

ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



The strength of this defence consisting of a double ditch may be 

 gathered from the record of the late James Shipman, 1 F.G.S., who says that 



The more northerly of the ditches was much smaller and shallower than the other one, being 

 only 1 3 feet in width ; the dimensions of the larger ditch could not be accurately ascertained 

 as the excavations did not go far enough south . . . : but it could hardly have been less than 

 50 feet in width, and was about 20 feet in depth. The smaller ditch was semicircular in 

 shape and went down 16 feet below the surface of the sand rock. [In the filling-in of the 

 excavations] a few bones, apparently those of animals, were found ; among them was the back 

 part of a human skull, having probably come from some other part when the ground was 

 levelled in 1782 [possibly from the remains found in the 'Derry Mount'] . . . Between the 

 ditches was a narrow ridge of rock six feet in width. The northern side of the great ditch 

 was a vertical cliff of more than seven feet. The bottom of the great ditch appeared to rise 

 with the ground towards the west ; . . . the ditches followed a general east-to-west line, and 

 cut across the top of the hill. 



A great line of fosse sweeping away to the north connected the castle 

 and the old town, enclosing the intervening valley of the new borough. The 

 west part appears to be the oldest, as it continued further north to the brow 

 of the hill overlooking the Larkdale valley, now the depression of Shakespeare 

 Street, where it played no part in recorded history. The date of this enclosing 

 line is unknown, but at one time it was partially strengthened by a stone 

 wall. In 1898, this northern fosse was cut through by the railway, and found 

 to be hewn out of the solid rock, over 30 ft. in width and 20 ft. in depth. 



WORKSOP. A prominent feature of this village is the Castle Hill, a 

 headland dominating an ancient road which appears to be a continuation of 

 the route from Stamford to Newark via Kelham and the Gorge Dyke at 

 Wellow. It is a hill 

 of red sandstone, from 

 which the ford de- 

 rives the name of 

 * Redford,' now called 

 Radford. 



There is, appar- 

 ently, no evidence 

 that a mediaeval cas- 

 tle was ever built 

 here ; and although 

 Leland said ' the old 

 castle on the hill by 

 the town is clene 

 down, and scant 

 known where it was,' 

 he was probably mis- 

 led by the name 

 ' Castle Hill,' and the 

 earthwork such as 

 remains is the work 

 of an earlier age, 

 undisturbed by any structure of stone. 



The remains consist of a fosse, which cuts off the promontory, upon 

 which is a flat mound of somewhat circular plan. 



1 Excavations at the Nott. Gen. Hospital, 7. 

 293 



SCALE or rtET 



.00 200 



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CASTLE HILL, WORKSOP. 



