Low DlNSDALg. 



A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



western side. The water supply is from the south and west. Within the 

 enclosure are several raised sites surrounded by ditches, the most important 

 being nearly circular in shape, with a well-defined bank and ditch ; within it 

 stands the manor house. There are no other buildings in the area except 



some farm buildings on the south boundary. 

 On the south and east it is bounded by roads, 

 but there are traces of other earthworks in 

 the meadows across the road to the east. 

 The banks are in no case of much strength, 

 those on the west boundary being the highest, 

 where the enclosure is commanded from the 

 rising ground immediately outside. 



GAINFORD : SUMMERHOUSE. A rectan- 

 gular enclosure about 160 yards east to west 

 by 70 yards north to south, lying directly to 

 the south of the village of Summerhouse, 

 and about a quarter of a mile to the west of 

 the line of Wading Street, on a level site. 

 The defences on the north and west are 



fairly well preserved, and consist of a bank and ditch ; on the top of the bank 

 are traces of a wall. On the south and east the defences are destroyed by 

 cultivation, and the enclosure may have extended 

 further in both directions. From about the 

 middle of the north side a ditch runs northward 

 for some 77 yards, having on the west side, at a 

 distance of 35 yards from the main enclosure, a 

 second rectangular site 26 yards square, sur- 

 rounded by ditches, and showing traces of foun- 

 dations of buildings. All the ditches have been 

 supplied with water from a stream on the west 

 side, which has been dammed to form a pond of 

 considerable extent, from which a sluice led to 

 the north-west angle of the main ditch. 



HART : Low THROSTON. A series of banks of irregular shape, and for the 

 most part of very slight elevation. Parts on the north and west have been 

 destroyed in recent years, and a road on the south has also done some damage. 



The recently destroyed portions are 

 shown on the plan by a single broken 

 line. The site stands high, and the 

 ground falls from it considerably on 

 south, west, and east. The best pre- 

 served banks are those at the south- 

 east corner, but the whole is too 

 fragmentary to admit of any definite 

 conclusions as to the extent and in- 

 tention of the work. There is a well 

 about 100 yards west of the site. 



JARROW : WARDLEY HALL, HE- 

 LOW THROSTON. WORTH. A site measuring 220 yards 



SUMMERHOUSE, GAINFORD 



