ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



It is the fond belief of some that Ethelfleda erected the castle mount 

 when she obtained the burh at Leicester in A.D. 918, while others take the 

 word burh to refer to this 

 castle, in which case it 

 would be attributable to 

 the Danes. There is, 

 however, no evidence to 

 warrant the assumption 

 that the castle was con- 

 structed before the days 

 of Norman influence, pos- 

 sibly in the time of Ed- 

 ward the Confessor, when 

 we know some few such 

 earthworks were thrown 

 up by Normans of his 

 court. Though the vast 

 majority of the works of 

 the mount and bailey 

 type date from post-Con- 

 quest days this may be 

 one of the few exceptions 

 referred to above. 1 



SHACKERSTONE (xxix, 

 6). Five miles north- 

 west from Market Bos- 

 worth, on the north of the church, close to the roadside, is a bold mount 

 with a flat top, and an escarpment of 38 ft. with an inclined ascent from 

 the north around the west side. This has been surrounded by a fosse, but 

 only a portion remains on the south side ; it is 22 ft. wide, with a counter- 

 scarp of 8 ft. Around it has evidently been a well -fortified bailey, but 

 later works have dealt severely with it ; at the present time a flat area lies 

 to the south-west of the mount and fosse; the north and east have another 

 area at a lower level, at the south of which is the fragment of a vallum, 

 while at other points are the remains of ditches. 



It would thus appear that the base-court was situated on the south- 

 west and continued, in a more limited degree, around the other sides of the 

 mount. These remains may have inclosed two courts, but this cannot now 

 be decided with any certainty. 



WHITWICK THE CASTLE (xvi, 16). Five and a half miles east from 

 Ashby-de-la-Zouch, on the east side of the church, is a mount and bailey 

 fort upon the top of a precipitous hill, the confines of which govern the 

 elliptical shape of the court. No ramparts remain, indeed no other defence 

 was needed than the natural escarpment which at the south is 33 ft. and on 

 the north-east, 86 ft., a stream surrounding three-fourths of its base, viz. 

 west, north, and east. Along the precipitous eastern side an approach rises 

 to the summit, well defended by the height of the escarpment above its 



1 Leland says : ' There was afore the Conquist a Collegiate Chirch of prebends Infra castrum.' 

 Itinerary, i, 1 6. 



26l 



LEICESTER CASTLE 



