ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



(Class C) 



' Rectangular or other simple inclosures, including forts and towns of the 

 Romano-British period.^ 



While earthworks of Classes A and B belong for the most part to very 

 indefinite dates, and are often of prehistoric origin, many of this class belong 

 to the historic period. Under this heading are to be included the remains 

 of these earthworks and stone walls now or formerly extant of the Roman 

 fortified stations at Burrow with Burrow (12 miles north-east of Lancaster), 

 Lancaster, Manchester (Castlefields), and Ribchester. 



As these sites will be dealt with in the chapter on the Romano-British 

 period, it is thought better to omit any description of them here. 



(Classes D and E) 



Defined respectively as ' Forts consisting only of a mount with encircling 

 ditch or fosse, ^ and ' Fortified mounts, either artificial or partly natural, with 

 traces of an attached court or bailey or of two or more such courts.^ 



It is convenient to take these two classes together in dealing with 

 examples in the county, for the reason that, although mounts without visible 

 remains of baileys exist locally, it is probable that this may mean that in these 

 particular cases they have suffered destruction. 



Speaking generally, the extant remains of one of these mount and court 

 forts, as they are called, consist primarily of an artificial conical hill ; this 

 varies from i o to as much as 60 ft. in height, and is surrounded by a ditch or 

 moat, now generally dry ; the top of the hill or mount is flat, or sometimes 

 saucer-shaped, and it occasionally shows traces of a raised rim of earth all 

 round. Abutting upon the ditch at one side of this mount an inclosure or 

 courtyard is often seen ; it is frequently crescentic in shape and defended by 

 rampart and moat ; this courtyard generally covers an area two or three 

 times as large as that of the mount. Beyond this again, there is sometimes 

 a second and still larger inclosure, similarly defended by entrenchments ; and 

 in a few instances there is yet a third and much more extensive court, partly 

 surrounding the smaller ones. Sometimes towers and walls of masonry are 

 now seen crowning these conical mounts and their adjacent ramparts ; but, 

 wherever they are found, they must be of later date than the original con- 

 struction of the castle. For heaped-up earth is not, of course, solid enough 

 to bear the erection of stone walls upon it for many years ; and the defences 

 upon the ramparts of all these castles were necessarily in the first instance of 

 wood. These wooden palisades have long ago disappeared. 



For a long time the nature of these moated mounts was not understood 

 by archaeologists ; they were frequently supposed to be sepulchral tumuli, 

 and as such they are often marked in the maps of the Ordnance Survey; but 

 their real object, as defensive earthworks of a definite class and period, is now 

 universally recognized. 



Mount and court castles of this description are very widely distributed 

 in Great Britain, and they are also found in Normandy and in Flanders. They 



519 



