ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



HINCKLEY, CASTLE HILL (xlii. 8). Thirteen miles south-west from 

 Leicester, near to the Watling Street. The discovery of Roman relics 

 has led to the supposition that a Roman camp was on this spot, but the 

 earliest information affecting this earthwork is the erection of a castle 

 by Hugh de Grantmesnil, which Burton tells us (A.D. 1622) ' is now utterly 

 ruinated and gone, and only the mounts, rampires, and trenches are to 

 be seen.' 



Two hundred years later we read in Nichols that 



the antient site of the Castle had, beyond the memory of the oldest inhabitant, been occupied 

 as a gardener's ground, and the Castle-hill considerably lowered by taking materials from it 

 for repairing the roads ; till, in 1770 Mr. Hurst caused a handsome modern dwelling house 

 to be built. 



Since that time the services of a landscape gardener have been requisitioned to 

 reconstruct the garden. After this record it is marvellous that any of the 

 ancient works have survived, yet there is just enough left to formulate an 

 idea of the original state of 

 the mound of the keep and 

 its fosse. 



By the removal of ma- 

 terial for the roads the whole 

 of the centre and north and 

 west sides of the mound have 

 been destroyed, but the south- 

 ern and eastern portions more 

 or less remain, with an escarp- 

 ment of 38 ft., at its highest 

 point A, to an ornamental lake 

 which has been formed in the 

 old fosse. At this section the 

 water is 30 ft. wide, but the 

 counterscarp has been reduced. 

 The highest point of the coun- 

 terscarp is at B, where it is 

 23 ft. 



The fosse, with lowered 

 banks, continues round the 



west side, but is entirely built over on the north ; and the banks in 

 the interior, as marked on the plan, are the paths and flower beds of the 

 garden. 



RATCLIFFE CULEY (xxxiv, 8). One and a half miles north-east from 

 Atherstone, and south-east of the Sence Brook. Within a field immediately 

 to the east of the church is a well-defined mount and fosse of very moderate 

 dimensions. The mount is nearly circular with a gradual escarpment of 

 1 9 ft. and is surrounded by a fosse, distinct but very shallow, which latter 

 condition is due to the action of the plough, although at the present time 

 the land is under grass. 



SCRAPTOFT (xxxii, 9). ' THE MOUNT.' East of the village is a small 

 truncated conical mount with a depressed top. 



Hinck/ey 



100 



ZOO 300 



CASTLE HILL, HINCKLEY 



257 



33 



