A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



were greatly in vogue in the eleventh and tw^elfth centuries in these countries. 

 Very fortunately we have preserved to us a graphic contemporary description 

 of one of them whilst it was still a castle in active being. This is contained 

 in the life of a certain Belgian bishop who died a.d. i 130.* And, further, 

 the celebrated Bayeux tapestry, supposed to have been worked in the eleventh 

 century, includes some remarkable contemporary needleworked pictures of 

 several of these mount and court timbered castles.^ 



Lancashire possesses a number of these mount and court castles ; in fact 

 the earthworks of this class form quite the most interesting series which the 

 county has to show, though the examples arc small in size compared with 

 many seen elsewhere. Their courtyards are most often of the cresccntic or 

 half-moon form, various other shapes found in England being conspicuous 

 by their absence. While in many instances elsewhere the early timber 

 stockaded mount and court fortalices have in course of years (when the earth 

 has had time to become solid) had their palisades replaced by the stone towers 

 and walls of the mediaeval castle, this has rarely been the case in Lancashire. 



It is to be noted that while the earthworks of Classes A and B, which, 

 roughly speaking, were the strongholds of early inhabitants of the district, 

 were upon the hill-tops, and while those of Class C were in the plains and in 

 association with the oldest roads through the country, these mount and court 

 castles (Classes D and E) cling conspicuously to the courses of the principal 

 rivers. In the north we have a remarkable series of them down the Lune 

 Valley. Just beyond the limits of the county we have Sedbergh, Kirkby 

 Lonsdale, and Black Burton, while within it are Whittington, Arkholme 

 with Cawood, Melling with Wrayton, Hornby with Farleton, Halton, and 

 Lancaster. On the Ribble and its tributary the Calder are Preston and 

 Penwortham and Clitheroe ; on the Roch, Rochdale ; and on the Mersey, 

 Warrington. Lancaster, Preston, Penwortham, and Warrington guarded the 

 fords of the great road north and south across these rivers. It is curious to 

 note, however, that the site of the important royal castle of West Derby is 

 an exception to this general rule. 



Finally, who were the people who first constructed these moated mount 

 and court forts ? Few archaeological questions have been the cause of greater 

 controversy ; champions have been eager to ascribe them exclusively to the 

 Saxon, to the Dane, and to the Norman. The balance of probability would 

 seem to be that this type was, in the majority of instances, the work of the 

 Norman ; in the words of the late Mr. L Chalkley Gould, ' from the time of 

 the Conquest to the days of anarchy when Stephen was reigning but not 

 ruling.' During the latter's reign so many fortified strongholds were con- 

 structed by the landed proprietors that his successor, Henry II, thought it 

 advisable to destroy no less than 1,150 of them ; and after that no castle 

 could be built without a royal licence to ' crenellate ' or fortify. 



What evidence Lancashire has to offer towards the final solution of this 

 question will be seen in the detailed accounts of the different remains. One 

 thing is clear from excavations that have been made in two or three of the 

 mounts in the county, viz., that their heights were at various times increased 



' 'Vita Sti. Johannis Epis. Mornorum,' Acta Sanctorum, Bollend. die 27 Jan. vol. ii, 798, as translated in 

 Clark, Med. Mil. Archtt. i, 3 3-4. 



' See Fowke, Tlu Bayeux Tapestry, plates xxii, xxiii, xxiv, xxvi, Hi, liii. 



520 



