ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



the fosses, was thrown up into screen banks along the lines of the adjacent 

 steep slopes for about 6 ft. in height. On the other boundaries from one to three 

 banks were thrown up with corresponding fosses of varying widths and 

 depths. The magnitude of these walls and intrenchments was determined 

 by the nature of the adjacent lands. Where they were flat and afforded easy 

 approach to the fort, there the works of defence were multiplied ; but where 

 natural obstacles to approach existed in the shape of slopes or otherwise the 

 works of defence were reduced to a minimum. But what these forts always 

 afforded was an internal area of some acres in extent, but varying in size, 

 inclosed within a well-raised vallum, effecting the exclusion from without of 

 the inclosed area. On the outside of the inclosing wall were either the 

 natural cliff-like slopes or the raised banks and sunk ditches, giving to those 

 within the inclosure security from surprise and a very formidable defence 

 against any invading foe. The tops of the walls it is considered had possibly 

 the further defence of a stockade sloping outwards from the foot and making 

 a solid barrier in addition to the walls and intrenchments. None of the 

 intrenchments in this class of work were served with water as an aid to 

 defence in the examples within the county. 



Since the accounts given by the early writers on these earthworks very 

 little has been added with regard to them, but the present writer did, in 

 1892, read a paper on the subject before the North Staffordshire Field Club, 

 and also another at the congress of the British Archaeological Association 

 held in York in 1891 ; and in the Court Guide for 1902 the subject was 

 further referred to, when the main characteristics of the early forts were 

 described as follows : 



1. Their situation is at a high level. 



2. They command panoramic views, so that the surrounding country is everywhere within 



direct sight. 



3. They are near to a water supply of stream or spring. 



4. They make use of natural means of security to a full practicable extent by hugging the 



upper edge of a precipitous slope or cliff, and when this terminates fosses are dug and 

 ramparts raised. 



5. Their entrances are secluded and flanked by commanding mounds. 



6. The surface of the inclosed area has been shaped by the removal of earth for the 



ramparts, and it forms a shelter and fortified space ; the outlines are irregular and 

 unsymmetrical. 



7. The approaches are circuitous, secluded, and under view from the ramparts. 



Their general aspect is that of a defended retreat safe in any direction 

 from surprises of any kind and offering secure protection to a whole com- 

 munity, with its herds, flocks, and other belongings. These defensive forts 

 in some cases have command of rivers, and in others lie upon their tribu- 

 taries. The courses of rivers were, it must be remembered, commonly 

 resorted to by the invader. 



There still remains in this county strong evidence of Roman earthworks 

 (class C), as may be seen in the remains of camps at Chesterton near to 

 Newcastle under Lyme, at Barrow Hill near Rocester, at Longdon near Lich- 

 field, and at Green's Forge west of Dudley. 



The mound and mound and bailey type (classes D and E) of defensive 

 earthwork is conspicuously present in this county, and exists at the county 

 town of Stafford, and at Heighley, Newcastle under Lyme, Alton, Tutbury, 



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