ANCIENT DEFENSIVE EARTHWORKS 



reduced in volume, which run at the bottom of valleys cut on either side 

 of it, probably once added to the natural defences of the site. 1 



FILLONGLEY (7 miles north-west of Coventry.) In this elevated 

 village are two earthworks, one bearing the name of the ' Castle Hills ' 

 and the other called ' Castle Yard.' 



The first named, ' Castle Hills,' is a small and well preserved en- 

 trenchment on a farm known as the ' Bury Fields.' It is situated about 

 three-quarters of a mile north-east of the church, on low-lying ground 

 by the side of a small stream. 



FILLONGLEY, 



Castle Hills. 



SCALE orFEEf 



too zoo 300 



FILLONGLEY 



Castle Yard 



SCALE OF FEET 

 100' zoo 



soe 



The little fortress is nearly oval in form and covers an area of about 

 an acre. Its defences consist of a strong rampart running round a raised 

 internal plateau with a deep ditch beyond. The ditch or moat was 

 probably once filled with water from the stream which still runs through 

 it on the south-west side. There are remnants of further artificial banks 

 in the field to the south, but they are now worn and indistinct in plan. 

 The site was called ' Old Fillongley ' in Henry the Third's time. 3 



1 Burgess in B'ham. and Mid. Inst. Arch. Trans. (1872), p. 83 ; Bloxam in ditto (1875), p. 31 ; 

 Burgess in Brit. Arch. Assoc. Journ. (1873), p. 38 ; Turner's Shaks. Land, p. 293. 



' Dugdale's Warw. p. 725, quoting Testa de Nevill; Bloxam in B'ham. Phil. Inst. Tram. vol. iv. no. 

 xvi. p. 186 ; Burgess' Warw. p. 5 ; Burgess in B'ham. and Mid. Inst. Arch. Trans. (1872), pp. 85, 88. 



375 



