ANCIENT EARTHWORKS 



mount (A) is now overgrown with trees; it is visibly artificial, composed of earth 

 full of small rounded ' drift ' stones ; its shape is circular and conical, with a 

 truncated top ; measured at the bottom of the ditch its diameter is 120 ft., 

 and its height from the same place is 20 ft. ; its flat top is 60 ft. across. A 

 fosse, some 30 ft. wide at level of its edge, and now averaging 8 ft. to 10 ft. 

 deep, surrounds it, except for a few yards on its north side, where a long and 

 steep scarp to the low meadows at foot of the promontory takes its place. 

 The view from the top of the mount is most extensive, and the command 

 perfect, as the rising ground to the south-east is not near enough to overawe 

 the site. The mount castle at Melling (q.v.) lies ij miles away to the 

 north-east, and 



that of Ark- .•' 



holme (q.v.) ij 

 miles to the 

 north. 



The bailey 

 (B), which ex- 

 tends from the 

 mount to the top 

 of the cliff above 

 the river, is oval 

 in shape ; its in- 

 terior area mea- 

 sures 250 ft. from 

 east to west, and 

 200 ft. from 

 north to south, 

 which is nearly 

 double the size 

 of most of the 

 other castle bai- 

 ley s in the 

 county ; it slopes 

 with the natural 

 inclination of the 

 ground from east 

 to west, and is 



elevated some 5 ft. or more above the adjacent ground level to south and east, 

 and from 40 to 50 ft. to west and north. A rampart is raised along its south 

 side, which now averages about 6 ft. in height from the interior plateau ; its 

 fosse is about 1 8 ft. deep from the top of the earthwork; before denudation and 

 silting up, however, it was of course deeper, and the rampart correspondingly 

 higher, making together a very formidable defence. Around the west and 

 north sides of the bailey, the natural escarpment, some 50 ft. high, formed 

 sufficient protection ; this has the appearance of having been also artificially 

 improved in parts, as it has a fairly uniform steep scarp all round, at an angle 

 of 35 to 40 degrees. An entrance has been cut through the rampart into 

 the bailey on the south side, but this is probably modern, made when the 



interior was ploughed- 



527 



5E.CTION fromD.toZ. 

 B 



same scale. 

 A 



SEC Tl O N from F. fo G . 

 B 



same scale 



Castlestede, Hornby 



