A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



gradual. On its north side the hillock is divided from continuously rising 

 ground by a hollow through which the road now runs. The churchyard 

 occupies the whole of this elevated site, which w^as, in early days, an excel- 

 lent one for defensive purposes. Upon it a mount and court castle was 

 erected, the remains of which are still distinctly traceable, notwithstanding 

 that the whole aspect of the ground has been much altered by the spade 

 through successive generations. 



The ground covered by this castle was probably about an acre. The 

 present remains of the mount consist of a low artificial hillock of earth, 

 slightly oval in form ; its diameter at the base, through its greatest length, is 

 about 170 ft. ; its height from the level of the upper end of the bailey, 

 where the latter abuts upon it, is about 1 2 ft. ; it is best viewed from the 

 low meadows to the south, above which its summit rises about 37 ft. ; a sun- 

 dial now stands upon the top, and gravestones are erected up its slopes. The 

 mount has been cut away in part on its north-west side, for the building of 

 houses between it and the road. No remains of a fosse are extant, unless 

 perhaps the sunken road to the north represents its former course along that 

 side ; grave-digging has probably filled it up elsewhere. The bailey, which 

 was more or less crescentic in shape, lay to the east and south-east of the 

 mount ; the present church has been erected within it ; its interior sloped 

 downwards from west to east, and it was elevated about 20 ft. above the low 

 ground to the south and east, and to a lesser height above the hollow down 

 which the road runs to the north ; no remains of ramparts or fosses are now 

 visible around it, but here again the whole site, long occupied as a grave- 

 yard, has been dug over repeatedly during hundreds of years. 



The outlook from the spot is very extensive, both down and across the 

 valley of the Lune on the south and east ; on the north and west, however, 

 hills shut out any distant view. In the days of short-range weapons the 

 command from the top of the mount would be complete ; but in later times 

 the fortaUce would not be tenable, as the hillside rises to an equal height 

 only 100 yds. away on the north. 



Like many of the other mount and court castles in the Lune valley, 

 this earthwork was probably abandoned at an early date ; there are no signs 



of walls of masonry having replaced its 

 original palisades of wood.*" 



N 







(Class F) 



''"i;^^;r'>^ ' Homestead moats, consisting of simple 



5CALE0F FEtr'a' tnclosures formed into artificial islands bv 



O too ?00° 300 . . ^ *'*«"J fjf 



« 1 I I water moats 



SECTION rrom A Ao B 



Enlarged d7ubk%cale of Plan Tht%t works have no conspicuously 



elevated mounts within their interior areas 



as in the previous Class (E). The earth 

 AsHTON IN Makerfield: Site of Old Brynn dug out from the fosse was either spread 



over the surface of the inclosure, raising 

 It shghtly above the level of the surrounding land, or else, but more rarely, it 



" Baines, Hut. of Lanes, (ed. 1868), ii, 627 ; Ord. Surv. l-in. 49, old 98 SE. ; 6-in. lo NE. • 2C-in. 



19, S. 7 » J • 



546 



