A HISTORY OF WARWICKSHIRE 



country ; the subject is well worth the investigation which it still 

 awaits. 



There are at least 1 50 of these ' homestead moats ' in Warwickshire. 

 Sometimes the ancient dwelling-place which once stood within the pro- 

 tected area, and which was probably of wood, has entirely disappeared, as 

 at Kent's Moat, Cheswick Green, Hob's Moat, Ladbroke and elsewhere. 

 But, for the most part, an ancient manor house or fortified mediaeval 

 mansion still stands upon the water encircled island. This is often, of 

 course, not nearly so old as the moat, which may have seen several 

 successive edifices erected in course of ages upon the site. Notable 

 local examples of these often picturesque moated houses are Baddesley 

 Clinton, Astley Castle near Nuneaton, Maxstoke Castle and Compton 

 Wyniates. 



(G l ) In connection with many mediaeval castles, artificial banks of 

 earth are found surrounding areas now dry but which were originally 

 covered by sheets of water which they served to dam. These broad 

 water defences, which differ from the ordinary moat, were fed by some 

 neighbouring stream, and were often very extensive, as well as most 

 elaborately engineered with channels and sluices. Conspicuous examples 

 of this are to be seen in the dams of the great artificial lake, with its 

 extensions, which once existed at Kenilworth Castle, and also at Brandon 

 Castle. 



(G u ) While the various earthworks previously described served to 

 defend an enclosed area, ' dykes and ramparts ' and earthen ' walls ' are 

 sometimes found running in a more or less continuous line across country 

 for many miles. Well known examples of these are the ' Wall ' of 

 Antoninus, reaching across Scotland from the Forth to the Clyde, the 

 triple ramparts in front of Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, and the 

 great Offa's and Watt's Dykes upon the Welsh border. They were 

 probably constructed partly for defence and partly to serve as boundaries. 

 In Warwickshire the ramparts at Loxley, though short, are apparently of 

 this type. 



Lastly, on account of their outward similarity to defensive earth- 

 works, some mention must here be made of the great earth-heaped 

 sepulchral tumuli of prehistoric days. We have many of these burial 

 mounds in Warwickshire, and they are not always easy to distinguish from 

 worn examples of moated mount forts ; in fact many of the latter have 

 frequently been misnamed 'tumuli,' even when encircling moat and 

 adjoining court showed a different origin ; when the moat has dis- 

 appeared, the spade alone can decide between the two ; even then it is 

 always possible that the makers of a certain fort may have incorporated 

 in it an ancient sepulchral mound, which they found ready to hand upon 

 the spot. Notable examples of tumuli in Warwickshire are, or were 

 (for some are now destroyed), at Butler's Marston, Combe, Churchover 

 (Pilgrim's Low) near Hartshill, King's Newnham, Ruyton (Knightlow), 

 Rugby, Wibtoft (Cloudsley Bush), Wolston and elsewhere. 



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