A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



■' '"^^^ Opeoing 

 : i$^£ prot>a.bly i 





'virm Houst *\EiM 



On a general survey one cannot but notice in Northamptonshire the 

 rarity of the earlier types of earthwork, which is paralleled by the small 

 number of barrows and tumuli.^ It may also be worth attention that at least 

 eight important castles or moated houses stood close to or near the river 

 Nene — Peterborough, Fotheringhay, Barnwell, Titchmarsh, Wollaston, Earls 

 Barton, Clifford Hill, and Northampton. In fact, the valley of the navigable 

 Nene was in the middle ages the richest and most populous part of the 

 county. 



HILL FORTS, Etc. 



[Class B] 



Daventry : Borough Hill^ (one mile east of Daventry). — This fortress 

 occupies the highest part of a hill 600 feet above sea level, and 250 feet above 



the lowest land in the neighbourhood. 

 /^Sfffyj:-.. Though it stands upon high ground 



and has a good command of the dis- 

 trict north and north-west, and also 

 east and south-east, it gains but little 

 strength from this fact, as the fall of 

 the hill is steep at no point, and in 

 many places the land outside the 

 entrenchments is practically level. 

 The north portion, which forms a 

 rough triangle, is defended on two 

 sides by two ditches, the ballast from 

 which has been thrown inward to 

 form two ramparts ; the third, that 

 is the south side, which cuts off this 

 portion from the larger enclosure, is 

 more strongly entrenched, one side 

 of the entrance consisting of three 

 ramparts, one ditch, and a level space, 

 the eastern side of the entrance 

 having three ramparts and three 

 ditches. All these earthworks are 

 not now in a perfect condition, 

 owing partly to their great age, and 

 partly to farming operations. The 

 entrance was perhaps more compli- 

 cated than that shown on the plan, and was evidently specially formed. 



The larger enclosure roughly follows the 600 feet contour Hne, con- 

 tinuing south for three-quarters of a mile, in breadth a quarter of a mile at 

 the south, but sweUing out in the middle to rather over three-eighths of a 

 mile. The lower portion of the eastern entrenchment has all but disappeared, 

 in some places entirely, but the track can be traced along much of the way 

 by a ditch now 6 to 10 feet deep from the inside, and 2 to 3 feet from the 

 outside, some portion being planted with trees and underwood. The 



1 y.C.H.Northants, i. 138, 139. - Ibid. 255. 



398 



SE. Corner 



'••'//"rH'ii;,, 



BoRovcH Hill, Daventry. 



