woolhope Transactions, 1871. The camp is very large. Mr. Robert Clarke has been kind enough to measure it roughly for the Club. He reports it as about 660 yards long, with a width varying from 130 to 220 yards broad-a long oval containing about

20 acres in its area—and in addition to the Camp proper, a still larger surface of the hill is entrenched around, and was probably stockaded for cattle.

Around the embankments stones are observed, and on the north side there is a complete wall for a few feet. It is quite modern in construction, and looks very much as if it had formed part of a shed for the protection of the animals grazing on the hill before it was turned into the wood it is now.

The commanding position of Aconbury Camp in the very centre of the county must ever have rendered it a place of importance in troublous times; not only from its own strength and from the fact of its overhanging the central roads through the county, but as a post of observation and as a signal station. The prospect from it is very extensive. It ranges from the Clee Hills in Shropshire, and the High Vinnals near Ludlow, on the north, to the Monmouthshire Hills, headed by the Sugar Loaf Mountain to the south; and from the Malvern Hills on the east to the Hatterel Hills and Black Mountains on the west. It overlooks the broad valley of the Wye, with the city of Hereford in its midst; and in times of warfare would be within easy reach by private messenger or signal communication of many of the leading entrenchments of the county, as Dinedor, Caplar, Dormington, Sutton Walls, Credenhill, not to mention more distant camps, and the many smaller British and Roman stations scattered through the district.

The early prehistoric history of this camp can only be gleaned from the configuration of the entrenchments still remaining so visible on its surface; and these, as if to leave the imagination at more perfect liberty, are rounded on the western side, with an approach to a rectangular shape towards the eastern end. An observer, therefore, with British predilections may well consider it as a British camp, and picture to himself its occupation by Cynobeline, his sons Caractacus and Togodumnus, and their successors, who so bravely and persistently withstood the Legions of Rome. Should the student of history have mental proclivities towards the Roman conquerors of Britain, he may regard it as a summer camp of Ostorius Scapula, (from whom Dinedor takes the traditional name of Oyster Hill,) of Didius Gallus, or of Julius Fontanus. Again a picture might be drawn of the occupation of Aconbury at a later period by that fierce Mercian Chieftain, Crida, who from his principal camp at Credenhill burnt and destroyed all the Roman camps and stations in this and the neighbouring counties. Or yet, once again, he might well imagine the occupation of this hill by Elyston Glodrydd, the last of the Royal Tribes of Wales, who presided over this part of the frontier of Ereinwg, the fertile land, or the district between the Severn and the Wye. He is said to have derived his appellation from his godfather Athelstan, and has given his name to Ayleston, Athelstone, or Addlestone Wood in Little Birch, a mile and a half to the south of us; as well as to Aylestone Hill at Hereford. Indeed it is highly probable that all these suppositions would be right, for a large camp possessing such advantages as this one does, would be seized naturally enough by any ruling power that required it for temporary use. There is no proof of its ever having been fought for or even held for any time on the defensive; and indeed there are no traces to be found either in the local names of adjoining places, or by the existence of tumuli, of any serious warfare or bloodshed having taken place here.

Its fortifications were made rather as a protection against a sudden attack, than for prolonged defence. In times of comparative peace Britons might live here during the summer months, supplying themselves with water from the springs below, and driving in their cattle by night; or the Romans might equally use it as a summer camp and a signal station.

Many excellent springs of water issue from the northern slopes of Aconbury Hill, such as the spring of St. Ann, and the Lady Well, and others unnamed which unite to form the "Wall Brook," which flows past the Priory, and formerly supplied the fish ponds formerly surrounding the Church Nunnery and buildings on three sides. The name of this brook is believed to designate the Roman occupation of the camp, for "wall" is believed to be derived from "Vallum.” There are many instances of its use in Herefordshire, as "Sutton Walls," "Wall Hills," &c., &c. The camp itself, and particularly the outer camp, is very wet and boggy, so that water must be close at hand.

Aconbury Camp first appears in real history as a beacon station. Amongst the Scudamore MSS. is one document, endorsed, "Things belonging to Aconbury Beacon in Kydley's hands, 1625"; and within, "Things belonging to the beacon appointed by Sir James Scudamor, Knight, to the custody of me, Richard Kidley.

ffirst, one Iron Potte

Itm, Piche and Rosen
Itm, Tallowe and Towe.

It appears from sundry accounts in the Scudamore MSS. that the "beacon money was collected by assessment, and brought into the muster-master's account, with the repairing of bridges and billeting of soldiers. rials of the Civil War in Herefordshire, p. 34.)

(Webb's Memo

There is no record of this beacon having been fired, as was the case with the Caermarthenshire and Pembrokeshire Beacons, in September, 1643, when the rebels threatened to besiege Tenby, and those in Anglesey, when the Island rose for the King in 1648.

In the civil wars Aconbury Camp was occupied for short periods on two occasions at least. In the autumn of 1642, when Lord Stamford held Hereford on behalf of the Parliament, Lord Herbert, who was raising forces for the King, pushed his way from Raglan Castle into Herefordshire, foraging in all directions, as far as Aconbury Camp, from whence he looked down upon his enemies. He quickly retired, however, probably as soon as his presence was detected from Hereford.

A second time the camp was held for military purposes by Leslie, the Earl of Leven, who had brought down his Scotch troops to besiege Hereford, in August, 1645, and soon took possession of Dinedor Camp and Aconbury, and strengthened their entrenchments. The Earl began the siege of Hereford with great energy, and kept his men fully occupied with the spade, as the entrenchments of the "Scottish row ditch," 800 yards long, on the south side of the city, still bear witness. He was a strict disciplinarian, and forbade all foraging on pain of death; but he could get no pay for his men, and he was compelled to separate his troops the better to maintain