A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 
are divided between. different ownerships, which is the case here, the 
Manor farm holding only about 5 acres of the northern end. It would 
appear as though the manor had planted its homestead and the moats 
belonging to it within the area of some earlier work. The interior ram- 
part is only strongly seen on its western side, where there is also a con- 
siderable stretch of a second rampart outside the moat, which here has 
much water in it. 
The southern portion of about 10 acres is all pasture ; a great close 
known by the name of ‘ Obness.’ The stretch of rampart to the south 
of it is very large and fine, with an apparent entrance towards its east 
end. At the west the corner of the work is gone, but the lines curve 
round northwards towards the upper portion, with the bank again 
large and the ditch in parts about 18 feet wide. The ground slopes 
away gently from the south side of the work. ‘There are no signs of 
any outer rampart anywhere about this southern portion of the work. 
The present occupier speaks of finding a number of flints in his moat 
quite recently, which he describes as curiously shaped and cut. These 
may have been implements. He intends to try to recover them. Parts 
of the farm buildings are about two centuries old. 
There are three curious works in the low and once marshy lands 
watered by the Ivel and its branches. 
(7) SuHittincton.—Half a mile to the north-west of the high hill 
on which the church stands there is an entrenchment, obtusely semi- 
oval in plan, known as ‘Church Panel.’ It encloses a squat knoll, a 
little less than 3 acres in area, which must once have been an island in 
the midst of former swamps. The rampart is strong, and continues 
round the curving sides outside its fosse, which is 30 feet wide. A 
stream, 8 to 10 feet broad, flows past its straight north-eastern flank, 
banked up along a great part of its course, both within and without the 
enclosure. The knoll is highest at its south-east end, and is there 
scarped down to the ditch to a depth of some ro feet, but falls gradually 
towards the north-west, where a large interior bank is added round the 
lower portion of the work. An old watercourse, strongly banked, runs 
past this end, touching the outer rampart. The neighbouring fields are 
crossed in various directions by wet ditches and banked-up streams, and 
200 yards to the north a larger stream, 12 to 15 feet wide, runs past, 
diked up well above the level of the low-lying lands. In flood times 
all this low ground is covered and the knoll alone stands out. But for 
the banks which confine the streams it would lie continually under water. 
There is a small oblong sinking, near a disused gravel pit on the top of 
the knoll, which should be examined for foundations. The place has 
very much the appearance of an old refuge station in the fens, such as 
Alfred may have made at Athelney. Homestead enclosures were associ- 
ated with more serviceable land. 
(8) H1icHam Gosron.—Here is a somewhat similar work lying 
very low in the fields a quarter of a mile to the north of the church. It 
is called ‘The Camp,’ and is roughly triangular in shape, fenced in by a 
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