A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



of 26 ft., facing towards the north, descends to another plateau with a scarp 

 of 65 ft. to a stream, a very precipitous descent. At the north-east of the 

 lower plateau a platform rises 4 ft. in height, protected by a shallow rampart. 

 A bank, or rampart, also flanks each side of a descent to the river, thus 

 forming a sunk road 100 ft. long. The railway has cut away the eastern 

 boundary, and on the south no defence is visible. 



WITHERLEY (xxxiv, 1 6). Six miles west by north from Hinckley. 

 Immediately south of the village, situated upon the Watling Street which 



here divides 

 Leicestershire 

 from the county 

 o f Wa r w i c k 

 i s a camp 

 which has been 

 identified with 

 the Roman sta- 

 tion of Man- 

 duessedum, one 

 half of which is 

 in the parish 

 of Mancetter, 

 Warwickshire. 

 It is rectangular 

 in plan with an 

 area of nearly 

 7 acres. The 

 ancient road 

 passes through 

 the middle of it 

 on the line of 

 its longer axis ; 



the half which is in Leicestershire is called ' The Old Field,' and the other 

 moiety in the adjacent county is known as ' Castle Bank.' 



Dr. Stukeley, about 1724, described both ditches and banks as in a good 

 state of preservation ' ; and Nichols tells us that the vallum was perfect in 

 the year i8n. 2 At the present time no vallum is extant on the north, a 

 scarp 7 ft., perpendicular measurement, only remains, and that a feeble 

 defence, for it is 19 ft. on the slope. On the other three sides is a very low 

 bank, unworthy the name of vallum, which, indeed, is scarcely visible on the 

 south. The strongest part is on the east, facing the long stretch of road as it 

 gradually declines to the former station at High Cross. 



The River Anker flows about 850 ft. distant on the north-west side, and 

 turning to the north-east a short distance from the camp it provided an 

 additional protection to this its weakest side ; a spring rises outside the 

 northern boundary. 



Memorials of the early inhabitants have been found in celts and flint 

 weapons, and Roman coins have been unearthed in the camp. 



MANDUESSEDUM CAMP, NEAR WITHERBY 



Itinerarium Curiosum, 761. 



* Leicestershire, iv, 1027. 



254 



