Within the _caer_ were circular stone beehive huts; also chambers that
were circular were contrived in the thickness of the walls. These
"sentry boxes" have been noticed in Wales, and also in Cornwall and
Devon.
The account of Castel-an-Dinas, before it was robbed for the erection
of a tower, is precisely such as might be given of one of those in
Ireland or Wales:--
"It consisted of two stone walls, one within the other, in a
circular form, surrounding the area of the hill. The ruins are
now fallen on each side of the walls, and show the work to have
been of great height and thickness. There was also a third or
outer wall built more than half-way round. Within these walls
are many little enclosures of a circular form, about seven
yards in diameter, with little walls round them of two or three
feet high; they appear to have been so many huts for the
shelter of the garrison."
In fact, this was a royal dinas. Not only had it the requisite double
wall, but also the _drecht gialnai_, or dyke of the hostages. Every
king retained about him pledges from the under-chiefs that they would
be faithful.
There are several of these stone camps in Devon and Cornwall. In
Somersetshire Whorlebury is very interesting; in Devon are Whit Tor and
Cranbrook; in Cornwall the Cheesewring camp, Carn Brea, Chun Castle,
the camp of Caer Conan on Tregonning Hill, Helborough, beside
Castel-an-Dinas in Ludgvan.
The heroic legends of Ireland attribute these stone camps to the
Firbolgs, the non-Aryan dusky race that was in possession previous to
the arrival of the Celts. But that the Milesians learned from them the
art of constructing such castles is very certain, for in Christian
times the monks imitated them in some of their settlements.
Lord Dunraven, who has photographed these stone duns, says:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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