ANCIENT 
EARTHWORKS 
HIS county possesses a very representative series of ancient 
defensive earthworks, although it has but few examples of the 
earlier types, and none of these has the large dimensions which 
distinguish them in other parts of the country. 
It is clear to the observer that some works were intended for the 
occupation of great bodies of men, perhaps a tribe or military force, 
whilst others were evidently the personal strongholds of chiefs or lords 
with a more or less numerous following. This distinction presents us 
with a rough but useful method of classification, whilst it still leaves open 
questions of actual date or origin. 
When we reach the period of the manorial stronghold, or its 
equivalent, whether of Norman or in some cases perhaps of even 
earlier foundation, it is interesting to note the gradual change which 
passes over the style of the work. At first these works, while providing 
for the residence of the lord, were of a strength and character fitted to 
withstand military attack, but as times became more settled they 
weakened into a form intended only for domestic defence or enclosure; 
the same change, in fact, that has been remarked in our architectural 
antiquities. Thus we have a natural transition from the mounded and 
stockaded hold to the meaner defences of the homestead moat. In a 
county which was poor in building stone, and before the revival of brick- 
making, there was nothing left to those who desired even ordinary 
domestic security but to establish themselves by means of earth and timber. 
Of the ‘homestead moat’ class our examples are very numerous. 
It is not by any means safe to suppose that they are all of later medieval 
times. There are good reasons for believing that not a few of them 
may have belonged to pre-Conquest inhabitants. This part of our subject, 
however, calls for fuller investigation. 
The very remoteness of many of our outlying villages and hamlets 
has tended to the better preservation of our earthworks and moats, but it 
has also increased the difficulty of access and study, so that this attempt 
to describe these works must be regarded only in the light of a prelim- 
inary survey. 
Very little has been written about the earthworks of this county, 
except in the case of a few outstanding examples. This fact has neces- 
sitated a personal examination of every instance described, and the omis- 
sion of some which might have proved well worthy of description. 
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