Identifier: topographicalsur02robe (find matches)
Title: A topographical survey of the great road from London to Bath and Bristol. : With historical and descriptive accounts of the country, towns, villages, and gentlemen's seats on and adjacent to it...
Year: 1792 (1790s)
Authors: Robertson, Archibald
Subjects:
Publisher: London: : Printed for the author... and William Faden...
Contributing Library: Boston Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Public Library

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it of the stupendoussurrounding rocks, or view them from the 186 SURVEY OF THE GREAT ROAD FROM banks of the river, they ar^ equally awfulin their appearance, and striking in theireffects. The rides around Bristol and the Hot-well are rendered most delightful by theromantic scenery, and the agreeable varietyof elegant seats and villas every where in-terspersed. From the summits of the sur-rounding hills, the views are various andextensive: on the west, we command aprospect of the river Avon and the Severnsea, bounded in the horizon by the loftymountains of Wales ; wre look down uponthe city of Bristol on the east; on the north,over Gloucestershire; and on the south,the eye ranges over the fertile county ofSomerset. In this neighbourhood are many vestigesof Roman antiquity, which, singular as itmay appear, have been passed unnoticedby Camden, Gale, and other writers.—-Ostorius, about the year 50, extended hisvictorious arms upon the banks of the ri-vers Severn and Avon, commanding the
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LONDON TO BATH AND BRISTOL. 187 navigation of them by a chain of forts; thefirst and most important of which seems tohave been the camp on Clifton Down, andtwo others directly fronting it, called BowerWalls, and Stokeleigh Camp, at RownhamHill, on the Somersetshire side of the Avon.—The tremendous height of the rocks onthe summit of which these camps wereformed, the strong and high walls, trebleditches and fences with which they were de-fended, together with the inaccessible pre-cipices on the sides next the river, renderedthem as impregnable as they were im-portant. The agger a and double ditches ofthese two last-mentioned camps are still tobe seen, though now overgrown with wood.—From them zprcetentura, or fence, againstany attack upon the lines is to be traced,the ranges of stones appearing still for somemiles, joining in one at the top of thecomb which divides the camps, proceedingin a nearly straight line towards Fay land. At every opening towards the vales, andat every emine

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