ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



vallations ' here. In the eighteenth century the remains were in still better 

 preservation, for in an account written in 1788 the three parallel walls are 

 described and figured by Hutchinson as completely inclosing the camp on 

 the north and north-west slope from clifF to clifF, although they were even 

 then fallen to ruin ; the first and highest wall had the greatest strength, being 

 10 ft. thick where the facings showed ; the second was slighter in build, and 

 the third, or lowest, of greater thickness than the second, though not quite so 

 strong as the first. 



In this account of the camp various entrances are mentioned. The 

 highest rampart had two, roughly dividing the wall into three equal lengths. 

 The second had also two ; these were not opposite to those in the highest 

 wall, but were situated further north and west respectively. The third wall 

 had apparently three, which were placed so as to alternate with the two gates 

 in the second wall. But it is hardly probable that all these entrances were, 

 as suggested, original ; the walls are now too shattered to identify them 

 satisfactorily, except the one near the south-east end of the upper rampart ; this 

 appears to be about 8 ft. wide only, not ' six paces,' as stated in Hutchinson's 

 account. 



Within the central and uppermost area of the camp, a long low rock 

 escarpment, 8 ft. to 1 2 ft. high, runs from the north-east side for rather more 

 than half the distance across it ; it is parallel with the line of cliffs to the 

 south-east, and distant from them about 200 ft. Under the sunny shelter of 

 this ridge are to be seen foundations of several small stone-walled inclosures, 

 semi-lunar in form. The first, at A on plan, measures 24 ft. by 24 ft. ; a 

 second at B is 70 ft. by 18 ft.; and a third at C is 27 ft. by 25 ft. There 

 are two more beneath the same sheltering ridge just outside the first rampart. 

 These inclosures may not be contemporary with the ramparts. Scattered 

 over the whole of the plateau are many natural rock cavities which could 

 easily be converted into rude dwellings by covering over with wood and 

 thatch. 



That the place was, in ancient days, a centre of population is shown by 

 the recorded former existence of ' innumerable small oblong barrows of earth ' 

 at the foot of the crag, and of many sepulchral cairns similar to two which 

 were opened in 1785 ; these two revealed stone cists inclosing cremated 

 remains and prehistoric pottery. ** 



Whalley (6 miles north-north-east of Blackburn). — In Planes Wood, 

 about a mile east-south-east of this village, on a farm called ' Portfield,' are 

 the worn remains of an ancient earthwork. It is situated at an altitude of 

 400 ft. above sea-level, upon a hill which is a spur of the range running 

 south-west from Pendle Hill 4 miles away. This spur overlooks a 

 gap in the range through which the River Calder cuts its way to join 

 the Ribble. 



The stronghold is, in form, a long irregular pentagon, and covers the 

 entire flat top of the hill. This hill is exceedingly steep, almost a cliff, on 

 the south-west side. The ground falls fairly quickly on the south-east ; to 



' For further information see Baines, Hist, of Lanes, (ed. 1868), ii, 601 ; Hutchinson, in Arch, ix, 2H ; 

 Whittaker, Hist, of Richmmdshire, ii, 288. See also Ord. Surv. i-in. 49, old 98 SE. ; 6-in. 18 SE. ; 25-in. 

 18, 16. 



References to Ord. Surv. maps are for positions of earthworks, and do not necessarily imply that the 

 remains are shown thereon. 



5" 



