of King Arthur, however, localising his meeting with St. Crantock and the finding of the Round Table, during his quest for a certain dragon, in the "marsh of the Car" at Carhampton. The legend is forgotten now, but the dragon is carved in the churches of Old Cleeve and of St. Decuman, which lie close to to Carhampton and Watchet on the western foothills of the Quantocks.

Still, on the western slope of the hills, it is said that a dragon with two heads, was slain by an unnamed champion at Crowcombe, and one of the bench ends in the church records the feat. Another dragon, also carved in the church, was killed by a champion of the Fitzwarren family, nearer Taunton, at Norton Fitzwarren, but of these two exploits no details are preserved.

A third dragon, which had its habitation in Shervage Wood, below the Danesborough camp, on the eastern slope of the hills, is however told of very definitely, and is still used as a deterrent to children who might linger too late among the whortleberry bushes.

It was a long dragon, "one of that sort they called a worm," and devoured every living thing within reach. Consequently the local woodman was unable to go to the wood and cut the faggots on which his living depended. At last, however, starvation drove him to work at a time when the dragon seemed to have gone elsewhere in search of prey, and during the morning he cut wood unmolested, seeing or hearing nothing of the terror. At noon he sat on a fallen log half buried in fern to eat his "nummit" (noon-meat), and as he sat, the log heaved under him. It was the sleeping dragon. Whereon, in desperation, he leapt up, and crying, "So thee do movey, do 'ee? Take that then!" he struck his axe into the beast, and fled. But what became of the dragon no man knows, for it was never seen afterward.

It is worth notice that each of these legends is located

to that of folk of the Saxon type, but on the coast, from the Parrett mouth to Porlock, a third type, of which more is to be said, occurs.

One may take it that the few traditions which have been mentioned as remaining with reference to the Roman camp near Petherton can only come to us from British sources. They are our earliest, at all events, and refer to times when the garrison and inhabitants were at peace. The field adjoining the camp is still called "the money field," and coins are now and then found there. Probably it was the place of market with the troops. But a tradition recorded in 1857 by the Rev. J. W. Collins1 still lingers, to the effect that just outside the camp enclosure is a, buried treasure-house, with an iron door, which can only be found at full moon, containing untold wealth. This buried treasure legend occurs constantly in connection with Roman camps elsewhere, in one form or other, and such large finds as those at Caerwent of last year, and along the Roman wall, bear out the tradition, and the statement of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that the Romans on their departure from England took some of their treasure into Gaul and buried the rest.2

We have no tradition of Roman warfare, or indeed of the Romans by name. The next hero of tradition, Arthur of Britain, has left no mark on the Quantock memory as it exists to-day, though to the southward he is still remembered round Cadbury camp, the Camelot of the "Green Knight." Capgrave has given a legend 1Journal Brit. Arch. Assoc., vol. xxi., 1857, p. 297.

2 Anglo-Saxon Chron., Anno 418. Treasure is said to be buried in a field at the back of Stockland church, where the traces of the stone-pits whence the material for the old building was taken are still visible; "But the man who is to find that treasure isn't born yet." The stone would almost certainly have been a gift, and the reference therefore might possibly be to the "treasure laid up in Heaven" thereby for the donor, in a

of King Arthur, however, localising his meeting with St. Crantock and the finding of the Round Table, during his quest for a certain dragon, in the "marsh of the Car" at Carhampton. The legend is forgotten now, but the dragon is carved in the churches of Old Cleeve and of St. Decuman, which lie close to Carhampton and Watchet on the western foothills of the Quantocks.

Still, on the western slope of the hills, it is said that a dragon with two heads, was slain by an unnamed champion at Crowcombe, and one of the bench ends in the church records the feat. Another dragon, also carved in the church, was killed by a champion of the Fitzwarren family, nearer Taunton, at Norton Fitzwarren, but of these two exploits no details are preserved.

