A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



peninsula, which entered at Conishead Bank, and followed the line now 

 called Red Lane. It is possible the site was originally chosen as command- 

 ing this road. , 



At this point the stream called Pennington Beck runs south m a rather 

 deep ravine, and on the east bank the cliff projects in a rather sharp elbow 

 or angle. This elbow has been isolated by a semicircular rampart and tosse 

 forming a quadrant-shaped inclosure, the ward of which measures 156 ft. by 

 1-22 ft. In digging the fosse the earth has been thrown inwards, making a 



rampart the highest point of which (on the 

 north) seems about 1 2 ft. above the ward level. 

 The ditch itself measures about 45 ft. from the 

 rampart top to the outer edge, but was never 

 intended to hold water. 



The precipitous slope which forms the 

 north-west and south-west sides of the inclosure 

 probably is much the same now as when the 

 fortress was made, for there seems no real reason 

 to suppose (as has been suggested) that part of 

 the inclosed area has been washed away in his- 

 torical times. No trace of rampart or parapet 

 exists on the edge, but a strong palisade alone 

 would make a good defence here. The exca- 

 vated defences are strongest on the north side, 

 as there the ground is level outside, whereas 

 on the south there is a moderate slope. 



There is a break in the rampart on the 

 south-east which seems an ancient entrance. 



Pennington is a pure Anglian name, and it appears in the Domesday 

 Survey with two carucates. From time immemorial the manor has belonged 

 to the Pennington family (now represented by Lord Muncaster), whose 

 ancestors are said to have abandoned it as a seat in the thirteenth century. 

 The ' capital messuage ' of Sir William Pennington is, however, mentioned 

 in a dispute as late as 1 3 1 8, and the Castle Hill may therefore be the site of 

 the Penningtons' early home, or it may be more ancient. 



The great tumulus half-a-mile to the south-east (mentioned elsewhere) 

 may perhaps guard the secret of the origin of Castle Hill as well as its own. 



SCALE OFFCtT 

 100 ZOO 



Castle Hill, Pennington 



(Classes E and F) 



Aldingham. — Aldingham Mote stands on the east coast of the Furness 

 promontory overlooking Morecambe Bay, and situated at a point approxi- 

 mately five miles south of Ulverston and four miles east of Furness Abbey. 

 The position is a striking one, being on the actual edge of the sea cliff. 



The earthworks are of two parts, probably of different dates. The 

 ' Mote ' itself is of the mount and court type, and occupies the highest 

 position in the immediate vicinity, the ground shelving off on the north, 

 west, and south. The mount, with its fosse, measures about 220 ft. through 

 its longest axis, and its summit is 15 ft. above the present level of the 

 surrounding ground, and probably between 25 ft. and 30 ft. above the 



556 



