ANCIENT DEFENSIVE EARTHWORKS 



cause of greater controversy ; champions have been eager to ascribe them 

 exclusively to the Saxon, to the Dane and to the Norman. The balance 

 of probability would seem to be that this type of stronghold originated 

 in its simpler form in Saxon times, as is the traditional record of the 

 two ' Ethelflasda's mounts ' at Tamworth and at Warwick ; while there 

 is no doubt that many existing remains (especially those with courtyards) 

 date from Norman days, either, in the words of Mr. Gould, ' from the 

 time of the Conquest, or as late as the days of anarchy when Stephen 

 was reigning but not ruling.' During his reign so many fortified 

 strongholds were constructed by the landed proprietors, that his successor, 

 Henry II., thought it advisable to destroy no less than 1,150 of them; 

 and after that no castle could be built without a royal licence to ' cren- 

 ellate ' or fortify. It is also quite possible, of course, that in certain 

 instances the makers of these forts may have utilized for their mount or 

 keep an earlier sepulchral tumulus which they found ready to hand; 

 this has been suspected at Brinklow, but excavation can alone decide 

 such a point. 



(F) We have now to notice yet another form of earthwork, viz. 

 the moated enclosure without a mount. In this case the earth dug out 

 from the moat was either spread over the surface of the enclosed area, 

 raising it above the level of the surrounding land, or else, but more 

 rarely, used to form a rampart round the inside. 



These ' homestead moats,' as they are called, usually enclose areas 

 ranging from a half to two acres, but are sometimes more extensive. 

 They differ greatly in form ; one variety is very similar to the moated 

 mount, but with only a flat raised platform inside instead of a conical 

 hill, as may be seen at the site of the old manor house near the church 

 at Maxstoke ; another has the above-named slight rampart round the 

 edge of the platform, as, for example, at ' Castle Hills ' Fillongley, at 

 'The Mount' Cheswick Green near Solihull, at Ladbroke, at ' Kent's 

 Moat ' Sheldon, and at ' Hob's Moat' Solihull. 



While some, perhaps the earlier ones, are circular, the great 

 majority of these moated areas are either square, oblong, or of various 

 irregular shapes ; some are single, as those named above ; some are 

 double, either one within the other, as Peddimore near Sutton Coldfield, 

 Ward End near Birmingham, Hob's Moat (formerly) and Salford Priors, 

 or lying side by side as Court Farm at Fulbroke near Sherborne. Occa- 

 sionally we find a group of moated enclosures placed near to one another, 

 as at Horston Grange near Nuneaton, while in a few instances, as at 

 Great Wolford and perhaps at Wappenbury, a whole village is sur- 

 rounded by a fosse. 



All these varied forms merge gradually and almost imperceptibly 

 into one another, but they no doubt represent different designs in vogue 

 at considerably distant intervals of time. Some may have originated in 

 Saxon days as a protection against the marauding armies of the Danes, 

 and possibly others were made for defensive purposes as late as the reigns 

 of Stephen, John and Henry III., when intestine wars harrowed the 

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