A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Ordnance Survey maps entitled ' camp,' is apparently neither the old town of 

 Evenley, which lies three-quarters of a mile north-east, nor yet a camp, 

 but a moated hold formed on the same principle as the manor houses of 

 Hinton in the Hedges, i| miles north-north-west, though the shape is some- 

 what different. It stands in a slight hollow by the side of a stream, 

 the north-west side of the moat following its course (hence the unusual 

 shape of the whole), the other sides being arranged so as to obtain a 

 water level round which the stream, more or less dammed up at the south- 

 west corner, was caused to flow, the inner rampart being a bank to keep 

 the water out, and the apparent remains of an outer rampart being 

 embankments to keep the water in the moat at points where the natural land 

 is low. This will be seen by a careful study of the sections ; take for instance 

 the section H— I ; here the land outside the moat is 5 feet above the present 

 level of the water, while the enclosed portion is only 2 feet ; hence while the 

 inner bank or rampart is needed, no outer work is required to form a water 

 level of any depth, or to restrain the water in flood times. But take the place 

 cut by the section E— G ; here the land outside is but 2 feet above the level of 

 the moat, and the enclosed portion i foot, hence a restraining bank or rampart 

 would be needed, and actually exists both inside and out. The other sections 

 reveal the same purpose ; thus the main object of the inner rampart, and the 

 sole object of the outer, where it exists, was to bank up the water within 

 bounds. The idea appears to have been to obtain a good supply of water, 

 which could be done with a deep moat, though now the depth of water is 

 only a few inches. As a moated enclosure intended for habitation it is dis- 

 tinctly ill formed, the chief fault being that the area has not been raised above 

 the natural level as is usual with the ordinary moated homestead, such as 

 Basildon Moat House (Botelers) in Essex, in which case the dwelling or 

 dwellings erected would have been drier, and the whole platform raised above 

 the highest water level, and the subsoil being stone the base would have been 

 a firm one. But this mode of entrenching is not uncommon, and apparently 

 belongs to a special date. Thunderfield Castle and Lagham Park in Surrey, 

 and Hinton Manor House, 2 miles north-north-west, have the same weakness ; 

 also Braybrooke Castle in the north of the county. The land generally here 

 is high, 400 to 500 feet above sea level. The entrenchment lies in the 

 middle of farmland not very easy to find, and on private property, but the 

 bridle path on the south runs from the village of Evenley, crossing the 

 Brackley to Bicester road as a fieldway to Croughton. 



Helmdon. — Helmdon Manor House, 7J miles south-west of Towcester, 

 has large enclosures bounded by slight entrenchments. 



Hinton IN THE Hedges : Hinton Manor House (iJ miles west of 

 Brackley). This is one of those curiously entrenched enclosures long ago 

 forsaken, where a low lying position has been chosen close to a stream, and the 

 one object of the entrenchment has been to use and yet restrain the water 

 within bounds; Evenley Old Town, i| miles south-south-west, and Steane 

 Castle or Manor House ij miles north-by-west, were thrown up with the 

 same idea. Here at Hinton a spot has been chosen situated in a triangle 

 formed by two streams, one from the north-west, the other from the west, 

 which unite and flow south-east, the land on the three sides, north-east, west, 

 and south, being higher than the enclosed portions. The earthworks form 



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