A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



limestone strata is towards the north, so on that side the hill has a gentle 

 slope from the summit downwards. On its other three sides — to the east, 

 south, and west — the escarpments of the rock form a number of terraces one 

 above another ; these not infrequently rise in vertical crags, varying from 

 lo ft. to as much as loo ft. in height, but their rocky faces are cut into at 

 intervals by slopes of scree or of grass. The command is, of course, complete, 

 and a finer site could hardly be chosen for defensive purposes. 



The area of this fairly level summit is roughly quadrilateral and is about 

 71 acres. It is defended naturally on two of its sides — the west and south- 

 east — by the craggy limestone escarpments already mentioned ; even the broken 

 slopes of grass and scree which intersect the latter would, owing to their 

 steepness, be very difficult of assault. The northern side of the hill, with 

 its one long slope, could not be rushed by any foe, owing to the fact that the 

 surface of the limestone has been weathered into veritable leg-breaking 

 channels and ' pot-holes ' by the chemical action of rain-water. Nevertheless, 

 it was once strongly defended by a series of no less than three formidable 

 ramparts of stone constructed at intervals, one above another, up the hillside. 



The first of these walls begins near the edge of the cliff on the south- 

 east side ; it is, as now seen, little but a heap of moss-grown stones, which 

 can with difficulty be followed through the thick bracken and brushwood, and 

 has evidently been much quarried for the modern walls round the top of the 

 cliff to the south. It runs in a north-north-west direction for nearly 280 ft., 

 and then bends round to the north-west ; after a course of 200 ft. further, it 

 again curves gradually round to the west for 75 ft., and finally runs in a 

 straight line south-west for another 350 ft. to the escarpment on the west side 

 of the hill. The best-preserved portions of the wall now discoverable are in 

 the neighbourhood of the first-mentioned bend in its course ; here several 

 upright stones are still standing, one 3 ft. high above the ground ; also, by the 

 removal of some of the fallen stones, the two facings of the original wall are 

 to be seen ; they are built of unhewn stones in 'dry masonry,' i.e. without any 

 mortar, and inclose a core of irregular rubble. The thickness of the wall at 

 its base is well shown hereabouts, and is on an average about 10 ft. Some 

 yards further north-west what appears to be a circular chamber is discernible 

 within the thickness of the wall, very similar to those sometimes found in the 

 walls of the Welsh ' caers ' ; it has an internal diameter of 5 ft. There is no 

 sign of any fosse outside the wall. 



At about 25 ft. lower level, and some 150 ft. horizontal distance down 

 the face of the slope upon the north-east side of the hill, the remains of a 

 second wall are to be traced, parallel with the first ; the moss-grown stones 

 are now well-nigh hidden in fern and brushwood, and they are also being 

 rapidly buried in the soil thrown out by innumerable rabbits. At a distance 

 of a further 240 ft. in the same direction, and about 50 ft. lower down, 

 remnants of a third parallel wall still exist in the same ruinous state. 



But, fortunately, certain particulars of their state as they existed before 

 they were quarried for modern fences have been placed on record. Fifty 

 years ago, when the 6-in. Ordnance Survey map was made, the third or 

 lowest wall was visible in a curve 300 ft. long on the north-west side, in a 

 position outside of, and 75 ft. away from, the recent straight stone fence. 

 Another quarter of a century earlier Dr. Whittaker described ' two circum- 



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