A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



HARWORTH. In the extreme north-west of the county, at Martin, about 

 a mile north-north-west of Bawtry, where the ancient road provides the only 

 thoroughfare out of Nottinghamshire in the direction of Doncaster, is a square 

 camp with double vallum and fosse, which is thus described by Mr. W. Peck, 

 writing in 1815: * This camp is now covered with trees and underwood, 

 which have contributed to preserve it to the present time ; the ditches are 

 nearly grown up, though they evidently have been deep. This place most 

 probably was a station to defend the Roman road that passed near to it : 

 several smaller stations are adjoining ; but of late years the ditches have 

 been filled up. A little to the north-east are traces of a Roman pottery, 

 many broken vessels of various forms are now found, several pieces I have 

 seen are made of blue clay and slightly baked. At the time of the enclosure 

 of the adjoining parish of Austerfield several curious remains of arms were 

 found near the site of the great camp, such as parts of swords and heads 

 of battle-axes.' l 



Francis White, writing in 1864, says : 'Here is the site of a Roman 

 station where, in 1828, three silver coins of Antonius, Adrianus, and 

 Faustina were found, together with part of a Roman vase, and numerous 

 pieces of Roman pottery. The form of the fort or station may still be 

 distinctly traced, and even when the field is covered with full-grown 

 wheat an octagon figure is slightly perceptible, from the stems being shorter 

 on the site of the building than in other places.' s We give this quotation 

 as a contribution to the state of the camp at that date ; but it is of 

 questionable assistance : the writer's conception of an earthwork was his 

 own, and the 'octagon figure' can only be explained by the two four- 

 sided ramparts. The outer vallum was 215 ft. on either side, with rounded 

 corners, and the inner defence, leaving a court 50 ft. wide between the 

 two entrenchments, had its two opposite angles at the north-west and 

 south-east considerably rounded. 



HAWTON. In this parish immediately south-west of Newark is ' Sconce 

 Hill,' the largest earthwork of the Civil War in the county. It was the 

 work of the royalist engineers and remains in a well-preserved condition. 



This mound, called the ' Queen's Sconce,' is rectangular in form with 

 projecting bastions at the angles, capped with an earthen breastwork, the 

 centre being depressed. It is surrounded by a deep moat and artificially 

 escarped ground stretches away a considerable distance. 



It formed the north-west end of the defensive earthworks that consti- 

 tuted a cincture round the town of Newark, the north-east termination 

 having a similar work on a smaller scale, of which some remains may 

 be seen. They each occupied the south-east or right bank of the river. A 

 view of the entire works is furnished in Dickinson's History of NeivarA. A 

 plan is given in the Guide to Newark by T. M. Blagg, F.S.A., who also refers 

 to a somewhat similar earthwork on the east bank of the river which was 

 raised by Cromwell's army. 



KIRKBY IN ASHFIELD : CASTLE HILL CAMP. This village lies 5^ miles 

 south-west from Mansfield ; and although the name would appear to demand 

 its classification under B, the natural features of the site do not justify so doing. 



1 Tofog. Account of the Isle of Axholme, p. 6. 

 * Hiit. ett. of the County o/Notti. p. 680. 



302 



