ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



2. By the roadside almost immediately to the west of HOPE church 

 (x. 5), and by the side of the river Wye, is a lofty mound, which must 

 have been a good example, when perfect, of a fort consisting of a ditch- 

 encircled artificial mount. It does not appear to have had any kind of 

 bailey attached, but it has been encroached upon by the sweep of the 

 river on the south, and by a garden on the east. It has clearly lost some 

 of its height, and has been damaged on the west side by cattle. Its 

 diameter, when perfect, was about 175 feet. 



3. At MORLEY (1. 3), to the north-east of the church, is a mound, 

 now of small dimensions, apparently of this character. 1 



4. On MORLEY MOOR (1. 2 and xlv. 14), about 450 yards to the 

 west of the church, is a large mound, now bearing many well-grown 

 trees, and still nearly surrounded 



by a water-filled moat. Mr. 



Andrew considered it to be a 



very perfect specimen, and that 



there are few finer examples of 



this type of earthwork in the 



kingdom. Mr. P. H. Currey, to 



whom we are indebted for the 



plan and elevation, says (February, 



1905) 'Owing to the hedge 



being broken down, the lower 



parts of the mound are rapidly 



crumbling away under the tread 



of cattle and children. The upper 



part is at present maintained by 



the roots of the trees with which u 



it is covered ; when these trees 



fall, as some of them may do very 



soon, the mound will rapidly wear down as its sides are very steep. There 



is a nearly level platform on the top, about 1 5 feet in diameter.' 



5. At TAPTON (xxv. 2, 3), immediately to the north of Chesterfield, 

 just within the grounds of Tapton House, is an artificial elevation known 

 as CASTLE HILL. From the remains, and the little that has been stated 

 about it in the past, it would appear that it was originally a simple earth- 

 work fort of the moated mound description. 



CASTLE MOUNTS WITH ATTACHED COURTS 



[CLASS E] 



i. ASHFORD CASTLE (xxiii. 6). In the centre of the village of Ash- 

 ford, at the back of the Bull's Head Inn, is a small moat or trench, which 



1 It has generally been assumed that this mound was a tumulus or barrow. The late Mr. T. O. 

 Bateman had trenches dug through it in the ' sixties ' of last century, but with no result. Mr. Andrew's 

 opinion that this is the worn-down mound of an early holder of Morley who moved here in more 

 peaceful times, from the still earlier stockaded position to the west, in order to be near the church, seems 

 far more tenable. 



375 



PLAH 



* A * . M I I* t !* t A* i IW i JU* i***! ftH luf 



MORLEY MOOR. 



