ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



halfway between Harden and Eden Hall. Though tradition has long claimed 

 them as Saxon, we are not aware of any proof of such origin, and excavations 

 have revealed only later relics. The main defence seems to have been a deep fosse. 



UNCLASSIFIED EARTHWORKS 

 (Class X.) 



CocKFiELD. — Traces yet remain of four small ' camps,' on Cockfield Fell, 

 which attracted tlic attention of John Bailey, who in 1777 made a plan of 

 them.' The origin of these curious little enclosures is doubtful. Mackenzie" 

 writing in the early 

 part of last century 

 expressed the opinion 

 that they might be 

 no more than the re- 

 fuse of old coal works, 

 but this statement 

 leads one to doubt 

 whether he ever ex- 

 amined them. True 

 enough the coal work- 

 ings have scarred the 

 land around, but coal 

 refuse would hardly 

 have been carefully 

 banked round to form 

 enclosures of this na- 

 ture. The people of 

 Cockfield seem to 

 think they were meet- 

 ing-places of the Pri- 

 mitive Methodists ; 

 they may have been 

 so used, but are not 

 likely to have been 

 made for the purpose. 



Bearing in mind 

 the natural protection 

 afforded by the valley 

 of the Gaunless on 

 the north, and that a 

 long entrenchment 

 crossed the hill on 

 the south of the 

 ' camps,' it is possi- 

 ble, as stated in the 

 introductory remarks, 



1 Jnlijuarian Repertory, iii. 



s Mackenzie and Ross, 

 View of the Co. Pal. of Dur. 

 1834. 



361 



46 