A third dragon, which had its habitation in Shervage Wood, below the Danesborough camp, on the eastern slope of the hills, is however told of very definitely, and is still used as a deterrent to children who might linger too late among the whortleberry bushes.

It was a long dragon, "one of that sort they called a worm," and devoured every living thing within reach. Consequently the local woodman was unable to go to the wood and cut the faggots on which his living depended. At last, however, starvation drove him to work at a time when the dragon seemed to have gone elsewhere in search of prey, and during the morning he cut wood unmolested, seeing or hearing nothing of the terror. At noon he sat on a fallen log half buried in fern to eat his "nummit " (noon-meat), and as he sat, the log heaved under him. It was the sleeping dragon. Whereon, in desperation, he leapt up, and crying, "So thee do movey, do 'ee? Take that then!" he struck his axe into the beast, and fled. But what became of the dragon no man knows, for it was never seen afterward.

It is worth notice that each of these legends is located

a large circular entrenchment known as "the Trendle Ring," Norton was a Roman station, and Danesborough is the refuge camp of the district, with a battle-tradition of the slaughter of "Danes" still remaining.

A fourth camp, unnamed, lying in Aisholt parish, on the eastward slopes, and guarding a pass over the highest ridge of the hills, "Will's Neck," seems to be associated with a more definite battle-tradition yet. The field below the spur of hill where the camp lies, in which the fight took place, is still pointed out as that where "the worst battle ever fought in these parts was fought. The dead men were heaped all so high as the top of the gates, and the blood ran out so deep as the second thill," (ie. gate bar). The folk can tell you no more, but will repeat the detail, only adding that it is not so long ago that the graves of the dead men could be seen in the field, and that swords and spears had been dug up often. Nothing is visible now to break the surface, and it is not known what became of the weapons. This statement is probably traditional, and may date back indefinitely. The formula, "So and so's grandfather," or "our old people has, I believe, come down with very many legends as an integral part of them.

I would hazard an identification of this last battle with that in which Kentwine drove the Britons to the sea. The position is strategically correct for the resistance by the Britons to the Saxon advance, while the ridge above the battle field," Will's Neck," preserves the name of the defeated Welshmen and their flight to the coast and Exmoor. That battle of Kentwine's must have been a fierce one, and we have no record of later penetration so far into the district by the Danes.1

It is possible that the dragon traditions of the other

In 1010 the Danes raided Cannington Marsh (A.S. Chron.), but seem to have been unopposed. The definite localisation of their foray thus points

positions may record the battles of the Wessex dragon under Ina with the Red Dragon of the Welsh, as told in allegorical form by the gleemen.1

One of our "ghosts" may also be a relic from Saxon days. He appears in a deep hillside lane with his head under his arm, and is well known and feared, though he is not held to portend anything in particular. Remembering that in the olden days it was not unusual to decapitate the body of one who was restless in his grave, and re-inter it with the head laid aside, it is probable that somewhere on the hill lies a Saxon so treated. In the case of a similar ghost in Gloucestershire, such an interment, with the head laid beside the thigh, was actually found in the field where the ghost walked.

Another headless ghost rides down a slight hill half a mile further on, his steed being a hurdle, and his head is held before him. Probably this is of later origin, and may refer to some local follower of Lord Audley of Stowey and Perkin Warbeck, who had been drawn to the scaffold on a hurdle, and there beheaded, after the manner of those days. It is possible that there is a good deal more to be done in the way of collection of historic memories from the tales of the ghosts of the countryside.

Of the coming of the Danes the battle traditions have much to say, if nowadays they are growing misty. But here it must be noted that every tale of ancient warfare in the Quantock country, and probably in the rest of Somerset, is assigned to the time of the Danes in a way which is not wonderful when one considers that Athelney itself lies on the edge of the Quantock land, and that from 835 to 1010 the North Somerset coast was constantly ravaged by the Viking fleets. I have known even Sedgemoor fight ascribed to the Danes.

1 See Geoffrey of Monmouth, British History, bk. vii. c. 3, "The Pro