A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



dug up here during the last 150 years, but no signs of earthworks now 

 remain. 1 



WINKFIELD. At the extreme southern boundary of the parish and 

 county, and south of the Easthampstead and Bagshot road is a field 

 known as ' Roman Down,' where fragments of tiles and Romano- 

 British pottery were ploughed up in 1783. At that time, 'in one 

 corner of the farm was a small spot of ground enclosed with a vallum 

 and a deep fosse without it, deep enough to take in a road waggon, tilt 

 and all.' It has since been destroyed.* 



South 



SOUTH MORETON. 



CASTLE MOUNTS 

 [CLASS D] 



Fortified mounds, that is to say circular mounds surrounded by a 



fosse, and intended rather as a place of defence than for sepulchral 



purposes, seem to be rare in this county. Perhaps some of those 

 formerly in existence have afterwards developed a 

 bailey and then a castle, or being small and not very 

 conspicuous earthworks have totally disappeared. 



Three are here described under this heading, 

 though these do not absolutely conform to the defini- 

 tion ; and perhaps several more may be found which 

 have been classed under the heading of tumuli. 



SOUTH MORETON. To the west of South More- 

 ton Churchyard is a curious unfinished earthwork 

 consisting of an irregularly circular mound with a 

 deep trench excavated nearly all round it. It lies 



close to the brook, and seems to have been intended for a small fortifica- 

 tion, but was never completed. 



READING. The mound in the Forbury Gardens at Reading should 



probably be classed under this 



head, though no ditch round it 



is now to be seen. As, however, 



there appear to have been further 



earthworks without it at some 



former time, its purpose seems 



to have been defensive rather 



than sepulchral. 



WALLTNGFORD. St. Peter's 



Church seems to stand on an 



artificial mound close to and 



commanding the old ford. The houses round it now disguise its form, 



but it seems likely that this was once a fortified mound. 



Cough's Camden, i. 225. Davey, Wantage Past and Present, 12. 

 2 Arch. vii. 



266 



FORBURY HILL, READING. 



