A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



averages some 8 feet to lo feet high from the bottom of the ditch. The 

 main entrance to the enclosure is from the south, somewhat west of the 

 middle, but the defences are interrupted at several other places, namely in the 

 middle of the west side, at the south end of the east side, and at the east end 

 of the north side ; in all three cases the breaks are due to water. Opposite 

 the entrance, about the middle of the enclosure, is a series of mounds covering 

 foundations of a rectangular building, and there are traces of other lines of 

 waUing to the east of the entrance, as shown on the plan. The northern 

 half of the enclosure is for the most part low and marshy, and there is a 

 clearly defined course from the break in the west defences, where the water 

 supply entered, running along the north front of the central block of build- 

 ings and then turning to the north-east and passing out of the enclosure 

 about 60 yards from the east boundary. The north bank and ditch stop at 

 the point where the course cuts their line, and do not run on to join the 

 eastern defences, but the water forms a marshy place outside the lines, which 

 seems to have been sufficient defence at this point. A small dam running 

 northward towards the place where the north bank stops narrows the channel 

 by which the water passes out of the enclosure, and by means of a sluice at 



' Castle Steads,' Rowley Gillet. 



this point it is clear that a good part of the area within the defences could 

 have been flooded. A second watercourse passes to the south of the central 

 block, and runs in an easterly direction through the south end of the east line 

 of defences, which are here practically obliterated. There is some slight 

 evidence that the breaks in the west and east defences may have been covered 

 by projecting masonry. 



As the principal of these three works belongs to class C, it has been 

 thought best to include the plan in this section, of course without claiming 

 Roman origin, though some older writers have thought this an outpost of 

 that period, wliich indeed it may have been. 



PiERCEBRiDGE. — The village is built over the lines of a rectangular 

 enclosure, lying just to the west of Watling Street, which crossed the river 

 Tees at this point, and is here diverted from its original line for a short 

 distance, in order to pass through the village and over the present bridge. 

 The major axis of the enclosure lies north and south, and the site is nearly 

 level, with a slight fall towards the river, which runs in a rocky bed between 

 high and steep banks. The two northern and the south-western angles of 

 the enclosure remain, and arc rounded in form ; the vallum can be traced on 



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