A mile from the town, on a hill which commands a splendid
prospect of the vale and the Westmoreland and Cumberland
mountains, is the Beacon, the property of the Earl of Lons-
dale, a lofty stone building, erected in the times of frequent
hostility between England and Scotland. Brougham Castle, a
majestic ruin, which Camden supposes to be on the site of the
Roman station Brovoniacum, stands on the south of the rivers
Eamont and Lowther, at their confluence. This was anciently the
seat of the Veteriponts, and from them descended to the Cliffords
and Tuftons : it still belongs to the Earl of Thanet, hereditary
high-sheriif of Westmoreland. The traces of a Roman encamp-
ment are distinctly visible, and the present high road here takes

the line of the ancient Roman road Between the Eamont and

and the Lowther is a curious relic of British antiquity, called
Arthur's Round Table ; it is a circular grass-grown area, 29 yards
in diameter, surrounded by a broad ditch and an elevated mound,
with two approaches cut through the mound, opposite each other.
